Itasca, Texas

Everything Itasca is known for

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Music in Itasca

Songs About Itasca

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Artists From Itasca

S
Sam Baker
americana Pop: 34

Rivers & Roads in Song near Itasca

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Itasca.

Interstate 35 42 songs Brazos River 37 songs Chisholm Trail 7 songs Interstate 45 7 songs Interstate 20 13 songs Trinity River 10 songs

Musical Heritage

Hill County Courthouse RoadyGoat

1890

New Year's Day, 1993. An electrical short caught somewhere inside the Hill County Courthouse in Hillsboro, and before the day was out, the seventy-foot bell tower came down in flames. When the smoke cleared, this 1890 landmark was four limestone walls and not much else. Most towns would have bulldozed it and moved on. Hillsboro rebuilt — six years, nine million dollars, pulled together from grants, state money, and donations, including the take from a benefit concert Willie Nelson played to help save it. They rededicated it in 1999. And the fire lit a fuse statewide: then-Governor George W. Bush turned around and asked the Texas Historical Commission to check every old courthouse in Texas — and found a whole lot of them quietly falling apart. One building burned. It ended up saving dozens.

RoadyGoat → · 10.2 mi away

The Fire That Saved Texas Courthouses RoadyGoat

1993

The fire that nearly destroyed Hillsboro's courthouse ended up saving historic courthouses across Texas. On New Year's Day in 1993, an electrical short set the 1890 Hill County Courthouse ablaze. The roof and the seventy-foot clock tower collapsed, and the courthouse bell, cast in Baltimore and weighing more than fifteen hundred pounds, crashed down into the district courtroom. When the smoke cleared, only the limestone exterior walls were still standing. Instead of replacing it with a modern box, Hill County chose to rebuild the courthouse exactly as architect W. C. Dodson had drawn it, finishing the restoration in 1999. Hillsboro native Bob Bullock, then the lieutenant governor, championed the effort, and the most famous musician from a tiny town just down the road in Hill County played benefit concerts to help pay for it. The disaster helped inspire what became the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program, which has since rescued courthouses all over the state. (Sources: Texas Highways; Texas Historical Commission; Architexas.)

10.4 mi away

The Hillsboro Drummer Who Helped Invent Rock RoadyGoat

1939

Hillsboro's best music story might be a drummer. Jerry Allison was born here in 1939, and he became the drummer for Buddy Holly and the Crickets, one of the bands that essentially invented rock and roll. Allison co-wrote two of the songs that started it all, Peggy Sue and That'll Be the Day. He always told the story that the second title came straight off the movie screen: he and Holly had just watched John Wayne repeat the line over and over in the 1956 western The Searchers, and as Allison remembered it, within about thirty minutes they had written the song. It is a remarkable thing to stand on the Hillsboro square and realize this small Central Texas town has a direct line to the birth of modern rock. (Sources: Wikipedia, with cited sources; Vintage Rock, 2022 interview.)

10.4 mi away

Hillsboro's Hand in a Famous Prison Album RoadyGoat

1932

Coming out of Huntsville's prison-music history, there is a perfect Hillsboro footnote. Record producer Bob Johnston was born here in 1932. He went on to produce some of the most important records of his era, working with Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Simon and Garfunkel. And he produced the man in black's landmark live album recorded inside Folsom Prison, which means this Hill County town has an indirect hand in one of the most famous prison recordings ever made. Johnston summed up his whole production philosophy in one rough, honest line that fit a room full of inmates as well as any studio: don't ever quit, don't stop playing, and if you do, don't come back. (Sources: Wikipedia, with cited sources; UNCUT; Briscoe Center.)

10.4 mi away

History of Itasca

The Town That Chased the Tracks RoadyGoat

1881

Grandview once stood about a mile north of where you are now. Then the railroad decided the town's future for it. In the early 1880s the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, the line Texans called the Katy, laid its tracks within a mile or two of the old settlement, passing it by instead of running through it. A town built for wagons could not survive off the rails, so Grandview simply picked up and moved. Over the next year or two residents and businesses hauled their buildings toward the line, and by 1883 the new Grandview had formed around the depot, right about here. The gamble paid off. Cotton wagons that once faced long hauls now unloaded straight onto boxcars. Population passed 500 by 1890, the First National Bank of Grandview opened, and in 1891 residents voted to incorporate the reborn town.

RoadyGoat → · 8.0 mi away

The Ground That Breathes RoadyGoat

1854

The rich black dirt around Grandview is a scientific marvel with a temper. This is the Blackland Prairie, and its signature soil, called Houston Black, is the official state soil of Texas. It is a vertisol: a clay so packed with a mineral called smectite, roughly 40 to 60 percent clay, that it literally moves with the weather. Rain makes the clay swell and go sticky; drought makes it shrink and pull apart, opening cracks up to four inches wide and several feet deep. Underground, the layers grind past each other and polish into slick surfaces geologists call slickensides. That same moisture-holding richness is why the early settlers here grew cotton so well, and by the end of the 1800s the blacklands were the leading cotton region in Texas. The catch is that this living, breathing ground still heaves against concrete, which is why local foundations and roads crack.

8.0 mi away

What a Grand View RoadyGoat

1854

Grandview got its name from a single spoken sentence. In 1854, John Whitmire, son-in-law of early settler F. L. Kirtley, looked out across the high prairie here and exclaimed "What a Grand View!" The name stuck, written as two words until 1925. Kirtley donated 2.5 acres for a Baptist church and cemetery in 1856, and that same year James F. Scurlock bought roughly 1,400 acres surrounding the burial ground and laid out a town plat. The oldest marked grave belongs to Scurlock's infant son, James C., born and died on a single day, June 4, 1857. By 1860 the settlement had three general stores, a blacksmith, a church, and a two-story building that housed the county's first Masonic lodge, which met that December and was chartered as Lodge No. 266 in June 1861. This rise, northwest of the present downtown, was the original Grand View, and the cemetery gradually took over the whole old town site.

8.8 mi away

Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company

1900

Until 1900 raw cotton grown in Hill County had to be shipped to the coast and from there to the East for processing. The Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company was organized at Itasca, Texas, on March 6, 1900, to meet the need for a local processing facility. Many of the stockholders were members of the Files family, which had been prominent in local affairs since the 1850s, and family members managed the ICMC during its sixty-seven years of operation. From the beginning, the mill was a vertical operation that processed raw cotton by dyeing, spinning, and weaving it into finished fabrics. Initially the mill produced drill to be made into overalls and sheeting for flour sacks. It began production with 100 bales of cotton on September 7, 1901, and operated with 6,000 spindles and 200 thirty-six-inch plain Mason looms powered by steam engines. In 1902 the ICMC board decided to build a mill village to provide low-rent housing for the workers. When a child was accidentally killed while playing in the mill area, the board took out its first employees' liability insurance. The company houses were provided with free water and sewerage, and also free electricity as soon as the mill itself was electrified in the 1920s. In 1906 the board added a nondenominational church and a schoolhouse to the mill village. Occasionally whole families were employed by the mill, and many employees worked for the company their entire lives. For the first fourteen years the company's fortunes fluctuated widely. At times the ICMC was close to bankruptcy; at other times it was fairly prosperous. World War I , however, brought solvency to the company by generating a great need for cotton duck, the heavy fabric used to make army tents. The government bought Itasca's entire output during the war years. Subsequently, the mill erected another building and added more looms. In addition to duck and sheeting, it began to produce ratiné, a popular dress fabric, in the 1920s. In 1922–23 Itasca added more looms and spindles and purchased adjacent acreage. The mill continued to prosper until the Great Depression , during which the facility was closed for a while. By 1940, however, ICMC was in full-time operation again, producing a wide variety of clothing fabrics in addition to duck and sheeting. During World War II the company was again converted to making duck for the government and operated day and night. After the war the growth of labor unions and the synthetic fiber industry beset the mill. By the mid-1950s the company was losing money, and plans were made for liquidation. The plant was shut down in 1959. The company dissolved on March 27, 1967. The ICMC was founded partly in order that area farmers might have a local market for their cotton. By the time the company was dissolved farming in the area had become much more diversified, and the relatively small mill could not compete with larger mills, particularly those that were parts of multipurpose corporations.

Tsha Handbook →

Itasca, TX

1901

Itasca is on Interstate 35 West at the edge of the Blackland Prairie in the northeast corner of Hill County. The elevation of the town is 702 feet above sea level. A limestone outcropping overlooks Itasca from the east at an elevation of 858 feet. The town is at the head of Richland Creek on a natural watershed that divides the Brazos and Trinity river basins. It is named after Lake Itasca, at the head of the Mississippi River in Minnesota. G. M. Dodge of New York purchased 100 acres as an agent for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad in 1881. The town was platted on the Arthur Renshaw survey. Town lots went on sale on October 10, 1881. The first building, a general store, was erected by Will I. Hooks and James H. Griffin. Rev. J. W. Lackey became the pastor of the newly built Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1884. The Itasca Mail began the same year; in 1900 its name was changed to Itasca Item . The weekly paper continued publication for over 100 years. The town was incorporated in 1885 and by 1890 had a population of 548. An artesian well dug in 1893 was the primary source of water. A two-story frame schoolhouse built by Robert E. Lee Masonic Lodge No. 449 opened in 1887. In 1920 the streets were paved, and Lone Star Gas began providing service in 1923. The Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company began operation in 1901. The mill and mill village were completed within the year. On an average the company purchased 10,000 bales of local cotton annually. The company manufactured sheeting, drill, and ducking and employed 350 people. The mill was closed from January 1932 to May 1933. About 1935 the Itasca Weavers Guild was established to utilize cloth left over from wholesale orders. A "factory direct store" was organized in Dallas as early as 1949. Within five years eleven stores were located throughout Texas. Switzer Woman's College and Conservatory of Music moved from Weatherford to Itasca in 1902, then to Dallas in 1912. Burney Military Academy subsequently operated for two years before it too closed. By 1906 the town population was 2,500. The community supported seven grocery stores, two furniture stores, two banks, two hotels, four cotton gins, and a bottling works. In 1937 Hill County Electric Cooperative was founded by Earl Farrow to service the rapidly growing rural population. The cooperative was the third to be established under the Rural Electrification Act. The town began to decline in May 1962, when the Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company was sold to Harris Electric Manufacturing Company. Fewer employees were necessary, and the need for local raw materials dropped. The population of Itasca in 1990 was 1,523. Major businesses included the Hill County Electric Cooperative, the Itasca Item , Itasca Grain and Storage, the Itasca Gin, and the Itasca Presbyterian Children's Home. Wheat, grain sorghum, some cotton, and cattle are grown in the area. In 2000 the town reported sixty-nine businesses and a population of 1,503.

Tsha Handbook →

Southwestern Presbyterian Home and Service Agency

1902

Southwestern Presbyterian Home and Service Agency, in Hill County, originally Southwestern Presbyterian Home and School for Orphans, was founded in 1902, when C. C. Weaver requested the Presbyterian Synod of Texas to establish an orphanage. In October 1903 members of the synod traveled to Milford, Ellis County, home of Texas Presbyterian College, where they secured a charter and made plans to receive bids for an orphanage. In December 1904 they selected a site located on an elevated plateau that overlooked Files Valley, 5½ miles east of Itasca in Hill County. Mr. and Mrs. D. J. Files donated 360 acres of land and $3,000 in cash for the orphanage. An administrative staff under the direction of the institution's first president, J. D. McLean, oversaw the financing, construction, and initial enrollment of the first class over the next two years. In the spring of 1906 two spacious wood-and-brick residential buildings welcomed the first twenty-two children to their new home and school. The Files Cottage for Boys and the Grace Knox Home for Girls were gifts of Pat E. and Will I. Hooker of Itasca and Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Knox of Dallas. A matron resided in each cottage and was responsible for the children. In addition to the cottage, the grounds also held a twelve-grade elementary school, a laundry room, a barn, a dairy, and the president's home, provided by Simon Fraser and known as the Simon Fraser Annex. In 1910 the board amended the original charter to allow the synods of Arkansas and Oklahoma to have joint control of the institution. For the next forty-seven years the operated under the 1910 charter. During that time school enrollment hovered around 100. In 1955 the institution merged with the Presbyterian Child Placement Agency to form the Presbyterian Children's Home and Service Agency with offices in Itasca, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Two years later the board of trustees voted to discontinue the school and enroll the children in the nearby public schools at Itasca. Over the next twenty-five years the institution gradually shifted its care to dependent and neglected children rather than orphans. In 1980 sixty children lived in the cottages of the Southwestern Presbyterian Home.

Tsha Handbook →

Site of Switzer College

1902

Founded 1902 by David and Rebecca Switzer as Woman's College and Conservatory of Music. Offered liberal arts, sciences, music. Had average of 125 students. Social activities included literary societies, lyceum courses, receptions. Moved to Dallas, 1912. Plant was sold, dismantled in 1917. (1966)

Historical Marker →

Itasca Railroad Depot

1895

The second railroad depot for Itasca, this Victorian structure was built in 1895, fourteen years after the town was founded along a line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. It was constructed large enough to accommodate both passenger and freight service. A landmark in the town and a symbol of the area's early economic growth, the depot served as a transportation center until the late 1960s. In 1972 it was moved to this site. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982

Historical Marker →

Eureka Cemetery

1870

This burial ground served the early residents of the agricultural Eureka community. Eureka was settled in the 1870s mostly by residents looking to farm cotton in the region’s rich, blackland soil. The community did not have a cotton gin or store, depending on nearby Lovelace and Itasca, but it did have a school and Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Early Eureka settlers included the Kimmons, Eagleston, McDaniel, Faries, Clack, London, Hambright, Priddy, Hamilton and Wilson families. Oral tradition relates that the first burial here was of a young niece of William R. Kimmons (d. 1931), who owned the property. The earliest documented burial in Eureka Cemetery, though, is of Willie D. Kimmons (d. 1887), the infant son of W.R. and Ella (Eagleston) Kimmons (d. 1934). After this interment, the Kimmons opened the graveyard to their friends and neighbors. Eureka Cemetery features interior fencing, curbing and vertical stones in a wooded setting. Of the 20 marked graves in Eureka Cemetery, 13 are for children less than 10 years of age. From the mid-to-late 20th century, the Kimmons-Eagleston family cared for the graveyard. In 2008, the Eureka Cemetery Association formed to maintain the burial ground after interest was spurred by state and county preservationists. Today, with the old schoolhouse and church building gone, Eureka Cemetery is the only physical reminder of the community’s early history, and remains as a chronicle of its pioneers.

Historical Marker → · 3.3 mi away

Things to Do in Itasca

food 24.8 mi away
The Czech Stop

In 1983 Bill Polk opened a little convenience store off I-35 in West Texas and started selling kolaches he bought from a nearby bakery. The pastries moved so…
food 24.8 mi away
Slovacek's West

I-35 exit 353 in West, Texas — the rival Czech bakery to the Czech Stop across the highway. Over 35 kolache varieties, in-house smoked meats, and a full deli…

Everything Near Itasca

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

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