Gatesville, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to 1854 when it was established on land donated by Richard G. Grant. The city's name was inspired by the nearby Fort Gates, which had been established in 1849. Over the years, Gatesville has seen significant growth, particularly from 1980 to 2010, largely due to the establishment of Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons. This period saw the population double, with about 9,000 of the 15,591 residents being state prisoners by 2000. A pivotal moment in recent history was the fire on March 16th and 17th, 2026, which destroyed several early 20th-century wooden buildings in downtown Gatesville, including the Gatesville Messenger and Star-Forum, the city's only newspaper for over a century, and a long-standing furniture store. The fire also resulted in the loss of decades of undigitized archives.

Gatesville, TX RoadyGoat

On the evening of March 16th and morning of March 17th, 2026, a devastating fire in downtown Gatesville destroyed several historic wooden buildings, including the Gatesville Messenger and Star-Forum, the city's only newspaper for over a century, and a long-standing furniture store. The fire also resulted in three minor injuries and the loss of decades of undigitized archives housed in the newspaper's building.

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Gatesville, TX RoadyGoat

The name Gatesville has a historical connection to the area's military past. It was named after Fort Gates, which had been established about five miles to the west in 1849. The city itself was established later, in 1854, on land donated by Richard G. Grant. The name pays homage to the fort that preceded it, reflecting the area's early military significance.

Gatesville State School For Boys

1887

Gatesville State School for Boys, three miles northeast of Gatesville in Coryell County, was the first juvenile training and rehabilitation institution in the southern United States. It was established by the Texas legislature in 1887 and opened in January 1889 as the House of Correction and Reformatory, a division of the Texas penal system ( see PRISON SYSTEM ). Ben E. McCulloch served as the first superintendent of the facility, which housed sixty-eight boys who had formerly been incarcerated with adult felons. The legislature changed the school's name to State Institution for the Training of Juveniles in 1909 and established a five-member board of trustees to administer the institution. A 1913 law changed the school's name to State Juvenile Training School, and in 1919 a newly established state Board of Control assumed management of the school. The legislature renamed the facility Gatesville State School for Boys in 1939. By 1940 the school housed 767 males who were under the age of seventeen at the time a court committed them to the institution. The residents attended academic and vocational classes and engaged in a variety of farming activities on a 900-acre tract of state land and 2,700 acres of leased land. A parole system that rewarded good behavior permitted the release of certain inmates to private sponsors. The State Youth Development Council began administration of Gatesville State School for Boys in 1949, and the facility enrolled 406 boys in 1950. In 1957 the new Texas Youth Council (later the Texas Youth Commission ) replaced the Youth Development Council. By 1970, 1,830 young male offenders housed on five separate units that included the Hilltop, Riverside, Valley, Hackberry, and Terrace schools resided at the institution. The Texas Youth Council operated a separate facility, the Mountain View School for Boys , also near Gatesville, as a maximum security unit for juvenile offenders. A class-action lawsuit, filed against the Texas Youth Council on behalf of juvenile offenders in 1971, marked the beginning of sweeping changes in the Texas juvenile justice system. The school enrolled approximately 1,500 boys and employed over 250 staff members in 1974, when federal judge William Wayne Justice issued a ruling in Morales v. Turman . The judge ruled that a number of practices at Texas Youth Council facilities constituted cruel and unusual punishment that violated the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Staff members routinely dispensed arbitrary and unnecessary punishments that included beating, solitary confinement, the use of chemical crowd-control devices, and the utilization of drugs instead of psychotherapy as a means for controlling behavior. Justice also concluded that the school's staff failed to protect the inmates from violence and personal injury and that most employees lacked proper qualifications and training for supervising troubled youths. Judge Justice ordered the state to close the Gatesville and Mountain View schools and to develop community alternatives to large juvenile penal institutions. During 1979 the Gatesville State School for Boys closed, and the Texas Youth Council placed juvenile offenders in smaller schools at Brownwood, Crockett, Gainesville, Giddings, and Pyote, as well as at a number of foster and group homes, halfway houses, and residential treatment centers. The Riverside, Valley, and Terrace schools became the Gatesville Unit for female inmates of the Texas Department of Corrections in 1980. The Hilltop and Hackberry schools composed the Hilltop Unit for male felons of the Texas Department of Corrections beginning in 1981.

Tsha Handbook →

Mother Neff State Park

1916

Mother Neff State Park, the first state park in Texas, is on State Highway 236 and the Leon River sixteen miles southeast of Gatesville in eastern Coryell County. It was named for Isabella Eleanor Neff, mother of Governor Pat M. Neff , who willed the first six acres of the park to the state in 1916. Governor Neff deeded the rest of the 259-acre park to the state in 1934. The park was developed during the mid-1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps . It was under the administration of the Texas State Parks Board until 1963, when it became part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department . In the 1980s Mother Neff State Park averaged 130,000 visitors per year. Among the facilities available at the park were campsites, picnic areas, restrooms, and showers. Recreational activities included fishing in the Leon River, but swimming was difficult because the steep riverbanks limited accessibility. The hiking trail provided many opportunities to study birds, wildlife, and plants, and playground equipment was available for children. The park's open-air pavilion was a popular site for family reunions and outdoor weddings. Other nearby points of interest included Lake Belton, twelve miles to the south, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco, and the American Railroad Museum in Temple.

Tsha Handbook → · 4.4 mi away

Lincolnville Community

1865

Coryell County, established in 1854, became home to settlers mostly from the Old South. Shortly after the end of the Civil War, local freedmen formed a community four miles west of Gatesville called Lincolnville in honor of president Abraham Lincoln, located near the Moccasin Bend area along the Leon River. James Maberry, former overseer for Chief Justice John Walker Maberry, provided leadership for the founding families of the colony, including Cook, Easley, Mayberry, Snow and Weatherly among others. Acquiring land and establishing new homes on the edge of the Texas frontier was not an easy task, but all of the freedmen were experienced farmers, ranchers, and caretakers. The Leon River Valley provided an abundant supply of catfish and small game and the settlers quickly learned to live off the land to supplement their meager wages as freed slaves. A church and school were immediate priorities of the community which had not previously been allowed to openly practice religion or attend school. Bethlehem Baptist Church was established on April 10, 1872, by the reverend G.C. Alexander. The church later moved to Gatesville in 1882. The first African American school in Coryell County opened in Gatesville in 1868, but the building burned shortly afterwards. In its place, Lincolnville School no. 62 became a public school by 1883 and existed until 1943 when most small, rural schools were consolidated. The survival of Lincolnville, despite racial strife and the harsh conditions of the frontier, is a testament to the efforts of the citizens of the Lincolnville Community. A few descendants of the founding families remain in the area today. (2015)

Historical Marker →

Brown, Ina Corinne

1929

Ina Corinne Brown, teacher, was born in Gatesville, Texas, on May 27, 1896, the daughter of John Dayton and Corinne (Wells) Brown. She was a descendant of Orceneth Fisher , prominent pioneer Methodist preacher in Texas. Her great-grandfather Fisher's second wife was Rebecca Jane Fisher . Ina attended Southern Methodist University from 1919 to 1921. She then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she served on the educational staff of the Methodist Church until 1934. The University of Chicago granted her a B.A. degree in 1936 and a Ph.D. in anthropology in 1942. She also studied at the London School of Economics and, in 1937–38, at the British Museum on a Rosenwald Fellowship. From 1939 to 1941 she worked for the federal government's National Survey of Higher Education for Negroes. Her duties there included assisting black colleges throughout the United States to develop their curricula. She also traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and Africa to study racial problems. She was professor of social anthropology at Scarritt College, Nashville, from 1942 to 1966; after her retirement she was professor emeritus there. She was a special lecturer at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, and Fisk University, all in Nashville. She was the author of three books on race relations: The Story of the American Negro (1936), Race Relations in a Democracy (1949), and Understanding Other Cultures (1963). Understanding Other Cultures was once required freshman English reading at the University of Texas and has been used in Japanese colleges for students learning English. Brown contributed to the Encyclopedia of Black America (1981), and she was a consultant in behavioral sciences to World Book Encyclopedia from 1963 to 1966. Ina Brown was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, the International Federation of University Women, and the American Association of University Women . She was a fellow of the American Anthropological Association, the American Geographical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and the Society for Applied Anthropology. She served as a consultant to city public school systems involved in desegregation in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida, a service sponsored by Peabody College. In 1929–30 she and a woman companion crossed Central Africa from the mouth of the Congo on the west coast to Mombasa in British East Africa (now Kenya) on the east coast, a distance of 1,700 miles. It was a journey that probably no woman had made before that time. The two traveled by boat and train, were carried in hammocks, and walked. On her trip to Asia Brown interviewed Mahatma Gandhi and Toyohiko Kagawa. In her later years her health was poor, but she continued her reading and writing–especially letters to the Nashville daily papers. She was chosen in 1984 as a distinguished alumna of Southern Methodist University. Ina Brown died in Hermitage, Tennessee, near Nashville, on May 12, 1984.

Tsha Handbook →

Leon River Bridge

1854

The route once known as the Old Georgetown Road was in existence by 1854 and crossed the Leon River here. A ferry operated at this crossing as early as 1854 and was owned by R. G. Grant, a local entrepreneur and land developer. The Bowstring Truss Bridge erected near here in 1882 was the first metal truss bridge in Coryell County. It was damaged by two major floods in 1899 and 1900, and the County Commissioners Court authorized the building of another bridge. The George E. King Bridge Company of Des Moines, Iowa built this structure in 1904. Features include steel construction, wood decking, original lattice railings, pin-connected members, and elaborate stone abutments. The overall length of 141 feet from end to end allows for the 4-foot depth of masonry piers supporting the bridge. It is a 137-foot Pratt through truss span with a 5-foot timber approach span, and is one of few such bridges surviving in Texas. The 1904 bridge served as a major east-west artery for Central Texas. The road became part of State Highway 7 in 1917, and was renamed U.S. Highway 84 in the 1930s. The historic bridge was restored and rededicated in 1994. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996

Historical Marker →

Fort Gates

1849

In the mid-1800s, Native tribes often met westward Anglo expansion in Texas with hostilities along the frontier line. To shield settlers form potential attack, the U.S. Army established a static line of outposts form the Rio Grande northward to the Red River. Few early settlements existed in this vast, unprotected area created from the Milam Land District (formerly Robertson’s Colony). After the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), Fort Gates, the last of a cordon of stockaded fortifications across Texas at the time, was established to defend area settlers. The U.S. Army erected the post, named for Mexican-American War veteran Maj. Collinson Reed Gates of the 4th U.S. Infantry, about five miles southeast of present day Gatesville on Oct. 26, 1849. Four companies of the 8th U.S. Infantry Regiment manned Fort Gates’ 17 buildings. Very soon after the garrison was established, many of the families in upper Milam County moved here. As a result, the post served as the nucleus for the settlement of the surrounding area. The post ably performed in lessening the threat of attacks from Native tribes. With its primary objective accomplished, the U.S. Army transferred the garrison to Fort Phantom Hill (Jones County) in March 1852 and officially closed Fort Gates in February 1853. In 1853, O.T. Tyler, an early Fort Gates settler, began to organize a county government. Settlers convened and signed a petition to the Texas House of Representatives, and on February 4, 1854, Gov. Elisha M. Pease signed legislation creating Coryell County. Fort Gates served as the county seat until May 27, 1854, when the county clerk transferred archives to Gatesville, the new seat of government. (2006)

Historical Marker → · 3.3 mi away

Things to Do in Gatesville

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Day Trip to Gatesville: 🛻 Jumpin' Trucks, Legendary Burgers, & Sassy Lemonades (FULL EPISODE)

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Everything Near Gatesville

127 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Gatesville, TX
Gatesville, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to 1854 when it was established on land donated by Richard G. Grant. The city's name was inspired by the nearby Fort Gates, which had been established in 1849. Over…
Gatesville, TX
On the evening of March 16th and morning of March 17th, 2026, a devastating fire in downtown Gatesville destroyed several historic wooden buildings, including the Gatesville Messenger and Star-Forum, the city's only…
Lincolnville Community · Historical Marker
Coryell County, established in 1854, became home to settlers mostly from the Old South. Shortly after the end of the Civil War, local freedmen formed a community four miles west of Gatesville called Lincolnville in…
First Baptist Church of Gatesville · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Gatesville, where the First Baptist Church organized back in 1856 with fewer than a dozen members. They held early services in members' homes and even in the county courthouse. A stone building…
First Christian Church Building · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the first Christian Church building in Gatesville. Organized in 1892, the congregation built this structure and met here until it disbanded in 1972. The building, which exhibits Greek Revival style,…
Gatesville State School For Boys · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Gatesville State School for Boys, three miles northeast of Gatesville in Coryell County, was the first juvenile training and rehabilitation institution in the southern United States. It was established by the Texas…
Brown, Ina Corinne · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Ina Corinne Brown, teacher, was born in Gatesville, Texas, on May 27, 1896, the daughter of John Dayton and Corinne (Wells) Brown. She was a descendant of Orceneth Fisher , prominent pioneer Methodist preacher in Texas.…
Cooke, Hiram William · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Coryell County, Texas, and right here in Gatesville, a man named Hiram William Cooke found his last home. Cooke was a veteran of the Seminole Wars and served in the Texas Rangers during the Civil…
Chrisman, John H. · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Coryell County, and right here is Gatesville, a town with roots stretching back to John H. Chrisman. He arrived in Texas in 1854, right at this spot, with his second wife and children. Just a year…
Coryell County · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Coryell County, right in the heart of Texas. Back in the 1840s, this was the wild frontier. To protect settlers from Native American tribes like the Tonkawa and Comanche, the U.S. Army established…
Faunt Le Roy, Frederick Wiles · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here, you're passing through the stomping grounds of Frederick Wiles Faunt Le Roy. He arrived in Texas back in 1842, ready to help defend against a Mexican invasion. He…
Wells, Robert Barnard · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Coryell County, and right here in Gatesville, you're passing through a town with a real pioneer spirit. Robert Barnard Wells arrived here in 1854, seeking health and finding a place to serve. He…

Show all 127 nearby places

Coryell County Courthouse · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Coryell County Courthouse in Gatesville, a stunning example of Second Empire Victorian architecture. Built in 1897, this is the third courthouse for the county. Architect W. C. Dodson designed…
Gatesville · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Gatesville, a town with roots stretching back to the Texas frontier. It all started in 1854 when Richard Grant donated the land for the county seat. But the name itself comes from Old Fort Gates,…
Hammack Building · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hammack Building in Gatesville, a late 1800s structure with some serious architectural flair. Built by W. W. Hammack, a man who lived from 1860 to 1913, this building is a prime example of…
Gatesville, TX · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Gatesville, a town that got its start thanks to a generous land donation and a nearby fort. Established in 1854 on land from Richard G. Grant, it took its name from Fort Gates. Early on, supplies…
Mears, Thomas Robert · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Coryell County, and right here in Gatesville, you're passing through the hometown of Thomas Robert Mears. He wasn't born here, but moved to Texas and eventually settled in Pidcoke before making…
Leon River Bridge · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
The route once known as the Old Georgetown Road was in existence by 1854 and crossed the Leon River here. A ferry operated at this crossing as early as 1854 and was owned by R. G. Grant, a local entrepreneur and land…
The Prison City · 1.4 mi
As you drive around Gatesville, you might notice the landscape is dominated by more than just hills and rivers. You're in what's often called 'The Prison City.' Gatesville is home to one of the largest concentrations of…
The Science of a Record Flood · 1.4 mi
The floods of May 1957 in Gatesville were a classic, and devastating, lesson in hydrology. A stalled front kept dragging warm, wet Gulf air over Central Texas storm after storm, and the rain kept falling on ground that…
Spur Capital of Texas · 1.4 mi
You might think a town known for its prisons wouldn't have a lighter side, but Gatesville found one in its cowboy past. Lloyd Mitchell spent seventy-seven years collecting spurs. It started when he was young and found…
When the Leon Roared · 1.4 mi
The Leon River, which you're likely crossing as you come into Gatesville, usually looks pretty tame. It doesn't stay that way. In the spring of 1957 - the wet spring that finally broke Texas's long drought - storm after…
The Fort That Named a Town · 1.4 mi
The name Gatesville echoes a piece of frontier history that has long since vanished. On the twenty-sixth of October, 1849, the U.S. Army threw up a stockaded cantonment called Fort Gates on the north bank of the Leon…
The Texas Division and the Rapido River · 2.1 mi
State Highway Thirty Six and U S Highway One Ninety both carry the name Thirty Sixth Division Memorial Highway. The Thirty Sixth Infantry Division was called the Texas Division, because when it entered federal service…
Fort Gates, TX · 3.3 mi
Established on October 26, 1849, as Camp Gates by Captain William Reading Montgomery and two companies of the Eighth United States Infantry, Fort Gates was a strategic military installation. Its founding was part of…
Fort Gates · 3.3 mi · Historical Marker
In the mid-1800s, Native tribes often met westward Anglo expansion in Texas with hostilities along the frontier line. To shield settlers form potential attack, the U.S. Army established a static line of outposts form…
Mother Neff State Park · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Mother Neff State Park, the first state park in Texas, is on State Highway 236 and the Leon River sixteen miles southeast of Gatesville in eastern Coryell County. It was named for Isabella Eleanor Neff, mother of…
Waite, Carlos Adolphus · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the Texas frontier, and right here in Coryell County, you passed near Fort Gates, commanded by Colonel Carlos Adolphus Waite. Waite was a career soldier, rising through the ranks and…
Pearl, TX (Coryell County) · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Pearl, twenty-two miles west of Gatesville in northwest Coryell County, was originally known as Wayback. A petition was sent for the establishment of a post office with the name Swayback, for Swayback Mountain, which…
Pidcoke, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Pidcoke is on U.S. Highway 84 West and Farm Road 116, just south of Cowhouse Creek and fifteen miles from Gatesville in southwestern Coryell County. Its name is derived from that of the Rev. Richard Burton Pidcocke…
The Grove, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Grove is on Farm Road 1114 just off State Highway 36, sixteen miles southeast of Gatesville in eastern Coryell County. It was established about 1859 and named for the grove of live oak trees in which it is situated.…
Turnersville, TX (Coryell County) · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Turnersville, also known as Buchanan Springs, is on Farm Road 182 twelve miles northeast of Gatesville in northeastern Coryell County. Both the Chisholm and Bosque trails were supposed to have gone through the area. In…
Johns, Edward W. · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Edward W. Johns, United States Army officer and surgeon, was born in Maryland in 1827. He was the son of Reverend Leonard Hollyday Johns and Henrietta (Geiger) Johns. Johns was a trained medical doctor who was…
Bagby, William Buck · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here in Coryell County, Texas, you're passing through the birthplace of William Buck Bagby. <break time="400ms"/> Born in 1855, Bagby wasn't destined to stay in Central Texas. <break time="400ms"/> After studying…
Redman, William Columbus · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through West Texas, maybe past San Angelo, or perhaps heading towards Paint Rock. Right here, a century ago, William Columbus Redman was chasing the news. He was a printer by trade, and in 1882, he moved…
Thruston, Algernon Sidney · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Coryell County, Texas, a place that once held land granted to Algernon Sidney Thruston. Born in Kentucky, Thruston was a lawyer who came to Texas in 1835, raising a company of soldiers…
Hay Valley, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Hay Valley is a dispersed rural community on State Highway 36 four miles northwest of Gatesville in north central Coryell County. It is bordered to the north by a low mountain range, to the west by the old Ames…
Leon Junction, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Leon Junction, sometimes called "the Junction," is on the Leon River and Farm Road 931 some ten miles southeast of Gatesville in eastern Coryell County. The site was settled in the early 1880s, and the community took…
Levita, TX · 4.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Levita is at the junction of Farm roads 930 and 2412, ten miles northwest of Gatesville in Coryell County. The town began when Mont Simpson donated land for public buildings and called the townsite Simpsonville, but the…
Harman School Community Center · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the old Harman community, once centered right here. In 1891, M.F. Harman donated land for a school and gathering spot. The community moved the school to a new location in 1904, but by 1917, they…
Fort Hood Communities · 5.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Coryell County, where the very ground beneath you was once home to small communities, some dating back to the 1850s. But in January of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1942</say-as>, the…
Pleasant Grove Cemetery · 6.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be Pleasant Grove, a community founded by folks like Irish-born Hugh Sheridan, who’d served at Fort Gates. They settled here after the fort closed in 1853, farming the Leon River…
Ames, TX: A Freedom Colony That Became a Town · 6.3 mi
Ames is a freedom colony, one of the Black settlements Texans founded after emancipation, and one of the few that grew into an incorporated town. Its voters made that official in 1972, sixty-nine to eight. In Liberty…
Hemmeline Cemetery · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hemmeline Cemetery, established in 1895 by German Baptists as the German Baptist Cemetery. It was originally two acres, with one acre sold in family plots for a dollar. By the early 1900s, it…
Coryell County · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Coryell County, named for James Coryell, a Tennessee native who came to Texas in 1831. He joined the Bowie Expedition searching for silver, served as a Texas Ranger, and was tragically killed by…
Bethel Heights Baptist Church · 7.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bethel Heights Baptist Church, originally organized in 1886 as the German Bethel Baptist Church by German immigrants. They met in a schoolhouse, later bought land here in 1891, and built…
Davidson Cemetery · 7.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Davidson Cemetery, a final resting place for over 600 people. James Madison Davidson arrived in Texas in 1852 and, with his wife Vianna, was among the first couples married in Coryell County in 1854.…
Weaver Chapel Cemetery · 8.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Weaver Chapel Cemetery, serving rural communities for over 130 years. Land was donated in 1879 by Rev. John Wilson for the Methodist Episcopal Church. The oldest marked grave is Robert Weaver, an…
Mound, TX · 8.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through eastern Coryell County, near Farm Road 1829. You're passing through Mound, a community that got its start in the 1850s. The name comes from a local landmark: a white chalk hill that gave its name…
Ruth Cemetery · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Coryell County, near the former community of Ruth. This cemetery, established on land once owned by J. J. Stovall, is the last remnant of that settlement. It's now located within the Fort Hood…
White Mound Baptist Church · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of White Mound Baptist Church, organized back in 1874. It started sharing a log building with a school, eventually getting its own tabernacle in 1898 and a permanent sanctuary in 1914. The…
Pecan Grove Baptist Church · 9.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Pecan Grove Baptist Church. It was organized in 1882 as Coryell Creek Baptist Church of Christ. Early services were held at local schools and brush arbors, with the first tabernacle built…
Murrell School · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Murrell School, a testament to education in rural Coryell County. Many early settlers here hailed from Sardis, Mississippi, forming a community named for Postmaster Joe Ater.…
Ater Cemetery · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ater Cemetery, originally part of a town called Sardis. The town later took its name from Joe Ater, who owned the store and served as postmaster. Early gravestones here date back to 1868, and…
King Baptist Church · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of King Baptist Church. A Baptist congregation organized here in 1875, holding services in a log schoolhouse and baptizing in Cowhouse Creek. The church was deeded land in 1880 and built its…
King Cemetery · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past King Cemetery, a burial ground in use before it was formally deeded in 1880. Many graves date back to 1873, though unmarked burials could be even older. An association formed in 1960 continues to…
Flat, TX · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Flat, Texas, a community that owes its name to a postal spat. Back in the 1890s, folks wanted to call this place Mesquite Flat, but the post office said no. So, they shortened it to just Flat, and…
Engineering a Town's Location · 11.4 mi
The location of Oglesby isn't an accident of history - the railroad put it here. In 1882 the narrow-gauge Texas and St. Louis Railway pushed a line from Waco to Gatesville, straight through country that had been settled…
Moore, John Creed · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Crawford, Texas, and the site of a true Civil War hero: Brigadier General John Creed Moore. He earned the rare Star and Wreath distinction for gallantry, a testament to his bravery on the…
Osage Cemetery · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Osage Cemetery, a place that's been serving this community since the 1870s. The first marked grave here is from 1874, belonging to R.P. Doherty. For its early years, this land was actually privately…
St. John Lutheran Church · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Coryell City, the site of St. John Lutheran Church. German immigrant families settled here in the 1880s, and this congregation was officially organized in 1889. The church building has been…
Coryell Baptist Church · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Oglesby, the site of Coryell Baptist Church, the county's first Baptist church. Organized in June 1885, the congregation met in homes and a schoolhouse before erecting their own building that same…
Wood Cemetery · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Wood Cemetery, likely named for educator D. R. Wood. It was established in 1858 with the burial of Sarah E. Shipman, wife of rancher John K. Shipman. The cemetery still serves descendants today and…
Turnersville Cemetery · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Turnersville Cemetery, a burial ground for the old rural community of Turnersville. Settled before the Civil War, the community had stores, a school, and churches. The people buried here were its…
Sadler Cemetery · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Coryell City, where settlers arrived around Rainey's Creek in the early 1850s. By 1871, the community cemetery was established on land set aside by Chester Calhoun Sadler, a farmer, freighter, and…
Canaan Baptist Church · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crawford, past the Canaan Baptist Church, a testament to German immigrants who settled this area. Back in 1891, forty German settlers gathered in a local schoolhouse to form this congregation. For…
Canaan Baptist Cemetery · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Canaan Baptist Cemetery, established in 1894 by the church. Land was donated by Heinrich Engelbrecht, a Civil War veteran, with the earliest marked grave belonging to Austrian immigrant Franz…
Purmela Baptist Church · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Purmela Baptist Church. This congregation started in 1886 as Basham Baptist Church, merging in 1901 with Salem Baptist Church. The combined group built a sanctuary and became Cravey…
First Methodist Church of Oglesby · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Oglesby's First Methodist Church. Organized in 1891, the congregation lost its first building to a tornado just two years later. The current Queen Anne style structure was completed in…
Pidcoke Baptist Church · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Pidcoke Baptist Church. Organized in 1884 as Harmony Baptist Church, the congregation started with just four members and met in the local schoolhouse. Their first sanctuary, built in…
Bertrand, John Paney · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Purmela, and just off the road here is the story of John Raney Bertrand. Born before the Texas Revolution to French immigrants, Bertrand first partnered in a mercantile business. But when the…
Oglesby, TX · 13.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Oglesby, Texas, a town born from the railroad. It started as 'Hilltop' in 1882, named for its high elevation along the St. Louis Southwestern Railway. But the name didn't stick. It was soon…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Oglesby (Oglesby) · 14.0 mi
Oglesby (Oglesby, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Jaxon Markum (0.515 avg, 2 HR).
Pidcoke Cemetery · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Pidcoke Cemetery, serving the rural communities of Pidcoke and Harman. It dates back to at least 1885, when six-year-old Mattie Jeter was buried here after a tragic wagon fall. Local landowners…
Prairie Chapel School · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Prairie Chapel School, established in 1884. A German immigrant and Civil War veteran, Heinrich Engelbrecht, donated land in 1908 for a three-room schoolhouse. This important community…
First Baptist Church of Oglesby · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Oglesby. Its history traces back to 1893, with an official founding in September 1896. The congregation has been active in missionary outreach and community…
Slater Cemetery · 14.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Slater Cemetery, the last vestige of a once-thriving community. Slater was a farming and ranching hub in the late 1800s, boasting two churches, a post office, a school, and businesses by the…
Jonesboro Methodist Church · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Jonesboro Methodist Church. This congregation traces its history to the late 1860s, when early settlers of Jonesboro met together in a combination church-school Masonic Lodge building for worship…
Jonesboro High School — State Softball 2026 · 14.8 mi
Jonesboro High School in Jonesboro, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class one A.
Station Creek Cemetery · 15.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Station Creek Cemetery, a final resting place for early Coryell County settlers. Established in 1856, it holds the remains of Robert F. Morris, the first buried here. Look for the graves of…
Grubb, Wiley Parker · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ireland, Texas, and the name Wiley Parker Grubb might ring a bell. Born in Walker County in 1846, Grubb joined the Texas Rangers at just 17 years old. He fought in the battle of Dove Creek near San…
Graham, Jesse · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Coryell County, where Jesse Graham settled with his family in 1855. He was a Primitive Baptist minister who organized Sugarloaf Baptist Church and pastured it. Graham also helped establish…
Site of the Ireland School · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Site of the Ireland School. School classes were first conducted in a church tabernacle when Ireland was founded in 1911. The town was platted on the Coryell-Hamilton County line and named for Texas…
Where Every Rocket Engine Gets Its Tryout · 16.6 mi
On a sprawling stretch of land outside McGregor, SpaceX fires its rocket engines, and the ground itself seems to shake with it. Essentially every engine the company builds is test-fired right here before it's ever…
How a Rocket Engine Doesn't Melt Itself · 16.6 mi
Here's a puzzle that sounds impossible. A rocket engine burns its fuel at a temperature hotter than the melting point of the very metal the engine is made from. So why doesn't the whole thing just melt into a puddle the…
Firing a Rocket That Isn't Going Anywhere · 16.6 mi
What exactly is a "static fire"? It's running a rocket engine at full power while it stays bolted firmly to the ground, going absolutely nowhere. That might sound pointless, but it's one of the smartest things in all of…
Listening to an Engine Scream · 16.6 mi
When an engine roars to life on a test stand, it looks like pure spectacle, all fire and thunder. But to the engineers, it's mainly a flood of information. The stand is wired head to toe with sensors, all measuring at…
Pearl Cemetery · 16.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Pearl, a community that started as Swayback Mountain, then became Wayback by mistake in 1854! It was renamed Pearl in 1890. The first known burial here was young Lottie May Manning in 1893, though…
Eagle Springs Baptist Church · 16.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Eagle Springs Baptist Church. This congregation started way back as the Church of Onion Creek, but their first log building burned down in 1854. By 1858, they’d built a new place here and…
Pearl School · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Pearl, and right here is the site of the old Pearl School. It started way back in 1884, just a simple log cabin with split log benches. Can you imagine? Over the years, it grew, evolving into a…
St. Paul Lutheran Church · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of St. Paul Lutheran Church. German farmers organized a congregation in the late 1870s, formally chartering it in 1883. They built their first sanctuary by 1896, then moved to this location…
Ireland Cemetery · 17.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ireland Cemetery. Ireland Cemetery This site was once the family burial plot for the Daniel Webster (D.W.) Edwards family. The first marked grave is for his one-year-old son, Sterling P. Edwards,…
Pearl Baptist Church · 17.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Pearl Baptist Church. Organized in 1884 as Bee House Missionary Baptist Church, it moved here in 1889 and was renamed Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church, before eventually becoming Pearl…
Pearl Methodist Church · 17.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Pearl, the site of the Pearl Methodist Church. Organized in the winter of 1875-76, the congregation worshipped in a schoolhouse until they received land in 1890 to build their own sanctuary. The…
Pearl Church of Christ · 17.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Pearl Church of Christ in Coryell County. Worship services began in the Bee House community around 1878, moving to the Pearl schoolhouse before this church was officially organized in…
Six acres that became Texas's park system · 18.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Texas's first official state park, Mother Neff State Park! It all started in 1916 with a six-acre plot willed to the state by Isabella Neff, the mother of Governor Pat Neff. She wanted…
Mother Neff State Park · 18.0 mi · Historical Marker
First official state park in Texas; suggested the idea for the State Parks system. Originated with a 6-acre plot willed to Texas in 1916 by Mrs. Isabella E. Neff, mother of Pat M. Neff, Governor of Texas (1921-1925)…
Mother Neff State Park · 18.0 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Ever wonder where Texans went for outdoor fun nearly a century ago? Mother Neff State Park, just ahead, has been a beloved escape since the 1930s. Isabella Neff, affectionately known as Mother Neff, and her son Noah…
Deyerle-Fall House · 18.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Deyerle-Fall House, a testament to central Texas stone craftsmanship. Banker William Deyerle brought his family here from Virginia in the late 1800s. He hired stonemason Henry Wissman to build…
Lanes Chapel and Cemetery · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Lanes Chapel, a community hub built around 1880 by John R. Lane and his sons. It started as a Methodist chapel on land donated by Joshua McCuistion, right next to a schoolhouse. The…
The Town Split in Two · 18.5 mi
Drive through Evant and at some point you cross a county line without knowing it. Evant started out as a western Coryell County town, and as it grew it spread north over the boundary into Hamilton County — today roughly…
Crawford Schools · 18.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crawford, and right here is the site of a school system with a long history. Educational efforts in Old Crawford started way back in the 1870s, with classes held in a simple one-room schoolhouse.…
First Baptist Church of Moody · 18.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the First Baptist Church of Moody, a congregation with roots stretching back to 1855. It was organized over two miles north in a community called Perry, with Elder S.G. O'Bryan as its first pastor.…
Kane, John Riley · 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McGregor, Texas, the hometown of John "Killer" Kane. Born here in 1907, Kane wasn't your typical hometown hero. After a stint at Baylor, where he was involved in a campus brawl and survived a…
Folsom, Alfred Iverson · 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and you might be passing near McGregor. Right here, in 1946, Dr. Alfred Iverson Folsom, a true pioneer in his field, met his end in a car accident just outside Dallas. But Folsom…
Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant · 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near McGregor, and right here, you're passing the former site of the Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant. Opened in 1942, this massive facility was built to support the World War II effort, churning out bombs for…
Davis, Roy Bennett · 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McGregor, Texas, the birthplace of Roy Bennett Davis. Born here in 1900, Davis would go on to become a giant in the cotton industry. He transformed the Plains Cooperative Oil Mill in Plainview…
McGregor, TX · 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McGregor, Texas, a town born from a handshake and a promise. It started in 1882 as McGregor Springs, named for Dr. Gregor Carmichael McGregor, who gifted land to the railroad. Imagine this: lots…
First Baptist Church of Crawford · 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crawford, home to the First Baptist Church. Organized in 1878 with about a dozen members, it met in the schoolhouse initially. The church has been a spiritual and community leader in Crawford for…
First United Methodist Church of Crawford · 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First United Methodist Church of Crawford. Area families met for prayer as early as the 1840s. The church was officially organized around 1878 and has served the Crawford community…
Crawford, TX · 18.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, heading towards Crawford. This community started back in the 1850s, centered around a river crossing called Tonk Crossing. The town itself likely got its name from Nelson…
Baker, James B. · 18.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLennan County, not far from Crawford, where a young man named James B. Baker took up arms for the Confederacy. Born in 1847, Baker was just fifteen years old when he left managing his family's…
Crawford · 19.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Crawford, a town that grew from a humble 1850s settlement. It started around Tonk Crossing, a key point on early trade routes. The town itself was laid out at a crossroads, but its name is a bit of a…
Poston-Odle Cemetery · 19.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Poston-Odle Cemetery in Valley Mills. This land was set aside for burials in 1875 by John Odle after his sister Mary Odle Poston died. The cemetery gates were built using stones from the Old Rock…
Colwick, John and Mary · 19.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the John and Mary Colwick house, a home built with a story stretching back to Norwegian settlement in Texas. John Colwick arrived in Texas with the famous colonizer Cleng Peerson way back…
Zion Lutheran Church · 19.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Zion Lutheran Church, a spiritual and cultural anchor for German immigrants in Central Texas. As early as 1890, families gathered in homes, speaking German and holding informal worship…
From Bombs to Boosters: McGregor's Engineering Legacy · 19.7 mi
The area just west of McGregor is one of the most important rocket engine test sites on the planet. This legacy of engineering began when the WWII Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant was converted to test rocket technology after…
The Moon Race Ran Through McGregor · 19.7 mi
You may be in Central Texas, but you're surprisingly close to the history of the Apollo moon landings. After WWII, the old bomb factory here was repurposed for something even more powerful: rockets. Phillips Petroleum…
The Star-and-Cross Railroad Town · 19.7 mi
Take a look at the streets in downtown McGregor. Notice anything unusual? Main Street and several others run at a sharp diagonal, cutting across a more traditional north-south grid. That isn't a planning mistake; it's…
The Bomb Factory in the Cotton Fields · 19.7 mi
During World War Two, the landscape around McGregor was completely transformed. In February 1942, the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps acquired eighteen thousand acres of farmland just southwest of here to build the Bluebonnet…
McGregor, TX · 19.7 mi
While no famous individuals are noted as originating from this Texas city, its association with a popular HGTV show brings a touch of celebrity.
Crawford Cemetery · 19.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crawford, and just off the road is Crawford Cemetery. It started with a tragedy in the mid-1870s, when a young boy named Harvey Gilmore Kee died just shy of his second birthday. His parents,…
Moody-Leon United Methodist Church · 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Moody-Leon United Methodist Church, a testament to German immigrant faith in Bell County. Established way back in 1877 by Reverend F. Von Schulenbach, this congregation was brought together by…
First Baptist Church of McGregor · 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through McGregor, and right here is the First Baptist Church. Its roots go way back to 1858, with the Onion Creek Baptist Church, about ten miles southwest. About thirty members from the Comanche Springs…
McGregor Mirror · 19.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the McGregor Mirror, a newspaper that's been serving this town since 1904. It was founded by T.E. Streight, but the Hall family really made it their own, purchasing it in 1918 and running it for…
McGregor · 19.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past McGregor, a town that owes its start to the railroad. On this day, back in 1882, lots were sold for this brand new town, advertised statewide by two major railways. It was named for Dr. Gregor…
Glenn and Mary Gulledge Crain House · 19.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Glenn and Mary Gulledge Crain House, built in 1892. Glenn Crain, whose father was McGregor's first mayor, started selling insurance and married Mary Gulledge in 1890. They hired architect Charles…

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