Greenville, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to its founding in 1846. Named after Thomas J. Green, a key figure in the establishment of the Texas Republic, the city has seen its fair share of pivotal moments. As the Civil War approached, Greenville was torn over the issue of secession, with residents like attorney Martin D. Hart fighting for the Union while others supported the Confederacy. This divided nature is commemorated by a historical marker in 'The SPOT' Park. Post-war, Greenville's economy transitioned, becoming partly dependent on cotton. In World War II, the Mexican Escuadrón 201 was stationed here, training at Majors Field. A notorious sign once hung over Lee Street, which was later modified and reinstalled, reflecting a shift in societal attitudes. These events have shaped Greenville's identity over time.

Greenville, TX RoadyGoat

Greenville has a storied history with local industries that have shaped its economic landscape. Once known as the cotton capital of the world, Hunt County, where Greenville is located, was home to the world's largest inland cotton compress, a testament to the region's agricultural prowess. Today, the city's largest industry is L3Harris Mission Integration Division, a major U.S. defense contractor located at Majors Airport. This airport, initially financed by the local Rotary Club and used as a World War II training base, has become a focal point for economic growth in Greenville. Additionally, Greenville is known for its saddle-making industry, adding a unique flair to its industrial identity.

Greenville, TX RoadyGoat

Greenville, Texas, carries a name that honors a significant figure in its history. It was named for Thomas J. Green, who was a substantial contributor to the founding of the Texas Republic. Green's influence extended beyond the political sphere, as he later became a member of the Congress of the Texas Republic. The city's naming serves as a lasting tribute to his contributions and helps to preserve the memory of his role in shaping the early history of Texas.

The Old Greenville Post Office

1942

Tradition says mail came from Jefferson in early days and was dropped at a saloon. Greenville Post Office was created in 1847, and occupied rented quarters until 1910, when this structure was built. Neo-classic in style, it became an important element in architectural development of the city. In 1930, it was enlarged. Audie Murphy joined the army in this building on June 20, 1942, his 18th birthday; later he became the most decorated soldier of World War II. The city of Greenville acquired the structure in 1973 for historic preservation. (1973)

Historical Marker →

Mary Jim Morris

1876

Born near Atlanta, Georgia, in 1876, Mary Jim Morris moved to Greenville, Texas, in 1899 with her family. That summer, Mary received her teaching certificate from the hunt county normal school, locally known as the county teachers institute for colored teachers. Mary started teaching at a time when many African American students were just starting to attend school. Following the Civil War, schools for freed slaves were not open in hunt county until 1881. Mary taught at North School and East Colored School in Greenville, where there were about 300 African Americans enrolled in the schools. She taught at these schools for 45 years. Mary earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Prairie View A&M College in 1934, which was something of a rarity in Greenville. By 1926, Mary was the assistant principal and teacher for grades five through eight at North School. In 1930 she became principal at Fred Douglass Elementary school. Fred Douglass was previously known as East Side Colored School. Mary remained principal there until her retirement in the late 1940s. Mary pushed her students to succeed and wanted her students in Greenville to achieve a higher graduation rate than any other public school in Texas. While she was involved in education in the Greenville Community and the state of Texas, she was also involved in the local New Hope Baptist Church. She was a Christian missionary at New Hope Baptist for more than 20 years. Mary Jim Morris died November 20, 1973, at her home in Greenville.

Historical Marker →

Carlisle, Lallie P.

1902

(1866-1949) First woman in Texas to hold an elective public office. Upon death of her first husband, E. W. Briscoe, she was appointed, April 17, 1902, by the Commissioners' Court to complete his term as clerk of Hunt County. At that time women could not vote in Texas. A ruling by the Attorney General of Texas upheld the appointment. Mrs. Briscoe, mother of five, later married C. C. Carlisle.

Historical Marker →

Dranes, Arizona Juanita [Blind Arizona]

1894

Gospel singer Arizona Juanita "Blind Arizona" Dranes, of African-American and Mexican-American heritage, was born on April 4, 1894, in Greenville, Texas. Her mother was Cora Jones, and her father's surname was Dranes. She lost her sight in an influenza outbreak early in her childhood. She attended the Institute for Deaf, Dumb and Blind Colored Youths (later Texas Blind, Deaf, and Orphan School ) in Austin from 1896 until 1910, when she graduated. There she received her first music lessons. Some years after graduation, perhaps about 1920, she helped Ford Washington McGee, a singing preacher, establish a Church of God in Christ in Oklahoma City . She later lived in the musically rich Deep Ellum district of Dallas, where she learned piano and developed her own distinct "sanctified" style of playing, known as "gospel beat." It combined the ragtime and barrelhouse traditions to produce a rolling blues sound. Dranes's piano playing was accompanied by her penetrating singing, which derived from the emotional shout song of traditional gospel music . Eventually she became a regular pianist and singer for various traveling ministers of the Church of God in Christ, a national Black Pentecostal church that has since developed into the largest of its kind. Dranes spent much of this early period with COGIC traveling through Texas and Oklahoma and aiding in the "planting" of new churches. In the mid-1920s she settled back in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and was soon spotted by OKeh Record Company scout Richard M. Jones. The company took Dranes to Chicago for recording sessions in 1926 and again held sessions in Dallas in 1928. During her contract with OKeh she recorded more than thirty tracks, including such gospel standouts as "I Shall Wear a Crown" and "My Soul Is a Witness for the Lord." Though she was a top gospel star for the OKeh label, correspondence between Dranes and the record executives indicate that she was often underpaid. With the onset of the Great Depression , Blind Arizona Dranes fell into obscurity. She continued her performances in church services and may have lived in Memphis and possibly Oklahoma City in the 1930s. Her last known public concert was held in Cincinnati in 1947. In 1948 she moved to Los Angeles, where she lived until her death on July 27, 1963. Her death certificate listed her profession as a missionary and that she was buried at the Paradise Memorial Park in Santa Fe Springs, California. She was one of the most influential and innovative gospel pianists of the twentieth century.

Tsha Handbook →

Hart, Martin D.

1861

Martin D. Hart, state senator and Unionist, the son of Capt. John Hart, was probably born in Indiana in 1821. The family moved to Texas around 1833 and settled first at Jonesboro and later in Warren. When John Hart organized the company known as Hart's Mounted Men in 1836, his fifteen-year-old son, Martin, joined. They served in the Army of the Republic of Texas for three months, from July 20 to October 20, 1836. On March 10, 1842, Martin Hart married Mary Ann Green in Fannin County. The couple eventually had five children. In 1849 Martin and his brother Hardin moved to Hunt County, where they operated a successful law office. By 1860, according to the Hunt County tax rolls, Hart, with more than 5,000 acres valued for tax purposes at $20,542, was the second richest man in the county. He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives, where he served from 1857 to 1859. He was then elected state senator. During the election of 1860 he supported John Bell, presidential candidate of the Constitutional Union party . After the election, as the thirst for secession swept through Texas, Hart publicly opposed the movement in a series of speeches he made in the county courthouse. When Governor Sam Houston called the Texas legislature into special session in January 1861, Hart traveled to Austin. There he signed the Unionist "Address to the People of the State," which attempted to counter the secessionist argument. After Texas secession in February 1861, he resigned his Senate seat and returned to Hunt County. He resumed his law practice and, in July of 1861, organized and was elected captain of the Greenville Guards, a company of mounted volunteers. He wrote Governor Edward Clark , pledging the company's services "in defense of Texas whenever she is invaded or threatened with invasion." In the summer of 1862 he received a Confederate commission with permission to raise a company and operate in northwest Arkansas. Using his commission to travel through Confederate lines, he and his followers marched to southwest Missouri, where they apparently received Union army papers. Hart returned to Arkansas, led a series of rear-guard actions against Confederate forces, and is alleged to have murdered at least two prominent secessionists. He and some of his followers were captured by Confederate troops on January 18, 1863, and taken to Fort Smith, where he and his first lieutenant, J. W. Hays of Illinois, were court-martialed and hanged, on January 23, 1863. They were buried in unmarked graves under the tree where they were hanged. In 1864, when the federals took Fort Smith, Hart's body was exhumed and reinterred in the national cemetery there. Contributions from Unionists and federal soldiers purchased a headstone.

Tsha Handbook →

Alexander, Franklin Pierce

1885

Franklin Pierce Alexander, writer, journalist, and state legislator, son of Elijah E. and Vinetta (Norton) Alexander, was born at Pickens, South Carolina, on September 1, 1853. Elijah and Vinetta had five other children; James Harrison (1847–1847), William Norton (1849–1876), Elizabeth Hannah (1851–1863), Rosa Ann Schroder (1855–1919) and Thomas Elijah (1861–1922). Before seventeen-year-old Alexander departed from Wagener, South Carolina, to Jefferson, Texas, in 1870, he was involved in the printing business, but little is known of his activities prior to his move. In Jefferson, Alexander became a part of the Jefferson Democrat staff and became acquainted with his future father-in-law, Col. John C. C. Bayne, editor of the Gate City News in Texarkana at the time. After spending time in Galveston and Fort Worth, Alexander joined Bayne in the production of the Weekly Independent (also referred to as the Greenville Independent ) in 1875 in Greenville, Texas. At some point around this time he married Bayne’s daughter Georgia. Five children were born to that union. By 1876 Alexander was listed as “Editor and Proprietor” of the Weekly Independent , according to an issue dated September 2, 1876. Around 1878 he bought the Greenville Herald from W. H. (Dick) Ragsdale, with the help of F. V. Edne, who essentially served as a shadow or a “silent” partner for Alexander. In 1883 Alexander sold the Herald to famed Texas judge and orator James H. (“Cyclone”) Davis . Alexander made an unsuccessful bid for state representative in 1882, but he was elected for his first term in the Nineteenth Texas Legislature in 1884 under a strong anti-monopoly platform. He represented District 25 (Hunt County) as a Democrat. During Alexander’s first term in the Texas legislature, he served as chair of the Insurance and Statistics Committee and was on the committees for Internal Improvement and State Affairs. In that initial term, Alexander proposed a bill that called for the formation of a state commission to fix and maintain railroad freight rates. The measure was defeated, but Texas managed to pass a bill that created a railroad commission in 1891 after Alexander served his last term. During Alexander's second term (1887–89), he took on additional positions in the legislature, including service on the Finance; New Capitol, Governor’s Message (as chair); Public Printing; Insurance, Statistics and History (as chair); and Internal Improvement committees. Alexander served as the thirtieth speaker of the House during his third and last term (1889–91), when the legislature passed an antitrust law (1889) directed primarily against railroad rate-fixing associations. Only four weeks earlier, the Kansas legislature had passed a similar antitrust law; Texas became the second state in the United States to enact an antitrust statute. Such laws created the framework for the federal Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890. In 1893, two years after Alexander’s term in the legislature had ended, he and his family moved from Greenville to Alva in the Oklahoma Territory during the opening of the Cherokee Strip Land Run. He served as a registrar of the land. In the 1900 census Alexander was living in Alva and was listed as a lawyer. The Alexander family moved again in 1901 to Lawton, Oklahoma Territory, and Alexander became the owner and editor of the Frederick Leader . Later, he bought the Star-Gazette in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. About eight months before Alexander’s death, he sold the Star-Gazette and bought the Wapanucka Press in Wapanucka, Oklahoma. Franklin P. Alexander died on August 25, 1913, in Wapanuka, Oklahoma, about two weeks after the death of his father-in-law who was also residing in Oklahoma as a newspaper editor. Pastor A. Jeff Davis of the Baptist Church conducted the service, and Alexander was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Wapanuka.

Tsha Handbook →

Everything Near Greenville

315 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Greenville, TX
Greenville, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to its founding in 1846. Named after Thomas J. Green, a key figure in the establishment of the Texas Republic, the city has seen its fair share of pivotal moments.…
Greenville's Electric Light Plant · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Greenville, and right here, you're passing a piece of Texas history! In 1891, this town flipped the switch on the very first municipally owned electric plant in the entire state. Imagine that! It…
First Baptist Church · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Greenville's First Baptist Church, a congregation that got its start way back in September of 1858. Nineteen charter members gathered in the local Masonic Hall to form this community,…
The Old Greenville Post Office · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
Tradition says mail came from Jefferson in early days and was dropped at a saloon. Greenville Post Office was created in 1847, and occupied rented quarters until 1910, when this structure was built. Neo-classic in…
Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Central Christian Church, a landmark right here in Greenville. Organized way back in 1879 as the First Christian Church, it started meeting in a simple Union Church building. By 1898, they were ready…
Hunt County's First Railroad · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville, and right here is where Hunt County got its first taste of the railroad age. <break time="400ms"/> It was the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, or the Katy, that laid the first tracks.…
Greenville · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville, a town that got its start in 1846, named for a Texas hero. This spot was chosen by McQuinney Wright, and the townsite was platted that same year. Greenville officially incorporated in…
1929 Hunt County Courthouse · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville right now, and that grand building you see is the 1929 Hunt County Courthouse. It was the seventh courthouse for the county, designed by local architects W. R. Ragsdale & Sons, with…
Germany House · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Germany House in Greenville, a place that's been home to the same family for over a century. Built in 1886 for Joseph P. Germany, a local merchant and civic leader, this house stands out with its…
Courthouses of Hunt County · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville, the county seat of Hunt County. Since 1846, this town has been the center of county government, but the courthouses themselves have had a wild ride! The very first court sessions were…
Greenville "Herald" · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Greenville Herald, the oldest business institution in Hunt County! It was established way back in April of 1869 by J. C. Bayne. The paper really picked up steam when E. W. Harris took…
Mary Jim Morris · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
Born near Atlanta, Georgia, in 1876, Mary Jim Morris moved to Greenville, Texas, in 1899 with her family. That summer, Mary received her teaching certificate from the hunt county normal school, locally known as the…

Show all 200 nearby places

Kavanaugh Methodist Church · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Kavanaugh Methodist Church in Greenville. It started as a simple Methodist Mission Sunday School way back in 1892. Four years later, in 1896, it officially chartered and was named for Bishop H. H.…
Wesley United Methodist Church · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Greenville's oldest organized congregation, Wesley United Methodist Church. Methodists were gathering here as early as 1848, served by traveling preachers. By 1850, thirteen charter…
Camp, W. R. J. · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of William R. J. Camp, a respected Greenville banker. He and his wife, Dora, built this impressive two-story brick house back in 1914. Take a look at those giant Ionic columns…
Bourland-Stevens-Samuell House · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Bourland-Stevens-Samuell House in Greenville. This grand southern colonial structure has roots going back to 1854, when Colonel James Bourland deeded this land to his daughter, Virginia. She…
Site of Phillips Field/Majors Stadium · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Greenville's historic Phillips Field, later Majors Stadium. It all started in 1929 when Eula Lasater Phillips donated money to build an athletic field in her late husband's memory. The…
Carlisle, Lallie P. · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
(1866-1949) First woman in Texas to hold an elective public office. Upon death of her first husband, E. W. Briscoe, she was appointed, April 17, 1902, by the Commissioners' Court to complete his term as clerk of Hunt…
Martin, Benjamin D. · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Greenville, and right here is where Benjamin D. Martin called home. Born in Virginia, he arrived in Hunt County in the 1850s and quickly made his mark. During the Civil War, he organized the…
Greenville Cotton Compress · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a Texas legend: the Greenville Cotton Compress. In its day, this was the biggest inland cotton press in the world! On September 30, 1912, workers here set an incredible record, pressing…
Douglass School · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Douglass School, established in the early 1900s as the East Colored School. It was one of three schools for Black students during segregation, teaching grades one through eight.…
Horton, Hal C. · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the first two-story brick house ever built in Greenville. Look for that Victorian style, constructed between 1885 and 1887 by the pioneering Will N. Harrisons. The bricks themselves were made right…
Burleson College · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where Burleson College once stood, a testament to the late 19th-century trend of denominations establishing schools. Founded in 1895 by the Hunt County Baptist Association, it served thousands of…
Greenville Building and Loan Association · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville, and right here is the story of a financial institution that helped shape this town. The Greenville Building and Loan Association was chartered way back on December 17, 1886. It was…
Library Movement in Greenville · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Greenville, and right here, you're passing the birthplace of a local library movement that started with a book club! Back in 1897, the Women's Review Club began with members donating their own…
Grace Presbyterian Church · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Grace Presbyterian Church in Greenville, a congregation that began way back in 1863. Organized as the Cumberland Presbyterian Church by the Rev. John Nicholson, it holds the distinction…
The Blackest Land, The Whitest People · 1.5 mi
As you drive along Lee Street, you're on the same path where for nearly 40 years, a sign greeted visitors with a chilling message: 'The Blackest Land, The Whitest People.' It was a slogan with a dark double meaning. On…
A Hero's Start in Greenville · 1.5 mi
In 1942, a skinny, baby-faced teenager from nearby Kingston walked into the U.S. Army recruiting office in Greenville. His name was Audie Murphy. He was only 17 and had been turned down by the Marines and paratroopers…
Greenville's Eyes in the Sky · 1.5 mi
Greenville is home to one of the most sophisticated aviation engineering operations in the world, centered around the company L3Harris. Here, at their massive facility next to Majors Airport, engineers don't build…
From Training Pilots to Building Spy Planes · 1.5 mi
The airport on the edge of Greenville has a story that explains the town's modern identity. Majors Field opened on June 26th, 1942, an Army Air Forces training field named for Lieutenant Truett Majors, the first Hunt…
King Cotton's Throne · 1.5 mi
If you could go back to Greenville in 1910, the sound, the sight and the smell of this city would be all about cotton. This wasn't just a farming town; it was an industrial operation, and the machine at the center of it…
Greenville, TX · 1.5 mi
Greenville, the county seat and most populous city in Hunt County, was founded in 1846 and named after Thomas J. Green, a key figure in the establishment of the Texas Republic. Green's contributions to the founding of…
Ende-Gaillard House · 1.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville, and right here is the Ende-Gaillard House. Built between 1857 and 1859, this home was constructed by Charles Frederick von Ende, a German immigrant who became a major civic leader…
Center Point Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) · 1.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Center Point Christian Church, organized in 1879. Founded by formerly enslaved African Americans escaping Reconstruction violence, early leaders like Charlie C. Haley and Elder Andrew…
Dranes, Arizona Juanita [Blind Arizona] · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Gospel singer Arizona Juanita "Blind Arizona" Dranes, of African-American and Mexican-American heritage, was born on April 4, 1894, in Greenville, Texas. Her mother was Cora Jones, and her father's surname was Dranes.…
Hart, Martin D. · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Martin D. Hart, state senator and Unionist, the son of Capt. John Hart, was probably born in Indiana in 1821. The family moved to Texas around 1833 and settled first at Jonesboro and later in Warren. When John Hart…
Alexander, Franklin Pierce · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Franklin Pierce Alexander, writer, journalist, and state legislator, son of Elijah E. and Vinetta (Norton) Alexander, was born at Pickens, South Carolina, on September 1, 1853. Elijah and Vinetta had five other…
Boles, John · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, the birthplace of John Boles, a true Texas star of stage and screen. Born in Greenville in 1895, Boles defied his parents' wishes for him to become a doctor, pursuing instead a career…
Bowman, Joseph Wylie · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in places like Greenville, a transportation revolution was taking root. Back in 1923, Joseph Wylie Bowman and his partner were among the very first to bring buses to…
Hurdle, Andrew Jackson · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Northeast Texas, and right here is a story of resilience. Andrew Jackson Hurdle was born into slavery in North Carolina in 1847. Sold away from his family, he escaped during the Civil War,…
Majors Field · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, near Greenville. Right here, Majors Field was a crucial flight-training center for the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Opened in June of 1942, it was named for Lt. Truett…
Neal, Solon D. · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe not too far from where Solon D. Neal earned the Medal of Honor. It was July 1870, and Neal was a private with the Sixth Cavalry near the Little Wichita River. After days of…
Greenville, TX (Hunt County) · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Greenville, Texas, a town that became a commercial hub partly thanks to the railroad. But back in 1908, this city was the scene of a horrific act of violence. A Black man, accused of raping a…
Burleson College · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Greenville, Texas, the site of Burleson College. It was founded in 1895, named after Rufus C. Burleson, and took over the faculty and students from the already-closed Greenville College. The…
Hagan, Ed · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here is Greenville, the birthplace of Ed Hagan. Born in 1919, Hagan was a musical chameleon. He started on saxophone, hated it, and found his calling in percussion. By his…
Mangum, Edward · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Greenville, Texas, the birthplace of Edward Mangum. <break time="400ms"/> Born in 1913, Mangum wasn't just a drama professor; he was a pioneer. <break time="400ms"/> He helped cofound Washington…
McClanahan, William J. · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, not far from where William J. McClanahan was born in Greenville back in 1907. After serving in World War II, McClanahan found his true calling as a cartoonist for The Dallas Morning…
Smith, Robert Everett · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Harris County, and right here, you're passing through the territory of R.E. 'Bob' Smith, a Houston oilman who started as a roughneck and ended up one of the biggest landowners in Texas. Smith…
Greenville Herald-Banner · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Greenville, the county seat of Hunt County. Right here, the story of local news unfolded. It all began in 1869 with the Greenville Herald, the oldest business in the county. It even survived a…
Simonds, Horace B. · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, near Greenville, where Horace B. Simonds made his mark. Originally from New York, he came to Texas sometime after 1854, settling southwest of Greenville. He wasn't just a farmer; he…
Walker, Wesley Clark · 1.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, where Wesley Clark Walker made his mark. Born in Alabama in 1822, Walker came to Texas around 1849, settling near Greenville. He became a prominent citizen, helping found the…
Richardson, Wilds Preston · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, Texas, the birthplace of Wilds Preston Richardson. He was a West Point graduate and a decorated Army officer who spent twenty years in Alaska. His most significant achievement?…
Sabine River · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, and right alongside you flows the Sabine River. This waterway gets its name from the Spanish word for cypress, 'sabinas,' because of the massive cypress trees that once lined its…
Honeycutt Expedition · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Henderson or Anderson County, and you might be passing near the story of John Honeycutt's ill-fated expedition. In 1865, at the tail end of the Civil War, Honeycutt led a…
Warfield, Charles A. · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Charles A. Warfield, fur trapper and officer in the Republic of Texas army, was the son of a New Orleans merchant. Little is known of his early life, but by 1832 or 1833 he was fur trapping in the Rocky Mountains. He…
Hunt County · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, a place that started as a frontier outpost in 1839. When the first Anglo settlers arrived, they found small bands of Kiowa Indians, who soon moved on. The county was officially formed…
Hunt, Memucan · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, named for a man who gave his fortune to the cause of Texas. Memucan Hunt arrived in 1836, just after San Jacinto, and immediately put his talents to work for the young republic. He…
Stevens, James G. · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, Texas, a place that saw some real Civil War drama. James G. Stevens, a local county judge and Confederate officer, found himself in a tough spot. In late 1862, he led his regiment at…
Texas Midland Railroad · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, and right here is where the Texas Midland Railroad Company got its start, chartered back in 1892 to connect Garrett with Greenville. It was actually born from an earlier, failed…
Burleson, Mary Frances McClure · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, you're passing through the territory where Mary Frances McClure Burleson built an empire. Starting as a part-time secretary in 1958 for Ebby Halliday Realtors, she…
Kingston, TX · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Kingston is on U.S. Highway 69 and Farm roads 3427 and 903, Hickory Creek, and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad, ten miles northwest of Greenville in northwestern Hunt County. The Cowleach Fork of the Sabine…
White Rock, TX (Hunt County) · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, heading north of Greenville. Right here is White Rock, a community that got its name from the very ground beneath your tires. Back in 1868, settlers established a post office and…
Wesley College · 1.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville, and right here is the site of Wesley College. Founded in 1905 by the Methodist Church as the North Texas University Training School, it was coeducational from the start. By 1909, it…
Wesley College Administration Building · 1.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville, and right here is the site of the Wesley College Administration Building. This school, run by the Methodist Church, actually started in Terrell in 1905. It moved to this spot in 1912,…
Floyd, TX (Hunt County) · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Floyd is on U.S. Highway 380 eight miles west of Greenville in west central Hunt County. The settlement that became Floyd was established in 1882, when the East Line and Red River Railroad extended its tracks westward…
Scatter Branch, TX · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Scatter Branch is a small rural community off Farm Road 2874 about eleven miles northeast of Greenville and four miles west of Commerce in northeastern Hunt County. Settlement began in this area between the South…
Peniel · 2.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Peniel, a town founded on strict principles. In 1899, E. C. DeJernett and B. A. Cordell established Texas Holiness University here, and the community grew around it. The rules were clear:…
First Presbyterian Church of Greenville · 2.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville, where the First Presbyterian Church was organized way back in 1880. For over a century, this congregation has been a spiritual center, meeting in various places like the courthouse and…
Greenville's King Freeway and the Bus Boycott · 2.2 mi
In Greenville, Interstate Thirty is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Freeway. The City of Greenville asked for the name, backed by a city council resolution, and the Texas Legislature approved it in two thousand nine. In…
Audie Murphy Birthplace · 2.3 mi · Historical Marker
The most decorated American soldier of World War II grew up dirt poor on a sharecropper's farm near here. Audie Leon Murphy was born in Hunt County in 1925, one of twelve children. His father abandoned the family. His…
Farmers Electric Cooperative · 2.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Farmers Electric Cooperative. In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to fund the expansion of electricity to rural America. With federal funding,…
Colony Line Road · 4.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past a piece of Texas history, folks! This road, Colony Line Road, was a vital artery in the mid-1800s. It followed the northern boundary of the vast Charles F. Mercer colony, a massive 6,500-square-mile…
The Judge Who Was Running Unopposed · 4.3 mi
The John L. Horn Memorial Parkway follows Farm to Market Road Fifteen Seventy between State Highway Thirty Four and State Highway Sixty Six, then Spur Fifteen Seventy on to U S Highway Three Eighty, all in Hunt County.…
Lane, William · 5.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hunt County, Texas, a place that was once part of the Republic of Texas. Right around here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1843</say-as>, William Lane was born. He was the very first…
Majors Army Airfield · 5.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Majors Army Airfield, a crucial World War II training ground right here in Hunt County. It started in 1941 as a civilian airport project, but quickly ballooned into a massive Army Air…
Concord Baptist Church · 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the oldest institution in Hunt County: Concord Baptist Church. Organized way back in 1844 by Reverend Ben Watson, the first members met under a tree near Shady Grove. After a few moves,…
Shady Grove Community · 6.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hunt County, passing the site of what was once called Shady Grove. It all started back in 1844, when President Sam Houston granted land for Mercer's Colony, right around here. The Concord…
Birthplace of Audie Murphy · 7.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Kingston area, birthplace of Audie Murphy, America's most decorated soldier of World War II. Born here in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1925</say-as>, Murphy joined the army at 17 and…
"Cherry Hill" Home of Thomas N. Waul · 7.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hunt County, passing the site of Cherry Hill, home of Thomas N. Waul. A South Carolinian by birth, Waul became a Texas lawyer and plantation owner. He served in the first Confederate Congress and…
St. Paul School · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Neylandville, a community with roots stretching back to the 1850s. After emancipation, former slaves like James Brigham settled here, building churches and a school. That school, St. Paul School,…
Humboldt Cemetery · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Humboldt Cemetery, a final resting place that tells a story of early Texas life. The community here really took off in 1866, when families arrived from Tennessee. The first burial was likely…
Clinton Cemetery · 8.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be the town of Clinton. Local legend says this cemetery started when an unknown cowboy was buried here with permission from landowner James Massay, who then set aside this spot for…
Caddo Mills, TX · 8.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, and right here is Caddo Mills. This town owes its name to an early gristmill built in the late 1870s by I. T. Johnson and Henry King. Before that, Caddo Indians camped along Caddo…
Harrell Campground · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what was once one of the first religious gathering spots in Hunt County. Back in the 1850s, early settler Richard Harrell established this site, building cabins and brush arbors. For fifty years,…
Kingston Baptist Church · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kingston, Texas, a town born from the railroad. Back in 1880, 26 charter members founded Kingston Baptist Church right here as the town itself sprang up along the Missouri-Kansas-Texas line. But…
Old Caddo Left Its Gristmill Behind · 8.9 mi
The Caddo Mills you're driving through isn't the original one. The first settlement, known as 'Old Caddo,' was founded in the 1870s about a mile from here, centered on a gristmill. It was a logical spot, right on a…
Engineering a Town with an Iron Line · 8.9 mi
The location of Caddo Mills is a direct result of 19th-century engineering. When the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway planned its route in the 1880s, surveyors walked this land with transits and chains. Their goal was…
When Caddo Mills Taught Pilots to Fly · 8.9 mi
Just southwest of town lies the Caddo Mills Municipal Airport, but during World War II it belonged to the Army. It was built as an auxiliary landing field, on the rolls as Caddo Mills Auxiliary Number One, one of the…
Caddo Mills, TX · 8.9 mi
Caddo Mills, a rural city in Hunt County, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to the Caddo campgrounds before settlers arrived. Pioneers arrived in the late 1850s, and around 20 years later, I.T. Johnson and Henry…
The Town That Lost Its College Twice · 9.0 mi
It is hard to imagine now, but this little farm town once had a college, and then lost it, twice, in just fourteen years. Henry College opened in 1892 to give a real education to the poor boys and girls of the county,…
Henry College · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Campbell, Texas, where in 1892, Henry College opened its doors. It was founded by two men named Henry, aiming to give a first-class education to local boys and girls. But just four years later, in…
Emerson College · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Campbell, Texas, a town that once had big dreams of becoming an educational hub. Back in 1903, Emerson College opened its doors, named for the famous writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was a private…
Campbell, TX (Hunt County) · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, just east of Greenville. Right here is Campbell, a town born from the railroad. It started in the fall of 1880 when the East Line and Red River Railroad pushed through. A post office…
The Pearl Harbor Sailor From Campbell · 9.1 mi
A genuine American hero was born in tiny Campbell. Fred Kenneth Moore came into the world here in 1921, joined the Navy, and found himself aboard the battleship USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December…
First Called Oliverea · 9.1 mi
Campbell was born from a railroad in 1880, when a new line reached east from Greenville and a town grew up around the station. Its first official name was a curious one: Oliverea. But the locals never took to it,…
White Rock Baptist Church · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville, and this marker tells the story of White Rock Baptist Church. It started way back in 1872 as Pleasant View Baptist Church, with just thirteen members and Reverend A. D. Manion. They…
White Rock Community · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Hunt County, and you're passing the site of White Rock, originally called Tidwell Creek. <break time="400ms"/> This spot was a busy stop along the old Sherman-Jefferson Trail. <break…
White Rock Methodist Church · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of White Rock Methodist Church, a community cornerstone for over a century. This congregation officially kicked off on November 25, 1880, with just eleven members and a preacher named J. T.…
Henry and Emerson Colleges · 9.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Greenville, a town that was once a hub for higher learning. Look around, and imagine a time when this area hosted not one, but several colleges. Henry College started it all back in 1892, founded…
I.O.O.F. Cemetery · 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the I.O.O.F. Cemetery, established by a fraternal organization. Burials were already happening here in 1902 when the Caddo Mills Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows bought this land. The…
The Lifeline and the Slow Fade · 9.7 mi
Imagine standing in downtown Campbell in 1925. You'd hear a steam whistle on the old East Line and Red River tracks — a road the Missouri-Kansas-Texas bought back in 1881, so folks here just called it the Katy. The…
Audie Murphy Memorial Highway · 9.8 mi · Historical Marker
US Highway Sixty Nine north of Greenville, in Hunt County, is named for Audie Murphy, the most decorated American combat soldier of the Second World War. He was born into a large family of Hunt County sharecroppers; his…
The Caddo and the Mill · 10.0 mi
The name Caddo Mills is a tidy little two-part story. The first half honors the Caddo people, who long camped along the creek that still carries their name here on the Blackland Prairie. The second half came from a…
The Country Diner on Highway 66 · 10.0 mi
When you roll through Caddo Mills on State Highway 66, the local stop is Bucky's Cafe, the kind of independent country diner every small Texas town hopes to keep. It deals in the classics done right: hand-cut…
Commerce and the Flying Tigers · 10.3 mi
State Highway Twenty Four near Commerce carries a local name, the Flying Tiger Memorial Highway. And Commerce has a real claim on the Flying Tigers. Claire Lee Chennault, the man who organized them, was born in Commerce…
The Boy from Hunt County · 10.4 mi
As you travel through this part of Hunt County, you're in the boyhood home of Audie Murphy, America's most decorated soldier of World War II. Born in nearby Kingston in 1925, Murphy grew up in desperate poverty. His…
From Warplanes to Drag Racing · 10.4 mi
During the Second World War the Army built an auxiliary airfield at Caddo Mills, a big triangle of concrete runways, each leg around six thousand feet long, where pilots practiced before shipping out. When the war…
The Diamond That Built a Town · 10.4 mi
The town of Celeste is a product of 19th-century transportation engineering, born where two railroads crossed. The Katy came first. In November 1880 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas pushed track from Whitewright down to…
Why a Runway Makes a Perfect Drag Strip · 10.4 mi
There is a reason hot-rodders all over America turned old wartime airfields like Caddo Mills into the first drag strips, and it is pure physics. A runway is engineered to do two things a racer desperately needs: it is…
Celeste, TX · 10.4 mi
Celeste's development was heavily influenced by the railroad. The townsite was platted in 1886 by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, 3 miles north of Kingston. This location was chosen to bypass Kingston and…
Scatter Branch Church · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Scatter Branch, Texas, and you might just pass right by a unique piece of local history. <break time="400ms"/> Look around, because this community's Methodist and Baptist congregations have been…
Fourth-Sunday Singing · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a long-running Texas tradition: the Fourth-Sunday Singing. It started around 1885 or 1890, right near here. A traveling music teacher from Arkansas held a 20-day singing school, and it…
Audie Murphy Memorial Highway · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
Honors Audie Murphy, most decorated American soldier of WWII (Medal of Honor plus 32 other awards by age 21). Sharecropper's son from Hunt County, later Hollywood actor. Died in plane crash 1971.
Merit Cemetery · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Merit, Texas, where a community cemetery holds stories stretching back to the 1870s. Settlers, many from Georgia, arrived here, including Dr. Alexander Murchison, who helped organize the local…
Elmwood Institute · 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Celeste, Texas, and right here is where, back in 1899, the town decided to band together. After a few other schools folded, Celeste residents pooled ten thousand dollars to build the Elmwood…
Fox, Ruth · 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Celeste, Texas, the birthplace of Ruth Fox. Born around 1902, Fox dedicated her life to social work, first at a federal prison in Seagoville, then for over twenty years with the Dallas Housing…
Harrell, Mack · 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, not far from Celeste, the birthplace of Mack Harrell. Born in 1909, Harrell wasn't just any Texan; he became one of America's finest opera singers. He discovered his powerful baritone…
Celeste, TX · 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, and right here is Celeste. This town owes its very existence to a railroad feud! In 1886, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway wanted to build a line, but the nearby town of…
Audie Murphy · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hunt County, just south of Celeste, where America's most decorated soldier of World War II got his start. Audie Murphy was born right around here in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
First Baptist Church of Celeste · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Celeste, and right here is the First Baptist Church. It was organized in 1887, the same year this town was platted by the railroad. Their first pastor was the Reverend Jim Price. For a while,…
Merit Methodist Church · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Merit Methodist Church, organized way back in April of 1871. The first pastor was Reverend W. P. Reed, and the very first member was Margaret Owens. For a while, services were held right…
Celeste, TX · 11.8 mi
Celeste's founding was a direct result of the railroad development in the late 19th century. In 1886, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway platted the townsite 3 miles north of Kingston, on open prairie already…
Harrell, Mack · 12.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of Mack Harrell, a world-renowned baritone opera singer. Born right here in Celeste on October 8, 1909, he started out as a violinist. But in college, he discovered his powerful voice…
Old National Road Crossing · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past a spot where history was supposed to happen, right here near Wolfe City. Back in 1844, the Republic of Texas Congress envisioned a grand Central National Road. Imagine it: a superhighway connecting…
Named for the Landowner's Daughter · 12.5 mi
Imagine having to move your whole community. That's roughly what happened here. Before the tracks came, the settlement in this neighborhood was Reed's Chapel, a promising little farm community with a church at its…
The Iron Horse That Built a Town · 12.5 mi
The railroad tracks that cut through Josephine are more than a historical feature. They're the reason the town exists at all. When the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway, better known as the Cotton Belt, plotted its…
Josephine, TX · 12.5 mi
Josephine, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to its establishment in 1888. The city, which is located in both Collin and Hunt Counties, was incorporated in 1955, marking a significant milestone in its…
Josephine, TX · 12.6 mi
Established in 1888 and incorporated in 1955, Josephine has witnessed significant growth over the years. From a small community of 594 residents in 2000, it has expanded to an estimated population of 10,208 by 2025.…
Josephine · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Josephine, Texas, a town born from a railroad gift. Back in 1887, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway needed land, and Jesse Hubbard happily donated four acres, naming the new town after his…
First Baptist Church of Josephine · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Josephine. Organized in 1888 by local families and a missionary, the congregation first met in a schoolhouse. They built their first wooden sanctuary around…
Stewart Cemetery · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Stewart Cemetery, a final resting place for some of Hunt County's earliest settlers. John and Ellen Stewart arrived around 1843, with John reportedly building the very first pioneer home in eastern…
Graham Point Cemetery · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the Graham Point area, near Greenville. This cemetery, established on Daniel Boone Graham's land in the mid-1800s, served local communities for over a century. The last burial was in 1991.
Lone Oak Baptist Church · 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Lone Oak, where the Baptist Church has been a cornerstone since 1858. Organized by W. M. Pickett and Benj. Watson, its first pastor was Thos. Hooker. The McBride family donated the land for the first…
Methodism in Commerce · 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Methodism's long history in Commerce. The earliest settlers here were served by two Methodist congregations, Lebanon and Mt. Zion. As the community grew, local Methodists gathered in a…
East Texas State University · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Commerce, and right here is the site of East Texas State University. It started way back in 1889 as the Mayo School, just 16 miles north in Cooper. It reopened here in 1894 in a brick store on the…
The Bois d'Arc Capital of Texas · 13.9 mi
As you look around Commerce, you're in the heart of a unique kingdom—the kingdom of a tree. Commerce is the official 'Bois d'Arc Capital of Texas.' That's 'bow-dark,' and the tree, also known as Osage orange, is a…
Named After a Shipping Label · 13.9 mi
Listen for a train horn in Commerce. That sound is most of the reason this town is what it is. The settlement came first, just barely: William Jernigin opened a mercantile store in 1872 at what is now the town square,…
The Engineering of King Cotton · 13.9 mi
In the 1920s, the strip of Commerce east of Park Street was one long cotton-processing yard: gins, seed-oil mills, and cotton presses lined up beside the railroad. The compress was the piece of machinery that mattered…
Commerce, TX · 13.9 mi
Commerce was named the 'Bois d'Arc Capital of Texas' because of its location in the geographic center of the indigenous range of the bois d'arc tree. The second largest bois d'arc tree in Texas, 'Big Max', is located…
President's House · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the President's House in Commerce, a building with a story stretching back to 1927. Designed by Greenville architects, this home showcases a subtle Georgian revival style with its dark red brick and…
Lone Oak, TX (Hunt County) · 13.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, heading southeast of Greenville. Right here, you're passing through Lone Oak. This community got its start in the late 1850s, named for a single, impressive oak tree that stood alone…
Sabine River · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Sabine River, a waterway that's seen some serious history. Back in 1836, its lower channel wasn't just a river, it was the border between the Republic of Texas and the United States. Imagine…
Caddo Indians in Hunt County · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hunt County, a place that was home to the Caddo people between 800 and 1700 AD. These weren't just any early Texans; they were skilled farmers, potters, and traders who built distinctive…
Flying Tigers · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, hometown of Claire Lee Chennault. He was a retired U.S. Army Air Corps captain who, in the lead-up to World War II, organized and commanded the First American Volunteer Group of…
Mantle, Mickey Charles · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Mickey Mantle, major-league baseball star, was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, on October 20, 1931, the son of Elvin Clark "Mutt" and Lovell (Richardson) Mantle. Baseball was part of Mickey Mantle's heritage; Mutt Mantle…
Chennault, Claire Lee · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, the birthplace of Claire Lee Chennault. He was a Texas aviator who became a legend in World War II, organizing the famous Flying Tigers in China. Despite disagreements over…
English, Clarence T. · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Commerce, Texas, the birthplace of Clarence T. English, a transportation pioneer who started his freight business with just one truck in 1933. By 1937, he had grown that fleet to 108 trucks, and by…
La Mond, Stella Lodge · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here in Commerce, you're driving past a place with a connection to a pioneering Texas artist and educator, Stella La Mond. In 1940, La Mond helped found the Printmakers Guild, a group that was originally limited…
Mayo, William Leonidas · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, near Commerce, the home of Texas A&M University-Commerce. But this campus has a dramatic origin story, all thanks to William Leonidas Mayo. He arrived in Pecan Gap in 1886, nearly…
Austin, Mary Carroll Nurre · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, and right here is where Mary Carroll Austin, the eighth First Lady of East Texas State University, left her mark. She arrived in 1982 with her husband, the new university…
Texas A&M University-Commerce · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, the birthplace of a unique educational experiment. It all started back in 1889 in nearby Cooper, when William L. Mayo founded his 'democratic school.' But disaster struck when the…
Commerce, TX · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, a town whose very name tells its story. Back in 1872, pioneer merchant William Jernigin opened a store right here, on the corner of what's now the town square. He needed a place…
Ferguson, Claire Rush · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, a town that owes a lot to the leaders of its educational institutions. Right here, Claire Rush Ferguson served as president of the Woman's Culture Club from 1949 to 1951. This…
Neu, Charles Ternay · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, the home of Charles Ternay Neu, a historian who dedicated his life to preserving the past. Born in Brenham in 1885, Neu earned degrees from the University of Texas and later a…
Whitley, Lucie Braden Love · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hunt County, perhaps near Commerce, Texas. Right here, Lucie Braden Love Whitley lived a life dedicated to education and heritage. She was the first lady of East Texas State Teachers College,…
McDowell, Martha Jo Lee · 14.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Martha Jo Lee McDowell, educator and civic leader, was well-known for her position within East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University-Commerce) as a teacher, administrator, and wife of the seventh president of…
Chennault, Claire L. · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of Claire Chennault, the legendary commander of the Flying Tigers. In 1937, this Commerce native was asked by China's Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek to build an air force to fight off…
Commerce, TX · 14.3 mi
Commerce, Texas, is situated on the eastern edge of North Texas and the western edge of East Texas, within the Texas Blackland Prairies. The city is located on the rich, black gumbo prairie in northeast Hunt County,…
Honaker-Holsonbake House · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Honaker-Holsonbake House, a landmark that tells the story of early Farmersville society. Businessman John Honaker built a home here in 1893, but he really transformed it in 1910, remodeling it…
First Presbyterian Church of Commerce · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Commerce's First Presbyterian Church, organized way back in November of 1888. Seventeen charter members, led by Reverend J.C. Grow, got together to start the congregation. They met in the…
Commerce Churches · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of several churches that have occupied this land. The Missionary Baptist Church built here in 1893, followed by the Commerce Church of Christ in 1913. Later, Baptist congregations from Paris…
The Widow Who Built a House, a Business, and a Town Block · 14.4 mi
At 108 College Street stands one of the oldest homes in Farmersville, and the story of who built it is better than the architecture. Anna Melissa Hicks Bain, a widow, had this house raised in 1865 on a parcel of land…
Commerce Schools · 14.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where Commerce's schools have been educating kids for over a century. By 1883, the town's first public school was already too small. So, the Commerce Educational Association bought land right here…
John T. Knight · 14.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Commerce, where John T. Knight arrived way back in 1878. For decades, he was a powerhouse here, serving on the school board for over thirty years, running a grocery store, and heading up local banks.…
First Baptist Church of Commerce · 14.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, where this First Baptist Church started back on November 15th, 1883. Nine charter members kicked things off as the Missionary Baptist Church of Commerce. They met in a shared…
The Most Decorated Soldier Called This Square Home · 14.5 mi
Audie Murphy was born in a sharecropper's cabin near Kingston over in Hunt County, not here, and Farmersville is careful about that. But this is the town he claimed. His maternal grandparents lived in Farmersville, and…
Farmersville's Notorious Son: Tex Watson · 14.5 mi
Charles "Tex" Watson (born December 2, 1945) grew up in Farmersville, Texas, in Collin County, where he was an honor student, football captain, and newspaper editor at Farmersville High School before attending the…
How Farmersville Became the Onion Capital of North Texas · 14.5 mi
The smell of this town used to carry for miles. After the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway pushed through Collin County in 1886 and 1887, Farmersville had what every farm town needed: a way to get a perishable crop…
A Farm Kid Who Became One of the Great Jazz Guitarists · 14.5 mi
One of the most admired jazz guitarists of the 20th century grew up on a farm just outside this town. Mitchell Herbert Ellis, known to the world as Herb Ellis, was born in Farmersville on August 4, 1921. As a small boy…
The Town That Named Itself After the Work · 14.5 mi
Most Texas towns are named for a founder, a railroad customer, or a faraway hometown. The one you're driving into was named for what its people did all day. Settlers arrived in this corner of eastern Collin County…
Sugar Hill and the Man Who Came Before the Town · 14.5 mi
Before Farmersville existed, there was Sugar Hill, two miles northeast of here, and behind Sugar Hill was John Yeary. Born in Virginia in 1796, Yeary was an old soldier and frontier Indian fighter who had ridden on an…
Hawkeye Henson, Three-Time World Bronc Champion · 14.5 mi
Farmersville turned out a world-champion cowboy. Monty Henson, nicknamed Hawkeye, was born here on October 22, 1953, and grew up alongside a childhood friend named Don Gay who would become a world-champion bull rider in…
The Fire That Rebuilt the Square in Brick and Stone · 14.5 mi
The handsome brick and stone storefronts around Farmersville's square are not an accident of good taste. They are a reaction to disaster. In 1886, fire tore through the heart of downtown and destroyed much of the…
The Quiet Science Inside the Onion Shed · 14.5 mi
An onion shed looks like a plain barn by the tracks, but a lot of food science happened inside one. A sweet onion like Farmersville's East Collin Sweet is mild and delicious precisely because it is low in the sulfur…
Central National Road of the Republic of Texas · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Collin County, not far from where a vital artery of the Republic of Texas once pulsed. Look around – you're near the path of the Central National Road. In <say-as interpret-as="date"…
Yeary, John · 14.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Collin County, not far from Farmersville. Right here, John Yeary was building a new life after serving in the U.S. Army. In 1841, his home near Ladonia was attacked by Native Americans, and his…
Bain-Honaker House · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Bain-Honaker House, a home that was also a hub of community life. Built in 1865 by Anna Melissa Hicks Bain, a widow and astute businesswoman, this house wasn't just a place to raise her five…
Commerce · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, a town that owes its name and existence to a shift in traffic and a vote in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1885</say-as>. It all started back in <say-as…
First Methodist Church of Farmersville · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Methodist Church of Farmersville. This congregation started way back in 1856 with informal classes held in a local schoolhouse. Things really picked up in 1870 after a big…
Bruce B. Williams American Legion Post No. 1 · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the very first American Legion Post in Texas! It was established right here in Commerce back in 1919, the same year the national organization got its start. The idea came after the…
Farmersville, TX · 14.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Farmersville, a town literally named for its people's main job. Settlers arrived around 1849, establishing a community for the farmers who were quickly filling up this part of Collin County. It…
First Christian Church of Commerce · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, and right here is the site of the First Christian Church. Back in the 1850s, families from the Christian Church, also known as the Disciples of Christ, started settling in this…
Farmersville Masonic Lodge No. 214, A.F. & A.M. · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Farmersville Masonic Lodge, a Romanesque Revival building constructed back in 1888 and 1889. This structure housed a mercantile on the first floor and a fraternal hall above. It's one of the…
Audie Murphy's Homecoming, June 15, 1945 · 14.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Farmersville, where on June 15th, 1945, thousands gathered to welcome home their most famous son, Audie Murphy. This decorated World War II hero, who earned every Army citation for valor, was…
Prairie Grove Cemetery · 14.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Prairie Grove Cemetery, a final resting place for the Aleo community from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. It's tied to the Prairie Grove Baptist Church, which originally set aside this land for…
The New Deal Mural Hiding in the Post Office · 14.6 mi
Walk into the Farmersville post office at 213 McKinney Street, look above the postmaster's door, and you'll find a piece of Depression-era American art most towns this size never got. In 1941 the painter Jerry Bywaters,…
Jernigin's Store · 14.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, a town that owes its very name to a merchant named William Jernigin. He arrived here in 1856, a former legislator from Tennessee. After establishing himself as a pioneer merchant…
Lane Cemetery · 14.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Lane community. It all started in 1866 when Robert W. Lane opened a general store. By 1878, the government approved a post office, and the community grew with farms, churches,…
Commerce Post Office · 14.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the old Commerce Post Office, a building that went up during World War I. Construction started in July 1917 and finished in August 1918, facing delays because of the war. It served as the city's main…
First Baptist Church of Farmersville · 14.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Farmersville, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church's beginning. Fifteen charter members gathered under a brush arbor on May 14, 1865, to organize the church, choosing Reverend…
First National Bank of Farmersville · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Farmersville, a town named for its people's main occupation. Back in 1885, a private bank called the Exchange Bank opened its doors. Just two years later, in 1887, it got a national charter and…
Farmersville I.O.O.F. Cemetery · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Farmersville I.O.O.F. Cemetery, established in 1899 by the local chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The earliest marked grave here belongs to Mattie Robinson Hicks, who died in…
Scratch-Made Comfort Food Off the Square · 14.8 mi
If all that talk of onions has you hungry, Charlie's Old Fashioned Kitchen at 201 South Hamilton Street is the place to settle it, a short walk off Farmersville's historic square. It's a no-frills, scratch-made Southern…
Sunny Point Cemetery · 14.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Sunny Point Cemetery, a place that's been a final resting spot for Hopkins County families since the 1880s. In 1881, A.J. Weathers deeded this land for both a cemetery and a school. The first known…
Jackson, Josiah Hart · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Commerce, Texas, but this area owes its start to Josiah Hart Jackson. Born in Kentucky, he arrived in Texas back in 1839. By the 1850s, he opened Jackson's store just a mile northeast of here.…
Farmersville, TX · 15.0 mi
The most decorated American soldier of World War II considered Farmersville his hometown. Audie Murphy was born in a nearby county, but his family moved around the area, and he spent formative time here. When the…
Audie Murphy, Hometown Hero · 15.0 mi
When you think of Farmersville, you have to think of Audie Murphy. Though born in a neighboring county, the most decorated American soldier of World War II always called this place home. His family were sharecroppers,…
The Onion Capital of North Texas · 15.0 mi
In the early 20th century, Farmersville had a distinct aroma—the smell of money, and it smelled like onions. While cotton was a staple, it was the humble Bermuda onion that gave the town its unique claim to fame as the…
The Engineering of a Railroad Town · 15.0 mi
The reason Farmersville boomed wasn't just the railroad; it was the specific geometry of a railroad junction. First came the narrow-gauge East Line and Red River, bought by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas — the Katy —…
Farmersville · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Farmersville, a town born on a dusty road back in 1849. It was named for the pioneers' main hustle: farming. By the 1850s, folks started moving in, including Collin County's very first doctor, H.M.…

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