Everything Ennis is known for
Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Ennis.
Ennis has a rich Czech and Slovak heritage, with many early settlers coming from war-torn European nations that later became Czechoslovakia. This influx of immigrants not only contributed to the city's population growth but also transformed its cultural landscape. Ennis became one of the largest Czech communities in Texas, and this ethnic heritage has been preserved and celebrated through traditions such as the annual National Polka Festival.
Ennis exists because a railroad needed a place to stop. In 1871 the Houston and Texas Central Railway pushed north into Ellis County and bought roughly 647 acres of farmland at about five dollars an acre to anchor its line. Surveyors laid out the streets, the first train rolled through in 1872, and on June 8 that year the townsite was platted into being. The community took its name from Cornelius Ennis, a New Jersey-born Houston merchant who became an incorporator and director of the H&TC and even served a stretch as mayor of Houston in the 1850s. During the Civil War he ran cotton through the Union blockade, buying his own steamer in gold to do it. He never lived here, but the company honored him by stamping his name on its new northern terminus. The town incorporated in 1873, held its first election in 1874, and elected Charles Pannil its first mayor. From the very first survey stake, Ennis was a railroad town, conjured out of the prairie by a company that needed a division point where the cotton met the rails. (Source: Handbook of Texas.)
Ennis is one of the great Czech towns of Texas, settled in waves by immigrants from the lands that became Czechoslovakia, and every Memorial Day weekend it throws the party that proves it: the National Polka Festival. The idea came in 1967, when three local men, Raymond Zapletal, Len Gehrig, and Joe Liska, took their plan to Chamber of Commerce manager Jack McKay. They had watched polka bands draw huge Czech crowds in other cities and figured Ennis could do the same. They were right. Within a few years the three-day festival was pulling more than 30,000 people, and today it draws crowds reported as large as 50,000, making it one of the biggest events of its kind in the United States. The weekend runs on live polka in the town's Czech fraternal halls, a downtown parade, a king and queen contest, races, and enough kolaches and sausage to feed a county. Locals say the festival still has the feel of a little bit of old Czechoslovakia, which is exactly the point. (Source: Handbook of Texas; National Polka Festival.)
Medal of Honor recipient, Andrew Jackson Lummus, Jr., referred to as Jack, was born on October 22, 1915, in Ennis, Texas, a cotton-farming town. He was the son of Andrew Jackson Lummus, Sr., a cotton farmer, and Laura Francis (Warren) Lummus. The Lummus family experienced hardship during the Great Depression . As a youngster, Jack Lummus enjoyed athletic success in both football and baseball at Ennis High School in the early 1930s. Lummus dropped out of high school after his second year due to the family's financial situation. Texas Military College at Terrell offered Lummus an athletic scholarship where he was able to finish his final two years of high school in 1937. In 1937 Lummus accepted an athletic scholarship to Baylor University where he played football and baseball for the next four years. In football, Lummus (standing at 6' 3" and weighing 195 pounds) played end, and his play and speed attracted the attention of the New York Giants of the National Football League. As a senior, he was selected to the All-Southwest Conference football team. Playing centerfield in baseball, Lummus earned spots on the All-Southwest Conference team in 1938, 1939, and 1940. Jack Lummus's career took a number of turns in 1941. With the nation moving closer to war, he mulled his military options as well as his options as a professional athlete. In May Lummus enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps to attend flight school and dropped out of Baylor before earning his degree. While waiting on orders for flight school, Lummus signed a contract to play outfield with the Wichita Falls Spudders, a semiprofessional baseball club in the West Texas-New Mexico League . He played in twenty-six games for the Spudders until July 6 when he received orders to report to flight training at Hicks Field northwest of Fort Worth. During flight training, he received numerous phone calls from the New York Giants inviting him to their training camp in Wisconsin. After successfully completing the preflight training, Lummus washed out of flight training on his solo flight when the wing of his P-19 Fairchild clipped a fence on landing. Given an honorable discharge, Lummus headed to Wisconsin where he won a spot on the New York Giants 1941 roster as a backup end. As a rookie, he saw considerable playing time as a defensive end. Lummus first became aware of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during a game between the Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Polo Grounds on December 7, 1941. The Texan played his final game with the New York Giants in the NFL championship game against the Chicago Bears at Wrigley Field on December 21; which the Bears won, 37-9. A few days later, Lummus drove home to Texas. On January 30, 1942, Lummus went to Dallas and enlisted in the Marine Corps. After completing recruit training in San Diego, California, he was assigned to Mare Island, California, where he was promoted to private first class and then corporal. In October Lummus was selected for Officer Candidates School at Quantico, Virginia, from which he was commissioned a second lieutenant on December 30, 1942. In 1943 he served as an instructor in the Infantry School at Camp Elliot in San Diego. In June he was assigned as a student officer in the elite Raider Battalion at Camp Pendleton where he also served as an instructor. After the Raider Battalions were disbanded in early 1944, Lummus was reassigned to the Fifth Marine Division. In the Fifth Marine Division, Jack Lummus was among the first wave of marines that landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. As a rifle platoon leader, Lummus's actions on March 8 against stubborn Japanese defenders on the island's west coast, the Nishi Ridge, earned him the Medal of Honor. After a failed initial attempt to break through enemy lines, Lummus called for tank support to provide added firepower. After personally guiding the tanks into position in rugged terrain and ignoring hostile fire, he directed his men against the enemy. Moving forwa
On June 15, 1902, at a baseball field in Ennis, Texas, Jay Justin Clarke set two single game professional Minor League Baseball records. The game was unusual because it was scheduled to be played in Corsicana, but was relocated to Ennis due to Corsicana’s “Blue Laws” which prohibited the playing of the game on a Sunday. The Corsicana Oil Citys beat the Texarkana Casketmakers 51-3 that day. Clarke, who played for the Oil Citys, hit eight home runs and tallied sixteen runs batted in, records that still stand as all-time Minor League records. The actual field has been lost to history, but played a major role in Clarke’s records as the fence was estimated to be less than 210 feet from home plate.
(October 22, 1915 - March 8, 1945) Born on an Ellis County farm, Jack Lummus attended school at Alma and Ennis, and Baylor University on an athletics scholarship. He played minor league baseball in Texas and football for the New York Giants. He joined the U. S. Marines in 1942 and on February 19, 1945, landed with the Fifth Marine Division in the first wave of assault troops on Iwo Jima. On March 8, after fighting without respite for two days and nights, Lummus and his rifle platoon slowly advanced toward a complex of pillboxes before being halted by Japanese forces. Despite injuries from two grenade explosions, Lummus single-handedly destroyed three enemy emplacements before stepping on a land mine, sustaining fatal wounds. His congressional Medal of Honor celebrates his "conspicuous gallantry and tenacious perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds." (1999) Supplemental plate: An exhibit with photos of Jack Lummus, a copy of the citation for his Medal of Honor and other records are available in the library on this site.
The National Polka Festival, an annual music festival held each May in Ennis, Texas, was first organized in 1966 by Raymond Zapletal, Len Gehrig, and Joe Liska, in conjunction with Jack McKay, head of the local Chamber of Commerce. As the largest Czech polka festival in the United States, in the 2010s it attracts approximately 50,000 people who join together in dancing, singing, and celebrating Czech cultural heritage every Memorial Day weekend. The tradition of Czech polka music spread throughout the Lone Star State soon after the first large groups of Czech immigrants began arriving in the 1850s. Three other major waves of immigration during the 1870s, 1880s, and early 1900s helped give Czech culture a strong presence throughout the Southwest. Most Czechs settled in Central and North Central Texas, where they set up farms, schools, social and cultural organizations, and newspapers to help maintain their language and ethnic identity. For these new Texas Czechs, music played a vital role in their day-to-day lives. Dancing was an important part of this musical culture, providing entertainment, exercise, and recreational time with the family. At first dances were held in private homes, but as the Texas-Czech population grew, several organizations began building dance halls which regularly hosted dances and other celebrations of Czech culture. Ennis, which is about forty miles south of Dallas, is one of the most northern Czech settlements in Texas. The town has four large Czech fraternal halls, three of which participate in the festival—the Knights of Columbus , the Sokol Activity Center, and Katolicka Jednota Texaska (Catholic Union of Texas) known as the KJT—which provide centrally-located venues for all the festival’s music and dancing. Because it has maintained a thriving Czech culture, Ennis is ideally suited for hosting the National Polka Festival. The festival kicks off on Friday with a dancing competition, followed by a King and Queen contest that evening. The parade starts on Saturday morning at 10:00 A.M. and includes clowns, cheerleaders, bands, floats, and horses. The festival also offers traditional food, dancing, costumes, music, arts and crafts, and a horseshoe tournament. On Sunday, Mass is held at 10:00 A.M. at the Knights of Columbus, followed by more dancing, food, and music at all three halls. Typically the festival features anywhere from eight to fourteen bands performing different styles of polka music , ranging from traditional to modern. Participants have included Grammy-award-winning groups as well as bands from across the United States and as far away as the Czech Republic. A few of the more popular groups include Grammy-award-winning Brave Combo, Czech and Then Some, the Jodie Mikula Orchestra, Dujka Brothers, Texas Dutchmen, the Czechaholics, and the Ennis Czech Boys. The National Polka Festival focuses on involving the entire family in the weekend’s events, thereby encouraging all generations to better understand and appreciate Czech history and culture. The influence of Czech musical traditions can be seen throughout the Southwest, as traditional Czech instruments and song styles, including the accordion and the polka, have been incorporated into Texas-Mexican conjunto , East Texas zydeco , and even western swing.
The son of Sam Zaragosa and Margarita Coronado, Sam Z. Coronado, Jr., artist, educator, and cultural activist, was born on July 12, 1946, in the small farm town of Ennis, Texas. His maternal grandparents were cotton pickers who taught him the value of a strong work ethic. He attended Crozier Tech High School in Dallas and voluntarily enlisted in the United States Army; he served from 1964 to 1967. As part of the Cold War effort, he served in Germany with an artillery company that included a nuclear weapons arsenal. After his stint in the army he attended El Centro College in Dallas and studied drafting and design. He secured his first drawing job as a technical illustrator for Texas Instruments in 1969 and earned an Associate of Applied Science degree from El Centro in 1970. Coronado eventually went to the University of Texas at Austin and attended college on the G.I. Bill. Along with his colleagues Vicki Plata, Rey Gaytan, and Sylvia Orozco, he cofounded the Chicano Art Students Association. In 1975 he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.F.A. in painting and printmaking. Throughout his career, Coronado also worked in other occupations, either as a technical illustrator or as an educator, to financially support his artistic endeavors. Coronado is best known for his artistic contributions in the field of Chicana/o and U.S. Latino art. He began in oils and acrylics. His paintings are intimate portraits of the Mexican American experience. However, his most memorable and influential work was in the field of graphic arts. He was a painter turned printmaker following two residencies with Self Help Graphics in East Los Angeles in 1991. Drawing on Mexican Social Realism, American Pop Art, and the iconographic traditions of Chicano art, he produced groundbreaking series such as Guerrillera , World War II , and Hearts that spoke on the politics of identity, autobiography, and Tejano history. Coronado also illustrated for books and magazines, and he created company logos. His lifework has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and publications across the United States, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, including retrospectives at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center , San Antonio (1987); Mexic-Arte Museum , Austin (2011); and the Latino Cultural Center, Dallas (2012). He mastered the art of serigraphy (also known as screen printing and silkscreening) with draughtsmanship and humor, and became one of its most ardent promoters by founding Coronado Studio, a collaborative print workshop dedicated to the production of fine art serigraphy, in the early 1990s. The workshop became a training ground for a number of accomplished master printers including Pepe Coronado, Brian Johnson, Paul Fucik, and Brian Rice. However, his greatest intervention for the field came in 1993 with the founding of Serie Project, a nonprofit printmaking residency program that awards competitive fellowships to artists wishing to explore the technique with the assistance of a master printer. Serie Project has hosted more than 300 artist residencies and has introduced a new generation of artists to a graphic tradition of historical importance to the Chicano art movement (1965–1985). The roster of resident artists includes Malaquias Montoya, Ester Hernández, César Martínez, Celia Alvarez Muñoz, Juan Sánchez, Diógenes Ballester, and Scherezade Garcia. Coronado’s cultural activism fostered community-building and exhibition opportunities for underrepresented artists. As someone who experienced first-hand the discriminatory practices against Mexican American artists in the Southwest, he was committed to promoting cultural democracy in the arts. Coronado was part of a generation of artists who came of age during the 1960s and believed that establishing alternative and culturally-specific institutions was the first step toward equality. In 1980 he founded Arcoiris , a statewide network for Mexican American artists based in Houston that promoted exhibition
William R. and Edeline House bought the land on which Burnam Square and Cemetery were located in 1856 for the price of a slave named John. In 1861, after her husband died, Edeline House had the 25-block town laid out and donated one acre for a graveyard. The Houston and Texas Central Railroad bypassed Burnam Square in 1871 and founded Ennis. Residents and businesses moved here, causing Burnam Square to decline. The 40-grave burial site is all that remains of the once thriving community of Burnam Square.
August Weidmann arrived in Corsicana from Bavaria in 1896 and opened a little bakery on Collin Street. His DeLuxe Fruitcake packed with pecans cherries and…
Lyman T. Davis parked his lunch wagon at this corner of Beaton Street and 5th Avenue in 1895, ladling out five-cent bowls of chili in front of the Blue Front…
444 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
Ennis has a rich Czech and Slovak heritage, with many early settlers coming from war-torn European nations that later became Czechoslovakia. This influx of immigrants not only contributed to the city's population growth…
Ennis exists because a railroad needed a place to stop. In 1871 the Houston and Texas Central Railway pushed north into Ellis County and bought roughly 647 acres of farmland at about five dollars an acre to anchor its…
Ennis is one of the great Czech towns of Texas, settled in waves by immigrants from the lands that became Czechoslovakia, and every Memorial Day weekend it throws the party that proves it: the National Polka Festival.…
On the afternoon of May 6, 1930, one of the deadliest tornadoes in Texas history tore a path straight toward Ennis. The storm touched down near Bynum in Hill County, crossed into Navarro County and flattened the little…
What kept Ennis alive after the first trains was a deal about water. When the Houston and Texas Central made Ennis the headquarters of its northern division around 1891, it built large machine shops and a roundhouse…
For its first sixty years Ennis lived inside a single slogan the Chamber of Commerce eventually made official: Where Railroads and Cotton Fields Meet. It was no exaggeration. The black Blackland Prairie soil around here…
Founding a railroad town created winners and losers, and the losers did not always go quietly. When the Houston and Texas Central chose this spot for its new community in the early 1870s, it bypassed the nearby…
Just after midnight on May 15, 2013, an EF1 tornado dropped onto Ennis and walked roughly two and a half miles right down Ennis Avenue, the commercial spine between downtown and Interstate 45. Packing winds near 90…
One of the most powerful executives in modern American business was born in this railroad town. Edward Whitacre Jr. was born in Ennis on November 4, 1941, the son of a railroad engineer, in a place still defined by the…
About five miles south of town, Waxahachie Creek runs into a wall of engineered earth called Lake Bardwell, and the whole thing is a lesson in flood control. Authorized by the federal Flood Control Act of 1960 and built…
If you want to stand inside the thing that made Ennis, walk into the Ennis Railroad and Cultural Heritage Museum at 105 NE Main Street, in the heart of the downtown historic district just east of the tracks. The museum…
You're driving through Ennis, a town born on the railroad in 1872. Originally a market town on the Houston & Texas Central Railway, it was named for a railway official, Cornelius Ennis. Ennis quickly became a hub,…
You're driving through Ennis, a town born from the railroad. Back in 1887, this spot became the northern end of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad line. The city itself was named for Cornelius Ennis, an early…
You're driving past the Ennis home of Katie Daffan, a woman who wore many hats in early 20th-century Texas. She started as a teacher, then became an author, writing books including a Texas history textbook. For years,…
You're driving through Ennis, a town that owes its very existence to the railroad. The Houston and Texas Central Railroad laid tracks nearby in 1871, and the very next year, Captain W. G. Veale platted this town along…
On June 15, 1902, at a baseball field in Ennis, Texas, Jay Justin Clarke set two single game professional Minor League Baseball records. The game was unusual because it was scheduled to be played in Corsicana, but was…
You're driving past the Ennis City Hall, a building that's served this community since 1915. Look at that Classical Revival style, designed by Hix McCanless, a Tennessee native who became Ennis's top architect and city…
You're driving past the historic Ennis National Bank building, constructed way back in 1883. That same year, the bank opened its doors with Joseph Baldridge at the helm. For over thirty years, until 1917, the bank ran…
Two miles east of downtown on Highway 34 stands the Sokol Activity Center, home to a Czech tradition Ennis has kept alive since 1908. Sokol is the Czech word for falcon, chosen for the bird's strength and independence,…
You're driving past the H.P. Barkley Home, a Victorian beauty built right here in Ennis back in 1892. Think elaborate gingerbread detailing! It was constructed by B.F. Sargeant for Barkley, who was a conductor and…
You're driving through Ennis, and right here is the Matthews-Atwood House. In 1900, Pearl C. Matthews and his brother Will opened a second department store in Ennis, expanding their business from McKinney. Pearl and his…
(October 22, 1915 - March 8, 1945) Born on an Ellis County farm, Jack Lummus attended school at Alma and Ennis, and Baylor University on an athletics scholarship. He played minor league baseball in Texas and football…
You're driving past the Moore House in Ennis, a stunning example of Neoclassical Revival architecture built back in 1905. It was home to Malinda and Hardin T. Moore. Malinda was quite a force – widowed twice, she…
Medal of Honor recipient, Andrew Jackson Lummus, Jr., referred to as Jack, was born on October 22, 1915, in Ennis, Texas, a cotton-farming town. He was the son of Andrew Jackson Lummus, Sr., a cotton farmer, and Laura…
The National Polka Festival, an annual music festival held each May in Ennis, Texas, was first organized in 1966 by Raymond Zapletal, Len Gehrig, and Joe Liska, in conjunction with Jack McKay, head of the local Chamber…
The son of Sam Zaragosa and Margarita Coronado, Sam Z. Coronado, Jr., artist, educator, and cultural activist, was born on July 12, 1946, in the small farm town of Ennis, Texas. His maternal grandparents were cotton…
William R. and Edeline House bought the land on which Burnam Square and Cemetery were located in 1856 for the price of a slave named John. In 1861, after her husband died, Edeline House had the 25-block town laid out…
You're driving through Ennis, Texas, where jazz saxophonist Marchel Lee Ivery was born. Ivery grew up in a musical household, but it was hearing Charlie Parker that made him switch from trumpet to saxophone. After…
You're driving through Ennis, Texas, a town born from a railroad rivalry. Back in 1871, the Houston and Texas Central Railway reached this spot, and a new community was named for an official, Cornelius Ennis. But the…
You cannot really understand Ennis until you have eaten its Czech heritage, and the easiest place to do that is the Kolache Depot Bakery at 1103 East Ennis Avenue. The kolache is the classic Czech breakfast pastry, a…
You're driving through Ennis, Texas, a town that was home to Lawrence Daffan. Daffan was just 16 when he enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861, heading east to Virginia to join Hood's Texas Brigade. He fought in…
You're driving through Ellis County, and right here is the story of Josef Matej Mikula, known to everyone as Jodie. Born in Telico in 1918, Jodie was a Texas-Czech musician who became a legend in the polka world. He…
You're driving through Robertson County, and right here is where John Henry Sharp got his start. Born in 1874, he grew up on a farm, studied law, and eventually became a judge. But what's really interesting is his…
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here, you're passing through the heart of what was once the Central Texas League. This was a minor league baseball circuit that ran from 1914 to 1917, but it was shaky…
You're driving through what was once Spanish Texas, and right here, you're near the lands granted to Frederick Harrison Rankin. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists, arriving in 1822. By 1824,…
You're driving past Myrtle Cemetery, a final resting place with roots stretching back to the very beginnings of Texas. The land was first deeded for burials in 1875, named for a child whose lone grave was part of the…
You're driving past the site of Wayman Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Ennis. Organized in 1880 by residents who moved from Telico, the congregation was led in the early 1900s by Dr. C.A. Harris. In 1905,…
You're driving past the site where Frederick Harrison Rankin lived out his long life in Texas. Born in Kentucky in 1795, Rankin was among the very first settlers to arrive with Stephen F. Austin's initial colony back in…
You're driving past the site of Old Lake Dam, built way back in 1891. Now, this wasn't just any old lake; it was a strategic move to bring the Houston and Texas Central Railroad's headquarters to Ennis. The railroad…
You're driving past the site of Old Bardwell. In the 1880s, this area was known as Pleasant Valley, a hub for cotton farmers. A cotton gin was built here in 1883, and the town was eventually named Bardwell after its…
Ennis (Ennis, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Keno Castillo (0.459 avg, 1 HR); Kevin Rodriguez (3 HR).
Just northeast of town sits Bardwell Lake, and it is not really there for fun, it is a flood-control machine. In the 1960s the Army Corps of Engineers dammed Waxahachie Creek with an earthen embankment more than eighty…
You're driving past the resting place of Phillip R. Pierce, a soldier who fought for Texas's independence. Born in North Carolina in 1813, Pierce later joined the Madisonville Cavalry, Texas Volunteers. He served during…
Out on U.S. 287 south of town sits a piece of motorsports that changed its entire sport. The Texas Motorplex, at 7500 U.S. Highway 287, was built in 1986 by former funny-car driver Billy Meyer, and it was the first…
You're driving through Ennis, where the town's name has roots right here. Thomas C. Neel, a Georgia native, settled near here in 1855 with his wife, Willia. Their cotton and wheat plantation became known as Will's Town,…
Alma is the kind of place you pass on the interstate without slowing down, but there is a reason to tap the brakes: Alma Smokehouse BBQ, a family-owned barbecue joint right on the I-45 frontage road. It has been smoking…
You're driving through Alma, a town that owes its very name to a little girl. The first settlers arrived here way back in 1848. But it wasn't until 1871, when the railroad came through, that Alma officially got its…
Before there was a town, there was a watering hole. In the 1840s a Tennessee settler bought a thousand acres beside a lake called Willow Pond, which served as a stagecoach stop on the road between Waxahachie and…
Alma sits on the Texas Blackland Prairie, a belt of dark, clay-rich soil that runs for about three hundred miles across the state. That black dirt is some of the most fertile farmland in the world, and it is the reason…
You're driving through Ellis County, not far from Waxahachie, and you're passing through Bardwell. This community got its start in the early 1880s, not with a town square, but with a cotton gin built by John W.…
You're driving through Ellis County, and right here in Bardwell, Texas, is where Benjamin Oscar Herring was born in 1889. He became a Baptist pastor and a university administrator, but his biggest impact might be at…
Bardwell began in the 1880s around a cotton gin built by a man named John Bardwell on the Blackland Prairie. But the town you would find today is not quite where it started. When a railroad was routed through Ellis…
A town of a few hundred people does not get many restaurants, so the couple Bardwell has, it earns. Out on Sycamore Street you will find the Bardwell Ice House, a local spot slinging burgers, wings, and cheesesteaks…
You're driving through Alma, Texas, a community with roots stretching back to the early 1840s. <break time="400ms"/> It all started with settlers like Thomas Smith, who claimed land around a spot called Willow Pond.…
You're driving past Elm Branch Cemetery, a quiet resting place for generations of Ellis County settlers. The earliest marked burial here is Martha R. Tidwell, who died way back on November 28, 1877. This rural community…
You're driving past Boren Cemetery, a final resting place for folks who settled this part of Texas. Michael Boren and his wife Mary Ann arrived here from Kentucky in 1847, bringing their children and enslaved people…
You're driving through Palmer, Texas, a town that owes its existence to the rumble of a train. <break time="400ms"/> In 1872, the Houston and Texas Central Railway laid tracks right through this area, and soon after, a…
You're driving past the Telico Church, a building with a story as enduring as its architecture. Built in 1867 as Kirkpatrick Presbyterian, this sanctuary has seen a lot of life. It even served as a Baptist church for…
You're driving past Telico Cemetery, a quiet reminder of early pioneer life right here in Ellis County. The first burial was Rev. William J. Kirkpatrick, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, who died way back on May 1st,…
You're driving through Palmer, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church. It all started on November 17th, 1873, when Reverend T.H. Durham preached the first sermon. Early services were held in members'…
Palmer is a namesake town, but not for a family that settled here. When the Houston and Texas Central Railway pushed its rails through northeastern Ellis County in 1872, the new stop was named for D. S. Palmer, a…
The dirt under Palmer turned out to be worth something. In 1902 Robert Smith founded the Palmer Press Brick Company here, betting on the heavy local clay of the Blackland Prairie. Brickmaking is applied materials…
Long before the interstate, Palmer had electric commuter service. In 1913 the Southern Traction Company completed a fifty-six-mile electric interurban line from Dallas to Corsicana, and the cars ran right through…
You're driving past the Harkey-Payne House, a home that's seen quite a bit of Texas history. Carpenter D. H. Harkey built the original four rooms around 1870. Then, in 1896, Dr. Johnson came along and added a whole…
You're driving through Palmer, where a unique community effort in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1880</say-as> led to a shared church building. Members of the First Christian Church, originally organized here in…
You're driving through Reagor Springs, a place named for a family whose descendants are buried right here. John I. Richardson, a surveyor and Confederate veteran, and his wife Ann Elizabeth, are interred in this…
You're driving by the Rice Cemetery, a final resting place for folks who settled Navarro County in the late 1860s. The land was granted in 1868 by the interests of William Marsh Rice, the same guy who later founded Rice…
You're driving past the site of the Haynie Memorial Methodist Church. It all began in 1874 when the Rev. William Vaughn founded this congregation. The land itself was donated by W. M. Rice, a big name in railroads and…
You're driving through Rice, a town that owes its very existence to a railroad and a flood. Back in the late 1860s, settlers fleeing a devastating flood at Porter's Bluff found a new home here. Then, in 1872, the…
Rice is a staple food that has been cultivated for thousands of years, with Asian rice domesticated in China 13,500 to 8,200 years ago and African rice independently domesticated in West Africa about 3,000 years ago. In…
You're driving past The Fortson Family. Members of the Fortson family came to Texas from Mississippi and settled in Navarro County in the 1840s. Civil War veteran James T. Fortson wed Ida Clayton, daughter of another…
You're driving through Rice, Texas, a town named for railroadman William Marsh Rice. Back in 1875, just three years after the railroad arrived, a group of locals gathered to start their own Baptist congregation. For…
You're driving past the site of the Bristol School. The community's first school started in a multi-purpose building here in 1870, with the district officially established in 1877. Later schools were built in 1886 and…
The founding of Bristol is rooted in the 1840s when Joshua Brock of Missouri first settled the area. Initially called Brockville, the community was named after its first postmaster general, Joshua Brock. The town was…
You're driving north on I-45, and right here in Navarro County is the town of Rice. It started in the late 1860s, but really took off when the Houston and Texas Central Railway arrived in 1872. The railroad owner…
You're driving through Ellis County, not far from where Ernest Tubb, the legendary "Gold Chain Troubador," was born in Crisp back in 1914. He learned guitar on his own, got a break from Jimmie Rodgers' widow, and landed…
You're driving through what was once a critical flashpoint in the Red River War. Right here, in late August of 1874, Captain Wyllys Lyman found himself in a desperate situation. His wagontrain, tasked with resupplying…
You're driving through what was once the wild Texas frontier, a land Thomas Ingles Smith knew well. Arriving in Texas in 1836, Smith fought with the Republic of Texas Army, served as a Texas Ranger, and even negotiated…
You're driving through Ellis County, near the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, where a massive scientific endeavor once promised to put Texas on the map. Back in 1985, the Texas National Research Laboratory Commission was…
Burnham (Burnam) was on the Ascensión Gonsaba land grant six miles southwest of Ennis in southeastern Ellis County. In 1861 the House family received a portion of this grant in exchange for a slave called John. Edeline…
Telico is on Farm Road 1181 five miles east of Ennis in east central Ellis County. The site that became Telico was settled before 1856 and, as it lay near the banks of the Trinity River, was originally called Trinity…
You're driving through North Texas, the heart of where the Nineteenth Texas Cavalry was formed during the Civil War. Fear of the draft pushed many men to join this mounted regiment in March of 1862, hoping to keep their…
You're driving through what is now Ellis County, a place that saw a lot of action in the 19th century. Harvey W. Young arrived here in 1842 and quickly became a key figure. He served as the sheriff of Ellis County in…
Forreston is on U.S. Highway 77 and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas tracks eight miles south of Waxahachie in south central Ellis County. At first the site was called Howe's Settlement, after William R. Howe, who arrived…
Trumbull is near Interstate Highway 45 and U.S. Highway 75 ten miles north of Ennis in northeastern Ellis County. The area that became Trumbull was settled in 1872, when the Houston and Texas Central Railway established…
You're driving through Ellis County, near Mountain Peak, the birthplace of James Andrew Beall. Born in 1866, Beall became a lawyer and a politician, serving in both the Texas Legislature and the U.S. Congress. But his…
You're driving past the site of the old Grady School, just outside Palmer. It started in 1895, built to educate the children of the pioneer Farrar family. The first building sat on a hill overlooking Red Oak Creek. By…
Auburn was sixteen miles southwest of Waxahachie in western Ellis County. Some of its first settlers were from a caravan of 105 covered wagons that originated in Arkansas in 1852. They were attracted by the water supply…
Avalon is an agricultural community located at State Highway 34 and Farm Road 55 about fourteen miles southeast of Waxahachie in southern Ellis County. Settlers began to arrive in the area along Chambers Creek in the…
Byrd was on Farm Road 985 near Clear Creek sixteen miles southeast of Waxahachie and eight miles southwest of Ennis in Ellis County. The original settlers to the Byrd area included H. L. Parker, Dan Faulk, Rube Warren,…
The Oak community, also known as Oak Branch, was on the Oak Branch of Chambers Creek three miles northeast of Maypearl in the southwest corner of Ellis County. Oak was once a prosperous farming community with a cotton…
You're driving past Smith Cemetery, established back in 1852. It started as a burial place for pioneers on a lonely knoll, but today it overlooks nine urban areas. Nancy Owen Smith founded this spot for her family and…
You're driving past Rutherford's Crossing Bridge, built back in 1919 by the Texas Bridge Company for just over 500 bucks. Before this Warren Pony truss bridge went up, locals had to ford Red Oak Creek. That crossing was…
You're driving past the Ellis County Farm Cemetery, also known as the Pauper Cemetery. This burial ground was part of a county farm established in the 1890s to support the needy. Between 1890 and 1946, it served as the…
You're driving past Emhouse, Texas, home to a church that's been a cornerstone of this community for over a century. Organized in 1893 in the nearby Kelm community, it was first chartered as the Tinkle Baptist Church.…
You're driving through Forreston, and right here is the site of the Nash Public School. Back in 1873, pioneer Thomas Alexander Williams brought his family to Garden Valley and immediately set about establishing a school…
You're driving through Navarro County, near Corsicana. Right here is Emhouse, a town born from a railroad in 1906. Originally called Lyford, it was renamed Emhouse after Colonel Edward M. House, the railroad…
You're driving past the Rockett Christian Church, a building that's seen over a century of Texas history. The congregation started gathering way back in 1853, but they formally organized in 1894. This beautiful…
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church, a community cornerstone for over 150 years. It all started way back in 1861, with just twelve members meeting in the local…
You're driving past Graves Cemetery, a final resting place for many of Ellis County's earliest pioneers. The first marked grave here belongs to Joseph Hinkle, who was laid to rest in 1859. His son-in-law, Robert Russell…
As you roll into Waxahachie, look toward the middle of the square, because you are about to see one of the most photographed landmarks in all of Texas. Rising over the downtown is the Ellis County Courthouse, a red…
Avalon (Avalon, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Josh Novak (0.571 avg, 1 HR).
You're driving past the former site of Oak Lawn School, a beacon for Black education in Waxahachie. It started in 1887 as an elementary school, moving to this very location in 1893. By the turn of the century, high…
You're driving past the site of Avalon Missionary Baptist Church, but this congregation started out as Mt. Nebo Baptist Church way back on July 6, 1879. Sixteen charter members, including families like the Martins, the…
You're driving past Joshua Chapel, an important landmark in Waxahachie's African American community. Organized in 1876, this congregation was named for its first pastor, the Reverend Joshua Goins, a man who started many…
This stretch of highway in the Ellis County area is named for Staff Sergeant Felix M. Conde-Falcón. Conde-Falcón was Puerto Rican-born, raised in Texas, drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. In 1969, he…
You're driving past St. Joseph Catholic Church. The earliest Catholic settlers in Waxahachie were two brothers of English and American ancestry who arrived in 1859. A German Catholic family joined them in 1870 and a…
You're driving past the neighborhood where Bessie Coleman grew up and went to school, right here in Waxahachie. Born in 1892, Coleman dreamed of flying, but no American flight school would teach a black woman. So, she…
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is a house with a story of Texas industry. In 1888, a widow built a home on this spot. Just one year later, it was bought by J.F. Strickland. He was a big deal—a…
You're driving past the former home of a Methodist presiding elder in Waxahachie. Built in 1901, this house served as the parsonage for the district superintendent for over 40 years. Mrs. M.J. Cooke initially had the…
Beneath the farmland south of Waxahachie runs the ghost of what would have been the most powerful scientific instrument on Earth. In 1988 the federal government chose Ellis County for the Superconducting Super Collider,…
These tree-shaded streets full of ornate Victorian houses are why Waxahachie calls itself the Gingerbread City, named for the lacy gingerbread woodwork dripping off the porches and gables that cotton money paid for. The…
In the shade of Getzendaner Memorial Park stands a great wooden octagon that once drew crowds of thousands for ideas, music, and oratory. This is the Chautauqua Auditorium, built in 1902 by the Waxahachie Chautauqua…
One of the greatest golfers who ever lived was born on a farm near here. Byron Nelson came into the world on February 4, 1912, just outside Waxahachie in Ellis County, before his family moved toward Fort Worth where he…
The town you're entering took its name straight off the water. Waxahachie comes from a Native American word the local tribes gave the creek running along the south edge of the new settlement, usually translated as…
On the northeast corner of the courthouse square stands the four-story Rogers Hotel, built in 1912 on the very lot where town founder Emory Rogers raised his log cabin back in 1847. Designed by architect C.D. Hill, it…
You're driving past the site of a Confederate powder mill, erected back in 1862 by William Rowen. Just a year later, on April 29th, 1863, a massive explosion rocked this spot. The blast destroyed the mill and tragically…
You're driving past the Hancock Building in Waxahachie, a Victorian commercial structure built in 1890. Look for the decorative brickwork and cast iron columns on the facade. It was purchased in 1907 by William Pitt…
You're driving past the 1889 Masonic Lodge Hall in Waxahachie. Look at this three-story brick building, topped with a tin cornice decorated with Masonic symbols. It was built in 1889 for Waxahachie Lodge No. 90. The…
You're driving past the site of Marvin College, founded right here in 1870 by the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Waxahachie residents pitched in with land, labor, and cash to build it up. This place earned acclaim…
You're driving southwest of Kaufman on Highway 34, and you're passing through Rosser. This town owes its very existence to the railroad. Back in 1872, the Texas and Pacific Railway began construction right through this…
You're driving past the site of Waxahachie's Central Presbyterian Church. It started way back in 1853 as a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation, with just twelve members led by Rev. Daniel G. Molloy. They met in a…
You're in Waxahachie, Texas, so here's the Indigenous place-name tangent behind the name: Waxahachie shares its name with the local creek and is traditionally said to come from an Indigenous word connected with cow or…
You're in Waxahachie, Texas, so here's the Indigenous place-name tangent behind the name: North Texas was homeland, hunting country, travel corridor, and contested territory for multiple Indigenous peoples across…
You're in Waxahachie, Texas, so here's the Indigenous place-name tangent behind the name: European-introduced epidemics caused catastrophic population loss before many detailed written records were made. Warfare,…
Look up. The building dominating the square is widely called one of the finest county courthouses in America, and it's the reason people drive here. Architect James Riely Gordon designed it in the Richardsonian…
You're in Waxahachie, Texas, so here's the Indigenous place-name tangent behind the name: many Southern Plains communities combined farming with seasonal hunting rather than choosing one lifestyle. Corn, beans, squash,…
You're in Waxahachie, Texas, so here's the Indigenous place-name tangent behind the name: Indigenous trade networks moved salt, food, horses, hides, pottery, shell, pigments, stone, metal goods, and information across…
Bessie Coleman was born in a one-room cabin in Atlanta, Texas in 1892 and grew up picking cotton in the fields outside Waxahachie. She walked four miles to a one-room schoolhouse for Black children that closed every…
Walk the corners of the courthouse and watch the carved faces change. Near one entrance a young woman's face is serene and lovely; turn the corner and she sours, twists, and finally curdles into something demonic. The…
Waxahachie has more ornate Victorian homes per block than almost any town in Texas, a legacy of the cotton boom that made Ellis County one of the wealthiest in the state during the late 1800s. The decorative woodwork on…
You're driving past Ellis County Courthouse. Ellis County's first courthouse was made of cedar logs and built here in 1850. A second courthouse was built on this square in 1853 and a third in 1874. In 1894 Virginia…
You're driving past Chatfield, Texas, where a remarkable story of faith and community unfolded. Back in 1849, Robert Hodge, a wealthy landowner, allowed his enslaved people to organize their own churches. They shared a…
You're driving past the Ellis County Courthouse in Waxahachie, a stunning example of Romanesque Revival architecture. Built between 1895 and 1897, it's constructed from Texas granite, limestone, and marble. Look closely…
You're driving past the Old Ellis County Jail in Waxahachie, completed in 1888. This impressive brick and stone building housed the sheriff's family on the first floor and twenty cells upstairs. Look for the distinctive…
You're driving through Rosser, Texas, a town that owes its existence to the railroad. Originally called Trinidad and reliant on the Trinity River for trade, things changed in 1882 when the Houston and Texas Central…
You're driving past the site of the old Rogers Street Bridge in Waxahachie. Built in 1889, this truss bridge was a crucial piece of infrastructure, connecting early settlers and a vital North-South commercial route.…
You're driving past Waxahachie's oldest church, St. Paul's Episcopal. <break time="400ms"/> Dedicated way back in 1885 by pioneer Bishop A.C. Garrett, this building still stands as a testament to Gothic Revival…
You're driving past the Williams-Erwin House in Waxahachie, a beautiful example of Victorian architecture. Built in 1893 for cotton merchant Edward Williams, this home showcases the wealth generated by the booming…
You're driving past the Ellis County Woman's Building, also known as Davis Hall, in Waxahachie. Designed by Dallas architect Bertram C. Hill and built in 1925 and 1926, it was intended as a public park and a place for…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here is the area where golf legend Byron Nelson was born. Nelson, known as 'Lord Byron,' grew up in Fort Worth and became one of the greatest golfers of all time. In 1945,…
You're driving through Waxahachie, Texas, the hometown of Ronnie Dawson, a rockabilly legend. Born in 1939, Dawson first hit the music scene as Ronnie Dee with his band, the D Men. They were so good they won ten…
You're driving past Waxahachie, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to Emory W. Rogers. Back in 1849, Rogers was granted 640 acres right here to establish the county seat for Ellis County. He didn't just get the…
You're driving through Ellis County, and right here is Waxahachie, home of Rae Files Still. She wasn't just a teacher; she was a force in the Texas House of Representatives for a decade. Still is best remembered for…
Right here in Waxahachie, you're driving past the birthplace of Paul "Sleepy" Richards, a Major League Baseball player and manager. But what's really interesting is how this town shaped his love for the game. Back in…
You're driving through Waxahachie, the hometown of actor Frederic Forrest. Born here in 1936, Forrest grew up a fan of Westerns, attending movies in town and eventually pursuing his own acting dreams. He studied with…
You're driving through what was once the rugged West, and right here in Waxahachie, Texas, was born Jules Verne Allen, the original 'Singing Cowboy.' Before he hit the radio waves in the 1920s, Allen actually lived the…
You're driving through Texas, and right here, in Waxahachie, was born Sarah Campbell Blaffer, a woman who would bring world-class art to the Lone Star State. After a visit to the Louvre on her honeymoon, she began…
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is where Dr. Manton Marble Carrick spent his formative years. He went on to become a pioneer in public health, serving as superintendent of the Texas State Leper Colony…
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is the hometown of Frank Erwin Jr. A lawyer and political player, Erwin became a titan at the University of Texas System. From 1963 to 1975, he chaired the Board of…
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through the territory where the Twelfth Texas Cavalry was born. Organized in September of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as> near…
You're driving past Rosemont, a true Victorian gem in Waxahachie. Built in 1894 for a whopping twelve thousand dollars, this 20-room mansion was a statement. Notice the wide verandas, the ten fireplaces with carved oak…
You're driving past the homesite of Dr. D.G. Thompson, a prominent physician right here in Waxahachie. After studying medicine in Kentucky and training in the East, Dr. Thompson married Rufa Jones in 1882. He built this…
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is the First Presbyterian Church building. Organized way back in 1871 by Reverend J.A. Smiley with just 16 members, this congregation has seen a few buildings. The first…
You're driving through Ellis County, heading towards Waxahachie, where Amzi Bradshaw made his home. A lawyer and legislator, Bradshaw answered the call to arms in 1861, enlisting as a private in the Nineteenth Texas…
You're driving through Ellis County, near Waxahachie. Back in the 1870s, the folks here were a bit stubborn. When the Houston and Texas Central Railroad wanted to build through, Waxahachie refused to offer any money,…
You're driving through North Texas, near where Joseph Martin Dawson was born back in 1879. He was a Baptist pastor, but he was also a fierce social activist. In 1914, after reading the works of Walter Rauschenbusch,…
You're driving through Waxahachie, the town named for Justus Wesley Ferris. He arrived in Texas in 1847, drawn here after his law mentor died unexpectedly. Ferris became a prominent lawyer and judge, even authoring…
You're driving through Waxahachie, a town that owes a lot to Charles Reese Gibson. After serving in the Confederate Army and practicing law, Gibson arrived here in 1867. He didn't just settle down; he built up the…
You're driving through North Texas, passing through communities like Waxahachie and Dallas, places that were shaped by figures like Anson Rainey. He started his Texas journey in Crockett in 1867, then moved to…
You're driving through Waxahachie, home to Southwestern Assemblies of God University. But this school has a history that stretches across state lines and multiple mergers. It began in 1927 as Southwestern Bible School…
You're driving through Ellis County, near Waxahachie. Right here, Josiah Wright Kemble, a prosperous farmer and merchant, made a big decision around 1861. Fearing the Civil War's violence back in Kentucky, he packed up…
You're cruising through Waxahachie, and you might just pass a fairytale house! This French Eclectic home was built in 1939 for H.P. and Mollie McCartney. Noted Dallas architect Charles S. Dilbeck designed it, giving it…
You're driving through Waxahachie, a town with a name that comes from an Indian word meaning 'cow' or 'buffalo.' It was established as the county seat of Ellis County back in August 1850. Early settlers like Emory W.…
You're driving through Ellis County, a place established in December of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1849</say-as>. It was drawn from Navarro County and likely named for Richard Ellis, a key figure in the…
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Waxahachie, Samuel Ewell McKnight got his start. Born in 1864, he worked the family ranch before heading out on his own around 1891 to lease land near Brady. He…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in Waxahachie, Chalmers McPherson arrived in 1879. He was a minister with a vision, serving the Christian church for twenty years. But his real passion? Education.…
You're driving through Waxahachie, the birthplace of Dr. Albert Olin Singleton. Born in 1882, Singleton went on to become a pioneering professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He…
You're driving past Waxahachie, and right here is where a faith community planted its roots way back in 1849. Nine charter members, led by Reverend Falacius Reynolds, met in a settler's cabin to start a Methodist…
You're cruising through Chatfield, the hometown of General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. This Texas native was a true military powerhouse, serving from World War I all the way through the Cold War. What makes him stand out?…
At 515 West Main stands a small marble temple of a building that owes its existence to a will. Nicholas P. Sims, a Virginia native who settled in Ellis County in the 1830s and grew rich as a farmer and investor, died in…
You're driving past Bells' Chapel Cemetery, founded way back in 1875. Local landowners John and Elizabeth Gibbons gave the land for the church and cemetery on December 27th of that year, deeding it to the Methodist…
You're driving past the Mahoney-Thompson House in Waxahachie, a solid piece of local history. Built between 1902 and 1904 by Dennis Mahoney, a contractor who first came to Texas to build Trinity University. He laid the…
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here in Getzendaner Park, you're passing a building that was a pioneer among privately endowed Texas libraries. Captain W.H. Getzendaner donated this park back in 1895. But…
The Victorian house at 814 Water Street, built in 1895, spent decades as a family home before it opened in 1984 as the Catfish Plantation, a Cajun-and-catfish spot that became famous less for the food than for being…
You're driving past the site of Waxahachie's historic ballpark, known by many names over the years, including Jungle Park and Woodman Park. Back in 1914, locals dreamed of attracting a major league team, and by 1916,…
You're driving past the Hawkins House in Waxahachie. This home started as a simple, one-story structure built in 1851 by Benjamin Franklin Hawkins, a key figure in organizing Ellis County as part of the Peters Colony.…
You're cruising past the Eddy P. Hawkins home in Waxahachie. Hawkins, from a pioneer Ellis County family, built the first two rooms of this place right after he married Netta Carson in 1878. Fast forward to 1900, and he…
You're driving through Chatfield, and right here is the site of the Chatfield United Methodist Church. It all started way back in 1846 when Reverend J.E. Ferguson preached to Methodists in this area. Robert Hodge, the…
You're driving past Waxahachie Cemetery. The first burial here was on New Year's Day, 1852, for Silas Killough, a pioneer merchant and one of the town's founders. The land itself was donated back in 1858 by Emory…
You're driving past Chatfield, not far from where the last organized Confederate unit met its end. It's June 2nd, 1865. General Jo Shelby and his Iron Brigade, weary from war, are camped near Chambers Creek. Word of…
The true heart of Pecan Hill was never a courthouse or a factory; it was its school. Founded in 1881 in a single building that also served as a church, the school was the community's anchor. By the early 1900s, it had…
The reason Pecan Hill exists is a story of soil science. You’re on the Blackland Prairie, famous for its dark, clay-rich soil derived from Taylor Marl. This soil is packed with a mineral called montmorillonite, which…
Ferris, Texas, has a rich history that began in the early 1870s. The town was officially established on September 28, 1874, when a local family donated 100 acres for a town and railway station. The community was named…
Pecan Hill is a community in Texas.
In the late 19th century, a railroad line was the difference between life and death for a Texas town. Pecan Hill, despite its productive cotton farms, never got one. The major rail lines, like the Missouri-Kansas-Texas…
You're driving through Ferris, a town with roots stretching back to 1851. That's when the Ephriam Andrews family and their in-laws, the McKnights, settled this area on purchased land. By 1874, the Andrews family deeded…
You're driving past Grange Hall Cemetery, established around 1872 to serve the Cryer Creek farming community. It likely got its name from a local chapter of The Grange farmers' organization. Among those resting here are…
You're driving past a truly unique home in Waxahachie, built back in 1890 and 1891. This isn't just any house; it's a fantastic example of Queen Anne Revival style, featuring two hexagonal rooms and two octagonal rooms!…
You're driving through Ferris, and you're passing the site of the First Presbyterian Church. This congregation started way back in 1858 with just 13 members. They moved to this spot in 1875, and the building you see…
You're driving through Ferris, a town that sprung up around the Houston & Texas Central Railway back in 1874. Right here is the site of the First United Methodist Church. Circuit-riding ministers first served this…
The creek Interstate 45 crosses north of Corsicana is named for one of early Texas's boldest land speculators. Thomas Jefferson Chambers worked for the Mexican government as a surveyor, a counselor, and finally a…
You're driving through Ellis County, and right here is the story of Virginia Elizabeth Duff. Born in Ferris in 1920, she grew up with a family steeped in Texas politics. After graduating from Trinity University and…
You're driving through Ferris, a town that put itself on the map thanks to the dirt beneath its feet. <break time="400ms"/> Founded in 1874 along the new Houston and Texas Central Railway, Ferris quickly became known…
You're cruising past the Trippet-Shive House in Waxahachie, a beautiful example of late 19th-century architecture. Banker H.W. Trippet finished this home in 1896, right around the turn of the century. Later, Walter…
You're driving past Getzendaner Memorial Park, originally West End Park, established way back in 1889. For decades, it was the site of massive Chautauqua assemblies, drawing thousands for two weeks each summer. Imagine…
You're driving past the site of a cultural phenomenon that swept across America! Back in 1899, Waxahachie became a hub for Chautauqua assemblies, drawing huge crowds from all over. People would camp out for days,…
You're driving past the site of a significant Texas frontier home. Edward H. Tarrant, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a renowned Indian fighter, built his house here in 1845. He was a statesman of vision and commanded…
You're cruising past the Fry-Butcher House, a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture right here in Red Oak. Sam and Sarah Jane Fry bought this land in 1882 and, with the help of carpenter Lewis Butcher, built this…
Life Waxahachie (Waxahachie, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Shaun Malone (0.583 avg).
You're driving through Ellis County, not far from Red Oak, the birthplace of Michael Francis "Pinky" Higgins. He earned his nickname in a unique way, reportedly showing up for a sandlot football game wearing his clothes…
You're driving by Chambers' Creek. This area was first granted land by the Mexican government in 1834 to Thomas Jefferson Chambers, a name you'll see on maps all over Texas. But before it was Chambers' Creek, settlers…
You're driving south of Dallas on I-35, and right here is Red Oak. This town started out as Possum Trot back in 1844, named for the critters that were everywhere. The first settlers were the James E. Patton family, who…
You're driving through Callahan County, not far from Cottonwood, where the infamous Newton Boys got their start. These brothers – Willis, Joe, Jess, and Doc – weren't just any outlaws. By the time they were done, they'd…
Right here in Callahan County, you're passing through the birthplace of Meade Felix Griffin, a man who reached the pinnacle of Texas law. Born in Cottonwood in 1894, Griffin wasn't just a lawyer; he was a decorated…
You're driving through Callahan County, near Cottonwood, the birthplace of Lewis Thaddeus Nordyke. Born in 1905, Nordyke grew up on a farm called Nubbin Ridge. After graduating from college and teaching for a bit, he…
You're driving through Madison County, and right here is Cottonwood. It started around 1880, named for the cottonwood trees that grew along Iron Creek. A schoolhouse went up on land donated by J. R. Day, and for a brief…
You're cruising through Barry, a town built on cotton and railroads. It all kicked off in 1886 when the St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas Railroad arrived, bringing opportunity. That same year, the post office opened in Owen…
You're driving through Navarro County, and right here, in what is now Barry, Texas, you're passing through a town named for a man who shaped Dallas. Bryan Thomas Barry was a lawyer and legislator, but he also acquired…
You're driving past Cottonwood Cemetery, established way back in 1882. It started on land given by J. W. Swayze, intended for a church, a school, and this burial ground. The very first person laid to rest here was J. R.…
You're driving through Barry, a town that literally picked itself up and moved. Originally founded a mile south in 1886, Barry was nothing more than a gin and a post office. But when the railroad came through in 1888,…
Barry existed before the railroad, but not where you're standing now. In 1886, a post office ran inside Owen Taylor's general store at a settlement about a mile south of today's town, with Taylor serving as the first…
Somewhere in the fields outside Barry, a future blues star spent his childhood. Melvin "Lil' Son" Jackson grew up largely on his grandfather's farm near here, raised between two musical worlds. His parents played, and…
The flat farmland around Barry didn't always look like this. Once the railroad gave the town a way to ship a cash crop, Barry turned itself into a cotton-processing and shipping center. Dan McCammon built the first…
This little farm town is named for a man who became one of the most consequential mayors in Dallas history. Bryan Thomas Barry was a Navarro County landowner, attorney, and politician who held at least 300 acres around…
South of Barry along FM 744, the Campbell-Elrod Cemetery holds a story older than the railroad town itself. David Wilson Campbell came to Texas in 1835 and served in the Texas army during the War for Independence, then…
Barry's first cotton gin opened in 1899, and it's worth understanding what that machine actually did, because the whole town grew out of it. The problem it solved was tedious and slow by hand: separating the cotton…
If you want the whole arc of Barry in one spot, stop at the town's Texas historical marker, set near South Front Street and Houston Street where it meets FM 1126. The marker condenses everything that made this place:…
At the corner of Houston and Third streets sits Barry Baptist Church, one of the strongest physical links the town still has to its railroad-and-cotton heyday. The congregation began in September 1891 as Elam Baptist…
You're driving past the site of Barry Baptist Church, but its story started a little over a mile northeast, as Elam Baptist Church. Organized in September of 1891 with just seven members, they called their first pastor,…
Red Oak High School can claim something almost no school anywhere can: a father and daughter who both stood on an Olympic medal stand in the same event. Michelle Carter grew up in Red Oak and graduated from Red Oak High…
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here we remember Parsons' Cavalry. Back in September of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as>, men from this county and beyond gathered near Rockett's Spring…
You're driving past the McKinney-Aday Farm House near Waxahachie. Henry McKinney, a former Texas Ranger, moved to Ellis County and bought farmland in 1903. By 1913, he'd hired a builder to construct this impressive…
You're driving through Ellis County, Texas. It was carved out of Navarro County back on December 20th, 1849. The county was officially organized just a few months later, on August 5th, 1850. It’s named for Richard…
You're driving past Cottonwood Baptist Church near Scurry. Organized in 1880 with Reverend A. M. K. Sowell as its first pastor, this congregation started worship in a simple log building. That land was donated for…
You're driving past the Red Oak Cemetery, which started life as the Kemble family burial ground. Abraham Kemble bought this land around 1860, and he and his wife Mary were laid to rest here in 1867. Decades later, in…
You're driving past Conner Cemetery, a final resting place for a family that put down roots in Texas back in 1856. Thomas Conner and his family left Illinois to settle here, and his son, Edward, bought up land in 1873.…
In 1967, the crew of Arthur Penn's landmark film Bonnie and Clyde rolled into little Red Oak, about 15 miles south of Dallas on Highway 35E, and put the town on screen. A spruced-up red-brick bank near the corner of…
The fast-growing suburb you're passing on Interstate 35 about 18 miles south of Dallas almost ended up with a much stranger name. Settlement started here in 1844, when James E. Patton and his family put down roots along…
If you want the family whose name runs under this whole community, it's the Pattons. Colonel James E. Patton brought his family to Red Oak Creek in the mid-1840s and, on July 25, 1847, organized the Shiloh congregation…
Red Oak grew up as a blackland farm town. Before the Civil War the main crop was wheat, but by the 1860s cotton took over the deep prairie soil, and a general store opened around 1852 by Hugh Caldwell and I.P. Jeffers…
Red Oak's first taste of national fame came on a baseball diamond. Michael Franklin Higgins, nicknamed Pinky as a baby, was born here on May 27, 1909, and grew into a hard-hitting major-league third baseman. Over…
Hollywood owes a quiet debt to Red Oak. Bill Hart, born here on July 28, 1934, became one of the great Western stuntmen of the studio era. He broke in on John Wayne's epic The Alamo in 1960 and went on to perform or…
The blackland prairie that once grew cotton on the edge of Red Oak is now being asked to grow something invisible: the cloud. In 2023, Google announced it would invest more than 600 million dollars in a new hyperscale…
The baseball diamond at Red Oak High School carries the name of one of the school's own, and it is well earned. Wedsel Gary Groom Jr., known to everyone as Buddy, graduated from Red Oak High in 1983, where he was an…
Before she became a fixture of the North Texas indie scene, singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe was a kid in Red Oak. Born in Lufkin, she moved around the state as a child until her family settled in Red Oak, just south of…
Coming up on your left, you're passing through Navarro County. This area was formed from Robertson County back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>. It's named for Jose Antonio Navarro, a true Texas…
You're driving past the Jefferson Dunaway Home, built in 1855. Jefferson Madison Dunaway built this home for his bride, Sarah Ann Brack. The stone for the chimneys was gathered right from the creek banks nearby, and…
You're driving past Hamilton-Bragg Cemetery. The James Hamilton,Jr. family left Tennessee for Texas ca. 1841. Upon James' death in Arkansas, his wife Elizabeth and their children continuned the journey, arriving in…
You're driving through Ellis County, near where Bethel Methodist Church was established. In 1852, N.P. Sims donated land for a church and burial ground. The cemetery you're passing has over 400 graves, including those…
You're cruising through Blooming Grove, Texas, a town with a name that sounds like a wildflower meadow. But this place started out as a simple village called Gradyville back in the 1860s, named after two brothers who…
You're driving past Blooming Grove, where a church with a long history stands. It all started in 1869, when Richard and Susan Gowan donated land for a Methodist church and cemetery. A simple white chapel went up,…
You're driving past Bethel Methodist Church, a place with roots stretching back to 1853. It all started under a simple brush arbor at High Springs. Services moved around a bit, first to a log schoolhouse, then another…
On a farm between Blooming Grove and Frost, near Wolf Creek, the spring of 1956 turned into one of the strangest spectacles in Navarro County history. The story went that stagecoach robbers had buried silver or gold…
One of the most unexpected names tied to this small Navarro County town belongs to Motown. Cornelius Grant was raised by his grandmother in Blooming Grove, where he taught himself guitar, and he carried that into the…
The name Blooming Grove carries a unique story, a blend of personal and natural history. It was a portmanteau of Dr. John Marion Davis' son's name, Price Blum Davis, and a grove of trees near Gradyville, which was the…
The community you're passing through started about a mile from here as a general store run by R. J. Grady and Sam Andrews after the Civil War, and everybody just called it Gradyville. A post office opened in 1871, and…
At its peak this was a humming cotton town. Blooming Grove ran four cotton gins, two gristmills, two lumberyards, two hotels, independent cotton buyers, banks, restaurants, churches, and a community fair, and the…
On the night of September 24, 2023, a violent thunderstorm parked over Blooming Grove and dropped hail measured at roughly 2.75 inches across, about the size of a baseball. Roofs, windows, vehicles, and school buildings…
At about 101 North Fordyce Street stands the Blooming Grove historical marker, and it's the cleanest place to start understanding this town. In a few paragraphs of cast aluminum, it lays out the arc that shaped…
The Blooming Grove United Methodist Church at 300 South Kerr Street carries a longer history than its 1913 building suggests. The congregation started as a Methodist mission back in 1869 at White Church, the older…
Southeast of the modern town lies White Church Cemetery, and it holds a piece of Blooming Grove that downtown can't show you. This ground predates the railroad-era community, and tradition says it was here, at a…
If you want a meal that actually fits this place, the Rocking RD Cattle Company Restaurant at 104 South Fordyce Street is the strongest pick downtown. There's no continuously operating restaurant left from the railroad…
You're driving past the Winniford House, a testament to Texas grit and good design. William Johnson Winniford arrived here in 1853, chasing opportunity after a stint in the California Gold Rush. He homesteaded 320…
You're driving through Navarro County, and right here is Blooming Grove. This town has a unique origin story. After the Civil War, a store opened up, and when it was time for a post office in 1871, the citizens gathered…
You're driving through Blooming Grove, and right here, back in 1899, the Methodists wanted to get a jump on education. They opened a college prep school that, by 1900, became the University Training School. It even…
It's hard to picture now, but for about a decade this small cotton town tried to make itself an educational center for Central Texas. In 1899 local leaders started a preparatory school, and the next year it became the…
You're driving past Blooming Grove, a town that's moved and rebuilt its schools more times than you might expect. It all started in 1869, when Richard Gowan donated land for a small building that served as church,…
You're driving past the site of Corsicana's YMCA, a pioneer in youth development in Texas. Organized way back in 1884, it was one of only two YMCAs in the entire state! It started small, meeting in a room over a bank,…
You're driving through Sardis, Texas, where Methodism has deep roots stretching back to 1845. That's when a traveling preacher named Thomas Welch first rode through this area, spreading the word. The formal congregation…
On the dark land off Houston School Road, a brick manor and its barns spent decades as one of the oldest haunted attractions in Texas, the seasonal Reindeer Manor, opened in 1974 and run for some 49 seasons before the…
You're driving past the site of Roane Baptist Church.<break time="400ms"/> This congregation got its start in 1897 with 26 charter members.<break time="400ms"/> For a while, they met in the Roane School building, with…
You're driving past the Navarro County home of George Washington Shelton, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence. Born in Virginia in 1814, Shelton came to Texas in late 1835 with fifteen other recruits, ready to…
You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is the marker for Colonel Clinton McKamey Winkler. Born in North Carolina in 1821, Winkler settled in the Republic of Texas in 1840. He was a lawyer and served in the…
You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is the story of David Reed Mitchell. Born in North Carolina in 1797, Mitchell arrived in Texas in 1845, already a seasoned surveyor. He'd scouted the Trinity and Brazos…
You're driving past the site of the Sardis School, a community hub for decades. Kids here first learned their lessons in the local Methodist church back in the early 1870s. By 1897, a dedicated schoolhouse went up…
Italy is a small town in Ellis County, just south of Dallas off Interstate 35. It was platted in 1879 along the railroad. The founder, a man named John Tucker, had recently traveled in Europe, and he decided that the…
You're driving past the birthplace of Samuel R. Frost, a Navarro County figure who lived a long life of service. Born in Huntsville in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>, Frost enlisted in the…
You're driving through Navarro County, near where the town of Corsicana was established back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1848</say-as>. This area saw early settlers like Elizabeth Hamilton and Joseph…
Postmaster Penn named this place for a climate he imagined, so it's worth asking, does Italy, Texas actually feel like Italy? Here's the reality, and it is a lesson in climate science. The parts of Italy people picture,…
You're rolling through Italy, Texas, a small town on the Blackland Prairie named on a postmaster's whim, not the boot-shaped country across the ocean. But since the name begs the obvious question, let's actually talk…
You're parked in Italy, Texas, but the name keeps pulling us overseas, so let's stay with Italy the country for one more beat, because the second act is just as big. Fast forward past Rome and you land in the…
Beside Interstate 35E sits one of the strangest engineering campuses in Texas: the Monolithic Dome Research Park at 177 Dome Park Place, home of Monolithic Constructors and the Monolithic Dome Institute. Its most…
Here's a Texas town wearing the name of an entire country, and the reason is pure weather envy. Italy, in Ellis County, was named in eighteen eighty by Gabriel J. Penn, the postmaster over in Waxahachie, about fifteen…
Before Italy won the name, there was an argument. Early residents floated three choices, and each opens its own thread. One camp wanted Houston Creek, after the stream running through town, because the story goes that…
So think about how much one small town name can carry. Pull on Italy, Texas, and the thread unspools fast. It starts with a Waxahachie postmaster in eighteen eighty who thought the sky looked Mediterranean, even though…
Back on solid Texas ground, the name may be borrowed but the history here is homegrown, and it runs on cotton and steel rail. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, the old Katy, reached Italy in December of eighteen…
Here's a nice loop the town closes on purpose. Italy, Texas leans into its borrowed name and throws an Italian festival every June. Think about that for a second. A place named on a postmaster's whim, by a man who very…
You're driving past the final resting place of General Edward H. Tarrant, a man who saw action in the War of 1812. Born in North Carolina in 1796, Tarrant moved to Texas and became a courageous Indian fighter. He also…
You're driving past the site of a major Texas oilman's legacy. James Lawrence Collins, born in West Virginia in 1883, started in the oil fields at just fourteen. He arrived in Corsicana around 1923, partnering with the…
You're driving through Italy, Texas, a town that was home to Emma Grigsby Meharg, the first woman to ever serve as Texas Secretary of State. Appointed in 1925 by Governor Miriam Ferguson, Meharg served for two years,…
You're driving through Italy, Texas, a town with a name that might surprise you. Back in 1879, settlers were debating what to call this new spot. Some wanted Houston Creek, others Egypt. But it was Gabriel Penn, a…
You're driving past the marker for John Marr Hardeman, a soldier who fought for Texas independence in 1836. He was born way back in Tennessee in 1804, but he made his life here in Texas. Hardeman lived a long life,…
You're driving through Ellis County, near Italy, Texas, where Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Watson commanded the Nineteenth Texas Cavalry during the Civil War. Watson, a plantation owner who arrived in the 1850s, helped…
Under segregation, Italy's Black neighborhood, known locally as The Hill and centered on Hardeman, Williams, and Harris streets and parts of Poplar and Clark, went without running water, sewers, paved streets, and…
If Italy's downtown looks like a patchwork of older masonry, altered storefronts, and newer construction rather than an intact nineteenth-century row, this is largely why. At about 7:20 p.m. on March 26, 1961, a tornado…
Italy produced one of professional baseball's all-time characters, and he never let anyone forget it. Arthur Shires, born here, billed himself as Art the Great, dressed extravagantly, boxed professionally, turned up in…
The little Blackland Prairie town you're passing through, the one locals pronounce IT-lee, came within a postmaster's whim of being named something else entirely. The first building on this site went up in 1879, raised…
This compact downtown was once a genuine crossroads of freight, the kind of place where four different eras of transportation briefly overlapped. The Katy, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, reached Italy in December…
The golden age of singing cowboys reaches surprisingly far into this farming town. Dale Evans, the actress, singer, and songwriter remembered as the Queen of the West, was born in Uvalde, but her parents farmed here at…
Once a small settlement in Ellis County, Texas, the town of Italy has seen its fair share of ups and downs. Founded in 1879 by settlers who found the land ideal for growing cotton, corn, sweet potatoes, and wheat, Italy…
In the traffic circle where State Highway 34 meets Couch Street stands a 1936 granite marker for General Edward H. Tarrant, the man Tarrant County is named for, and it commemorates a grave that no longer holds him.…
For three decades the most beloved place to eat in Italy was Doris Mitchell's Uptown Cafe, and it was as much a community institution as a restaurant. Mitchell started with a small burger operation near I-35E before…
You're driving through Kaufman County, past Pleasant Grove Cemetery. The earliest burial here is Harriet Mathis, who died in 1873 at just eight years old. Her parents later donated land for a school and early churches,…
Right here in Corsicana, you're driving past the home of Beauford Jester, built in 1923. Jester’s family had dairy farmed this land for years. He became a Corsicana attorney, then headed the UT Board of Regents, and…
You're driving through Ellis County, the heart of the Blackland Prairie, which was once a vital pathway for Texas cattle. From about 1850 to 1873, the Shawnee Cattle Trail, the first north-south trail, ran right through…
You're driving past Mills, Roger Q., Colonel. (1832-1911) Born in Kentucky. Came to Texas 1849. Civic and political leader. Represented Navarro County in Legislature, 1859-60.
You're driving past the site of the First National Bank of Corsicana, a place that saw the rise of a landmark Texas city. Founded around 1850, Corsicana got its big break in 1871 when the railroad connected it to…
You're driving through Corsicana, past the legacy of Frank Neal Drane. He started in hardware, then led the City National Bank. In 1901, Drane founded the Corsicana Power and Light company, bringing energy to the…
You're driving through Italy, Texas, and the Sims family story unfolds. These weren't just settlers; they were the bedrock of early Ellis County development. In 1851, Nicholas P. Sims and his family established their…
You're driving past the Corsicana area, home of Alva Taylor, a dedicated grassroots writer and preservationist. Born in 1891, Taylor's lifelong passion for history led him to research and write several books. He was…
You're driving past Sardis Cemetery, where the earliest marked grave belongs to Susan Jane Rachael Kelly, who died in childbirth back in 1871. Early settler Robert Mayfield donated land for this burial ground, which…
The bronze figure standing in this Corsicana park is Lefty Frizzell, born William Orville Frizzell on March 31, 1928, right here in Navarro County. He may be the most influential country vocalist most people have never…
Corsicana gave country music one of its most imitated voices. William Orville Frizzell, known to the world as Lefty, was born here on March 31, 1928, by tradition in a rough oil-field neighborhood on the edge of town.…
You're driving past the site where James Clinton Neill, a key figure in the Texas Revolution, settled in Milam County. Born in North Carolina in 1790, Neill arrived in Texas in 1831 with Stephen F. Austin. He joined the…
You're cruising through Corsicana, and just ahead is a marker for Alexander Beaton. A Scottish immigrant who arrived in Texas in 1848, Beaton was a lawyer by trade. But his real impact? He championed the Houston & Texas…
You're driving past the site of Corsicana's very first courthouse, right here in Navarro County. The county seat was named by the Texas Legislature, but it took until 1848 for this spot to be secured, thanks to…
You're driving past the Jester-Butler House in Corsicana, a beautiful example of Colonial Revival architecture. Built in 1920 for rancher and banker Charles Jester and his wife Marion, this home was designed by Birch D.…
You're driving through Navarro County, named for a true Texas patriot: Jose Antonio Navarro. Born in 1795, he was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and served in the legislatures of Coahuila and Texas,…
You're driving past Corsicana, a town partly founded by Thomas Ingles Smith. This soldier fought in the War of 1812 and later served in the Republic of Texas army. He was wounded in the Battle of the Salado and even…
You're driving past the former homesite of Joseph S. Cullinan, a true titan of Texas oil. He started his career as a laborer in the Pennsylvania oilfields at just 14 years old. But after the big Corsicana oil discovery…
You're driving through Corsicana, a town deeply committed to the Confederacy during the Civil War. Back in 1860, citizens tore down the U.S. flag and raised the Texas flag. By 1864, even women and children helped stock…
You're driving past the Corsicana home of Stephen Augustus Pace, a man who helped build this town from the ground up. Pace arrived in Texas in 1868, settling in Corsicana with his wife Achsah in 1871. He founded a…
You're driving past the Lemon-Edens House, built in 1895 by Corsicana resident A. L. Lemon. He used Louisiana cypress for its construction. In 1902, John Wesley Edens bought the home. Edens was a prominent local figure,…
You're cruising past the Corsicana home of Roger Quarles Mills, a man who served Texas for nearly three decades in Washington. Born in Kentucky, Mills arrived in Corsicana in 1852 and quickly became a figure of…
You're driving past the former home of Judge E. J. Simkins, a man with deep ties to Texas and the Confederacy. Simkins himself served four years in the Confederate army. His brother, William, is credited with firing the…
You're driving through Corsicana, the county seat of Navarro County, established in 1848 and named for Jose Antonio Navarro, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The first county offices were humble,…
You're driving past Senator James H. Woods Home. Built 1900 of long leaf pine lumber. Entry paneled in beveled, leaded plate glass. Children had skating rink and gym in attic. Occupied by Senator Woods and family,…
You're driving past the site of the State National Bank of Corsicana. Organized in 1917 by local businessmen, this bank started just a block away from here. Its first president was B. B. Munsey, who was later succeeded…
You're driving past the Tatum Home, built before 1900 by William M. Tatum. This colonial revival mansion boasts first-floor palladian windows and massive Ionic columns. His son Clifford and his bride raised their family…
You're driving through Corsicana, where the first organized church, a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation, was formed back on May 16, 1853. Over the years, other Presbyterian groups organized and eventually merged,…
You're at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Beaton Street in downtown Corsicana, the birthplace of Wolf Brand Chili. In 1895 a Texas ranch cook named Lyman T. Davis (born 1879, not the boy of the brand's marketing legend)…
Corsicana's history is marked by pivotal moments that shaped its destiny. Founded in 1848 by José Antonio Navarro, the city was named after the Mediterranean island of Corsica, the birthplace of Navarro's father. A…
Corsicana has two claims to fame, and both of them caught people off guard. In 1894, city workers drilling for water struck oil instead. It was the first significant petroleum discovery in Texas, seven years before…
You're driving past the birthplace of the Texas natural gas industry! Back in 1902, Corsicana saw the very first public use of natural gas in Texas, with transmission lines right here on this street serving homes and…
Feast your eyes on the Navarro County Courthouse! It's more than just a pretty building; it's a symbol of Corsicana's boom years. In 1905, this Beaux Arts beauty was completed for a whopping $128,000. Architect James E.…
You're driving past the site of a remarkable Texas institution: the Odd Fellow and Rebekah Children's Home. Back in 1885, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows established this as one of the state's very first fraternal…
You're passing through Corsicana, where Judge John S. Callicutt made his mark. He arrived in 1886, opening a law practice that would anchor his life here. But Callicutt wasn't just a lawyer; he was a builder of…
You're driving past the site of a Texas success story that started with water, but found oil! The American Well & Prospecting Company organized back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1890</say-as>, drilling…
You're driving past the site of the Corsicana State Home. Created by the 20th Legislature way back in 1887, this place originally cared for orphans under 14. Local folks donated over 200 acres for the institution, and…
You're driving past the Dunn-Ransom Home in Corsicana, a house that's seen five generations of one family call it home. Ewing Eric Dunn, who arrived in Texas in 1850, built the first part of this house back in 1866. He…
You're driving past the Smith-McCrery Home in Corsicana. Built in 1880, this house was first home to Dr. John R. Smith, who served as mayor here from 1883 to 1885. During his time in office, he organized the town's…
You're driving past the site of Corsicana's very first log cabin home. This was the residence of Robert Newton White, a man who wore many hats in this young Texas town. White arrived here in 1845, and just a year later,…
You're driving through Corsicana, where the First Methodist Church was founded way back in 1851. The sanctuary, built in 1871, was where Texas Democrats met in 1872 to plan their exit from Reconstruction rule. And get…
You're driving through Corsicana, a city born from a legislative decision in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as> to choose a county seat. Named for the homeland of Jose Antonio Navarro's parents, this…
You're driving past Saint John's Episcopal Church in Corsicana. Its roots go way back to the 1850s, with early missionary work in the area. The church itself was officially established in 1871, organized by Reverend…
You're driving past the Holman Home in Corsicana, built in 1914 by William Lee Holman. Holman came to town in 1908 to manage the Southland Cotton Oil Mill, a key player in Corsicana's rise as a cotton center. This…
You're driving past the Scales-Fortson House, built in the 1890s by H. L. Scales, who owned a local mill. It was later home to banker Joe B. Fortson and his family for decades. Notice the Victorian and Classical Revival…
You're driving past the site of Italy's Colored City Hall. In the mid-twentieth century, frustrated by poor infrastructure, the African American community rallied for change. This led to the establishment of the Italy…
You're driving past the site where Dr. Will Coleman, Sr. lived and raised his family right here in Corsicana. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1882</say-as>, Coleman grew up working with livestock before…
You're driving past the site of Corsicana's very first public school for Black students, built right here in 1881. It was first named for the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass. But in 1925, it was renamed for its…
You're driving through Corsicana, the birthplace of a true Hollywood legend, Rex Ingram. Born Clifford Ingram right here, he became known as the Dean of American Black Actors. After graduating from Northwestern, Rex…
You're driving past the Corsicana Hebrew Cemetery, serving the Jewish residents since the late 1800s. The first Jewish settlers arrived in 1871, drawn by the railroad. This burial ground was officially purchased in…
You're driving past the Corsicana home of Dr. Samuel W. Johnson, a respected physician who also served as mayor in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1900</say-as>. During his term, the city library was established.…
You're driving past Corsicana's first brick jail, built in 1908. Imagine this place heated by gas in the winter, sometimes holding up to 80 prisoners! The top floor even housed the office of Will S. Knight, the city's…
You're driving past where Henry Damon, a Confederate veteran and lawyer, set up shop in Corsicana back in 1873. He partnered with W. R. Bright to form the Texas Loan Agency, right here in this building from 1890 to…
You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is where Ben Rosenberg made his mark. He arrived from Poland around 1882, a young immigrant seeking opportunity. After a few years in Waco, he landed in Corsicana in the…
You're driving past the First Independent Baptist Church of Corsicana, a testament to resilience. It all started in 1868, when a group of former slaves, led by Simon Perry, organized what was then the second African…
You're driving past the site of Corsicana's grand Merchants Opera House. Back in 1891, local businessmen pooled their resources to build this impressive three-story venue, replacing an older, smaller theater. Imagine…
You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is the Molloy Hotel. It started in 1874 as a one-story building, built by lawyer Henry Molloy to house folks coming through on the new railroad line. Molloy added a…
You're driving past Corsicana Public Library. The women's clubs of Corsicana were instrumental in opening the city's first public library in 1901 at W. 6th and Main St. The city created a library board in 1904 and…
You're cruising through Corsicana, and right here, history was made... on paper! This is the birthplace of Navarro County's very first newspaper, the 'Prairie Blade,' which started back in 1855. Imagine, just a few…
On June 9, 1894, a drilling crew on what is now South 12th Street was doing something completely ordinary. Corsicana had outgrown its water supply, so the city hired the American Well and Prospecting Company to bore…
Corsicana's biggest contribution to the oil world was not just the crude under it. It was the machine that got the crude out. When oil turned up in 1894, the American Well and Prospecting Company set up a repair and…
Behind the wholesome fruitcake is one of the strangest white-collar crimes in Texas. Sandy Jenkins came on as corporate controller at Collin Street Bakery in 1998, the man trusted with the company's books. Starting…
Lyman T. Davis parked his lunch wagon at this corner of Beaton Street and 5th Avenue in 1895, ladling out five-cent bowls of chili in front of the Blue Front…
You are sitting in a town whose name is a quiet tribute hidden in plain sight. When the Texas Legislature carved out Navarro County in 1846, it honored Jose Antonio Navarro, the Tejano statesman who signed the Texas…
Drive Corsicana and you keep crossing Beaton Street, the spine of the old downtown, and there is a real man behind that name. Alexander Beaton was a Scottish-born merchant who threw his weight behind the single most…
You're driving past the site of Tuckertown, a Texas ghost town that exploded into existence thanks to oil. Back in 1894, oil was first struck in Corsicana, kicking off a statewide boom. Soon after, adventurers of all…
You're driving past Edgewood Cemetery in Lancaster, the final resting place for some of Dallas County's earliest settlers. Look for the grave of Lizzie Richardson, a pioneer child who died way back in the summer of 1845…
You're driving past the site of Corsicana's first Fire Station Number Two. Back in December of 1879, the Corsicana Volunteer Fire Department got its start. Initially, these brave souls relied on buckets and later, hand-…
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Corsicana. This fellowship started way back in 1848, originally as the United Baptist Church, led by the pioneer preacher Noah Turner Byars. Early Texas…
August Weidmann arrived in Corsicana from Bavaria in 1896 and opened a little bakery on Collin Street. His DeLuxe Fruitcake packed with pecans cherries and…
For a few years the most famous thing in Corsicana was not the oil or the fruitcake. It was a cheerleading squad. Navarro College, the junior college on the west side of town, built one of the most dominant competitive…
The dark earth around Scurry is one of the most famous soils on the planet. This is the Texas Blackland Prairie, and its signature clay, Houston Black, is the official Texas state soil and a textbook example of a…
At 112 West 6th Avenue stands the Palace Theatre, a red-brick survivor from 1921. It opened as a vaudeville house in the era when live acts toured small Texas cities, drawing crowds downtown to see performers in the…
Scurry sits on State Highway 34, about four miles southwest of Kaufman. The first settlers reached this stretch of blackland in the mid-1840s, and over the next twenty-five years a scattering of farms grew into a…
You're driving past Corsicana, Texas, where a sweet success story began! In 1896, two blocks north of here, August Weidmann, a German baker, and local cotton buyer W. T. McElwee opened a bakery. Weidmann's secret? An…
Pull over! You're about to discover a hidden gem of Texas history: Temple Beth-El, a beautiful former synagogue that tells the story of a vibrant Jewish community. Imagine Corsicana in the late 1800s. Jewish families,…
For its first decades, Scurry ran on cotton. When the Texas and Pacific Railway reached the area in the 1870s, the town became a shipping point where surrounding farmers loaded their bales and grain for market. Kaufman…
You're driving through Corsicana, and you might notice a unique building with twin octagonal towers topped by onion domes. That's Temple Beth-El. The first Jewish settlers arrived here in 1871, the same year the…
You're driving through Scurry, Texas, a town that owes its name to a Civil War soldier. Back in the mid-1840s, settlers started farming this land. By the 1870s, the railroad arrived, turning the area into a shipping…
You're driving through Wilmer, Texas, a town that started as a railroad stop called Prairie Valley. It got its current name in 1884, named after a Houston and Texas Central conductor who passed through. By 1890, it was…
Unlike some Texas towns that boast of famous gunslingers, politicians, or musicians, Wilmer has a different kind of story. It's a place defined not by famous individuals, but by collective work. Its history was written…
At 401 West 7th Avenue sits Collin Street Bakery, which has been turning out its DeLuxe fruitcake here since 1896. A young German immigrant baker named August Weidmann opened it with backing from Tom McElwee, a local…
You're driving past the birthplace of Texas oil! In 1894, a crew drilling a water well for the city of Corsicana hit pay dirt. At 1035 feet deep, they discovered the first oil in commercial quantities in the entire…
You're driving through Corsicana, the birthplace of Beauford H. Jester, who served as Texas Governor from 1947 until his death in 1949. His administration saw major reforms in education, prison conditions, and…
You're driving past the site of H.C. Nicol's old welding shop in Corsicana. Nicol was a true innovator, remembered as the first welder to work in the Navarro County oil fields, which boomed starting in <say-as…
You're driving past the site of the Rawlins Homestead, a place that served travelers on the road between Waxahachie and Dallas. Roderick A. Rawlins, a Confederate officer, started building this house in 1855. After the…
You're driving past the birthplace of George Taylor Jester, a man who wore many hats in Texas. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>, Jester came to Corsicana as a boy in a two-horse wagon. He…
You're driving through Ellis County, passing the site of the old Greathouse community. It all started back in 1848 when Archibald and Mary Greathouse settled here, giving their name to the creek and the community. The…
You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is where the Navarro Rifles formed up in July of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as>. These weren't just any soldiers; this was an infantry company of…
You're driving through Corsicana, Texas, where two companies of the 15th Texas Infantry were formed to fight in the Civil War. Company E organized in April of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1862</say-as>, led by…
You're driving past Corsicana, and right here is where Charles Henry Allyn made his mark. A Union Army captain from New York, Allyn arrived in Texas after the Civil War, settling in Corsicana in 1871. He wasn't just a…
You're driving past Corsicana, where Meritt Drane made his mark. He came to Texas in 1858, seeking opportunity, and settled near Corsicana on land his father gave him. After the war, he excelled at farming and…
You're driving past Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Scurry, a place that's been a cornerstone of this community since 1860. Imagine this: during the Civil War, this congregation was meeting in a simple log…
You're cruising past the former home of W.A. Strain, built in the late 1890s. Strain's pioneer family had already owned this land since 1846. Noted Dallas architect James E. Flanders designed this frame Victorian house,…
You're driving near Corsicana, and right here is where Texas struck oil in a big way! Back in 1894, city leaders just wanted a new water source. But when a drill bit hit 1,000 feet, it didn't find water – it found oil!…
You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is where Texas oil history was made! Back in 1894, the American Well and Prospecting Company was hired to drill water wells. But on their very first one, just a few…
You're driving near Corsicana, and right here, Joseph Stephen Cullinan helped spark Texas's oil boom. He arrived in 1894, bringing big ideas from the Pennsylvania oilfields. Cullinan didn't just advise; he built. He…
You're driving through Corsicana, Texas, the birthplace of Lefty Frizzell. Born William Orville Frizzell in 1928, he became one of country music's most influential voices. His family chased oilfield work, moving between…
You're driving through Navarro County, and right here in Corsicana, a blind orator named Thomas Pryor Gore found his political footing. Born in Mississippi, Gore lost his sight by his early twenties, but his powerful…
You're driving through Dallas, maybe even right over the Trinity River, and you're passing through Oak Cliff. But did you know this whole community was once the dream of one man, Thomas Lafayette Marsalis? Arriving in…
You're driving through Corsicana, Texas, the birthplace of David "Fathead" Newman, Jr. He was born right here in 1933 and would go on to become a legendary saxophonist. You might know him best for his years in the…
You're driving through Anderson County, and right here is the story of Ellis Merrill Stackpole, a man who became a prominent merchant and a key figure in a secret society called the Order of the Lone Star of the West.…
You're driving through Corsicana, a town with a story as rich as the oil beneath its soil. Back in 1894, civic leaders were drilling for water to expand the city. Instead of water, they struck oil! This accidental…
Beauford H. Jester, governor, was born in Corsicana, Texas, on January 12, 1893, to Frances (Gordon) and George Taylor Jester . His father was lieutenant governor of Texas for two terms (1894-98) under Governor Charles…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Corsicana, where Ella Florence Cochrum grew up. She quit school to help her family and worked in a boardinghouse, where she met Walter Fondren, a young oil driller. They…
You're driving through Navarro County, and right here is where Texas oil history really started to bubble. Back on Christmas Day, 1898, the J. S. Cullinan Company fired up its refinery in Corsicana. That little…
You're driving through Navarro County, a place with a history as rich as its blackland soil. Back in 1836, this area was the wild frontier. Just east of where Corsicana sits today, a Mexican land grant was issued to…
You're driving through Corsicana, a town that owes much of its early growth to the railroad. But right here, one of its prominent citizens, Robert Emmett Prince, made history in a different way. In 1899, as a state…
You're driving through Navarro County, not far from Corsicana, where Clinton Winkler made his mark. He wasn't just a lawyer and judge; he was a Confederate soldier. Winkler led the Navarro Rifles, Company I of the…
You're driving past Corsicana, Texas, the birthplace of a silent film star who got her big break right here. Born Louise Dantzler in 1906, she was chosen by director Herbert Brenon for the role of Wendy Darling in the…
Right here in Corsicana, you're driving through a town that was a major hub for Texas oil in the early 1900s. Edwy Rolfe Brown arrived in 1898, helping to establish a refinery. By 1901, he was managing multiple oil…
You're driving through North Texas, near Corsicana. Right here is where John William Carpenter started his incredible career. He began as a day laborer for the Corsicana Gas and Electric Company back in 1900. Imagine…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here near Corsicana, you're passing through the birthplace of John Hardee, a tenor saxophonist who carried the Texas tradition of big-toned jazzmen. Born in 1918, Hardee…
You're driving through what is now Navarro County, and right here, William Fenner Henderson arrived in Texas way back in 1836. He became a citizen at Nacogdoches, served in the Texas army, and even participated in the…
You're driving through Corsicana, Texas, a town with roots stretching back to a determined mother and her six children. In 1858, Levi Jester died, leaving his wife Diadema with a vast Illinois farm and a young family.…
You're driving through Navarro County, and right here is the territory of James Rodgers Loughridge, a lawyer who became a Confederate captain. He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1863, but only after…
You're driving through Navarro County, and right here in Corsicana, Roger Quarles Mills found his home and his fortune. But before that, he was a Confederate officer, rising to Colonel in the Tenth Texas Infantry. He…
You're driving near Corsicana, and right here is Navarro College. It started in 1946, born from a vote by Navarro County citizens who wanted a local place for higher learning. They took over an old Air Activities of…
You're driving through Corsicana, the heart of Navarro County, where Eldred James Simkins arrived in 1871. He wasn't just any lawyer; he helped organize the Florida Ku Klux Klan before moving to Texas. Here in…
You're driving through Corsicana, Texas, the home of Rufus Hardy, a man who served eight consecutive terms in the U.S. Congress. Hardy was a lawyer and prosecutor here in Navarro County before heading to Washington D.C.…
You're driving through Corsicana, the hometown of Luther Alexander Johnson. Born here in 1875, Johnson spent nearly his entire life in this Navarro County community. He served as county attorney, district attorney, and…
You're driving through Navarro County, and right here is Corsicana, the final resting place of Francis Marion Martin. Born in Kentucky in 1830, Martin came to Texas in 1853, settling in Navarro County and becoming a…
You're driving through Navarro County, maybe near Corsicana. Right here, Charles S. Morse arrived in Texas in 1871. He tried his hand at medicine and even managed the Navarro Banner newspaper. But Morse found his true…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Corsicana, Martha Simkins started her journey as a painter. Born in Florida in 1869, her family moved to Corsicana in 1871. She went on to study with famous artists…
You're driving past Scurry, a town that got its start in the 1880s. Back then, heavy rains could make roads impassable, which was a problem for the Masons in Kaufman. So, in 1890, sixteen members petitioned for a new…
You're driving past the site of the Oil City Iron Works, a Corsicana institution that's been shaping Texas industry for over a century. It all started back in 1866 with John Winship's small machine shop, built to make…
You're driving through Lancaster, a town with a rich educational history! Back in 1846, the very first log schoolhouse was built just a mile north of here. As the community grew, so did its schools. By 1868, African…
You're driving past the site of the Lowrey-Hurst homestead, a farm that stayed in the same family for over a hundred years. James Barker Lowrey bought this land back in 1881. His son Nicholas took over farming and…
You're driving past the site of Rocky Crest School, a vital part of African American education in Lancaster. In 1868, this school opened its doors in a former Confederate pistol factory, serving 73 students. Imagine…
You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Lancaster, a North Texas institution tracing its roots back to 1868. Organized by Reverend Andrew Davis, services first gathered in the Masonic Hall. Imagine, if…
You're driving past Pyle Prairie Cemetery. Family tradition says it began in 1854 with the death of J. P. McFarland, son-in-law of Republic of Texas Army veteran John Pyle, who settled here in the 1850s. This graveyard…
On the night of April 25, 1994, a violent F4 tornado dropped onto Lancaster and chewed a path roughly six miles long and as much as 800 yards wide straight through the city. It came after dark, around 9:30 in the…
Restoring a wrecked 19th-century square isn't just sentiment, it's an engineering problem. After the 1994 tornado leveled most of Lancaster's town square, the city committed to bringing the historic brick storefronts…
During the Civil War, this quiet farm town briefly became one of Texas's most talked-about weapons makers, and one of its most notorious. Tucker, Sherrard and Company set up a pistol factory in Lancaster to manufacture…
For decades a genuine World War II legend lived quietly in Lancaster. Romus Valton Burgin, known as R.V., was a Marine mortarman in K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, who fought through some of the Pacific's worst,…
The Historic Town Square at the center of Lancaster is the whole reason this town is worth a stop. Centered near 100 Main Street, it's a true old-fashioned courthouse-style square, a ring of brick storefronts facing a…
You're rolling into one of the oldest towns in Dallas County, and it carries a Kentucky name on purpose. In 1847 a man named Abram Bledsoe bought half of the Roderick Rawlins survey out here on the prairie, and about…
When the main railroads bypassed Lancaster, the town refused to be cut off from the cotton economy that was its lifeblood. In 1888 a depot opened on the Dallas and Waco Railway, which folded into the Missouri, Kansas…
One of the players on arguably the most famous college basketball team ever assembled came straight out of Lancaster High. Thomas Hill starred here on the hardwood before committing to Duke in 1989, walking into a…
Lancaster High has sent a steady stream of athletes out into the wider sports world, and one who reached the very top was Demarcus Ayers. Born in Lancaster in 1994, Ayers grew into a standout wide receiver and return…
When Lancaster built out its modern Community Park on the south side of town, it didn't give the new library a generic name, it dedicated the building to the people who served. The Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library is…
As you drive through Lancaster, look for the site of the Confederate Arms Factory. In 1862, Joseph Sherrard, William Killem, Pleasant Taylor, and John Crockett established this factory. Their mission? To manufacture…
You're driving through Lancaster, a town with roots going back to 1844. It was officially established around 1852 by A. Bledsoe and his son-in-law, Roderick Rawlins, who patterned it after Bledsoe's grandfather's…
You're driving past the site of the First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster. It all started in 1856, when Reverend Michael Dickson and just nine members gathered in a small workshop to get this church off the ground. For…
You're driving past the site of St. Paul Freewill Baptist Church in Lancaster. This congregation was organized in 1870, born from the community of freed Black Texans after the Civil War. Land was acquired in the late…
You're driving past the birthplace of the Texas oil industry! In 1898, right here in Corsicana, Joseph S. Cullinan built Texas's first commercial oil refinery. This operation, a predecessor to Mobil Oil, fired its first…
You're driving through Lancaster, and right here, you're passing the former site of the Head House. Lucy Frances Jeffries, a Virginia transplant, discovered her true talent wasn't just raising four kids, but cooking!…
You're driving past the First Baptist Church of Lancaster, but its story starts way back in the 1840s, with Baptists meeting in private homes. Then, on September 29th, 1867, fourteen people officially organized the…
You're driving past the site of Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church, a congregation that's been here since before the Civil War. <break time="400ms"/> It started meeting in a schoolhouse thanks to William Harvey…
You're driving past where Oak Valley School once stood, a testament to the birth of public education in Texas. Back in 1867, Navarro County Judge John L. Miller and his committee established thirty school districts,…
You're driving past the site of the First Christian Church of Lancaster. Back on July 5, 1846, Roderick Rawlins and thirteen other settlers started this Christian fellowship. For years, they met in homes and a simple…