Songwriter Sam Baker was born here in Itasca, and he played varsity football at Itasca High, back when people called him Dick Baker. In nineteen eighty six, when he was thirty two, he was riding the train from Cuzco to the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru when a bomb went off in the car. The steel bars of the luggage rack became a rain of shrapnel, killing seven people and injuring nearly forty. Baker survived a severed femoral artery and bleeding in his brain, and the blast wrecked his hearing for more than twenty years. He moved to Austin in the early nineteen nineties, taught himself to play guitar left handed to work around his injuries, and turned all of it into songs, starting with an album he called Mercy.

RoadyGoat →

Searchin from Itasca RoadyGoat

One of the voices of early rock and roll came from Itasca. Billy Guy of the Coasters was born Frank Phillips Junior here on the twentieth of June, nineteen thirty six. He was the group's baritone and one of its lead singers, and he sang lead on their hit Searchin'. The Coasters were famous for comic, story telling songs, and in nineteen eighty seven they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Billy Guy among the members honored.

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History of Itasca

The Doctor, the Banker and the Duel RoadyGoat

Dr. Franklin Maner was prominent in Itasca for more than thirty years, and E. E. Griffin had once worked in the drugstore that filled the doctor's prescriptions. Griffin went on to be a lumber agent and then a banker here, and the two men were the best of friends. Then they fell out. They took opposite sides in running the town, and each blamed the other for criminal charges brought against him. On Monday, the twenty sixth of June, nineteen oh five, they met on the street, about thirty five feet apart, and opened fire. About eight shots were fired. Dr. Maner, shot in the chest, fell to the ground and kept shooting, and he died within the hour. Griffin surrendered, was tried for murder, and was acquitted. Maner had carried more than a hundred thousand dollars in life insurance, and one company refused to pay, arguing he had sought his own death. The federal courts agreed. And in May of nineteen oh seven, the doctor's son shot Griffin twice. Griffin survived, and the son was indicted for assault with intent to murder.

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Three Stories for One Name RoadyGoat

How did Itasca get its name? The Handbook of Texas says it's named for Lake Itasca in Minnesota, where the Mississippi River begins. A book of Texas place names adds the local version: a Katy railroad engineer supposedly saw a mirage out on this prairie that reminded him of Lake Itasca. And the name itself was invented, since Lake Itasca was named by an explorer in the eighteen thirties. Then there's the folklorist J. Frank Dobie, who had his own theory. Dobie wrote that Itasca descends from the Spanish word atasca, it sticks, a reference to the sticky black waxy soil the town sits on. Anyone who's walked these fields after a rain can see his point.

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The Paper the Kids Ran RoadyGoat

After Itasca's last commercial newspaper closed, the town's news came from an unlikely place: the high school. The Paw Print Press, started by Itasca students in nineteen ninety seven, covered the town every week, and the students did it all, right down to printing, folding, stamping and mailing the paper. In January of two thousand three, The New Yorker magazine sent writer Mark Singer to Itasca, and his story was titled Teen Beat, with the question: what happens when a high school weekly is the only newspaper in town?

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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

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

The Doctor, the Banker and the Duel · 0.1 mi
Dr. Franklin Maner was prominent in Itasca for more than thirty years, and E. E. Griffin had once worked in the drugstore that filled the doctor's prescriptions. Griffin went on to be a lumber agent and then a banker…
The Songwriter Who Survived the Train · 0.1 mi
Songwriter Sam Baker was born here in Itasca, and he played varsity football at Itasca High, back when people called him Dick Baker. In nineteen eighty six, when he was thirty two, he was riding the train from Cuzco to…
The Coach Whose Uniform Became the Twelfth Man · 0.1 mi
In nineteen twenty five, when Texas crowned a single high school football champion, the Itasca Wampus Cats, a small Class B team, lasted until the final seven. On a Wednesday in December, they played the mighty Waco…
Three Stories for One Name · 0.1 mi
How did Itasca get its name? The Handbook of Texas says it's named for Lake Itasca in Minnesota, where the Mississippi River begins. A book of Texas place names adds the local version: a Katy railroad engineer…
Searchin from Itasca · 0.1 mi
One of the voices of early rock and roll came from Itasca. Billy Guy of the Coasters was born Frank Phillips Junior here on the twentieth of June, nineteen thirty six. He was the group's baritone and one of its lead…
The Paper the Kids Ran · 0.1 mi
After Itasca's last commercial newspaper closed, the town's news came from an unlikely place: the high school. The Paw Print Press, started by Itasca students in nineteen ninety seven, covered the town every week, and…
I'm Eddie Chiles, and I'm Mad · 0.1 mi
Eddie Chiles was born here in Itasca in nineteen ten, the son of a cotton farmer. He went into the oil business and built the Western Company from three employees to more than five thousand. In nineteen seventy seven he…
Wow, We Were Really Wampus Cats · 0.1 mi
So how did Itasca end up with a monster for a mascot? One answer comes from a nineteen ninety six newspaper story that quoted lifelong Itascan Nancy Bowman, who ran the school's special services. As she told it, the…
Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company · 0.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
The Navy's Top Nurse · 0.1 mi
Winnie Gibson was born in Itasca in nineteen oh two. She trained as a nurse at the Seton Infirmary in Austin, graduating in nineteen twenty three, and joined the Navy Nurse Corps as an ensign in nineteen thirty. She…
The Man Who Brought the Lights · 0.1 mi
Earl Farrow grew up on a farm near Itasca, and his family could see a power company substation from a corner of their cotton field, but they still had no electricity. He went to work as a clerk at seventeen, was elected…
The Ship That Waited for Amelia · 0.1 mi
Itasca, Texas, is named for Lake Itasca in Minnesota, where the Mississippi River begins. A Coast Guard cutter carried the same name, and in early July of nineteen thirty seven it had a famous, lonely job. The Itasca…

Show all 200 nearby places

The Secret Boys of Howland Island · 0.1 mi
Two years before it waited for Amelia Earhart, the Coast Guard cutter Itasca, which shared this town's name, carried a secret. In March of nineteen thirty five it left Honolulu with soldiers and a group of new graduates…
The Wampus Cat of Rotan · 0.1 mi
The most famous early wampus cat in Texas newspapers was a deliberate hoax. Don Hampton Biggers was a West Texas newspaperman and satirist. He came to Rotan, northwest of Abilene, in nineteen oh seven to run a…
The Great Knoxville Wampus Hunt · 0.1 mi
In November nineteen eighteen, Knoxville, Tennessee, decided the wampus cat was real. Dogs were turning up dead in Fountain City with their hearts and livers torn out. A mule was killed in Whittle Springs. Some people…
Itasca, TX · 0.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
Southwestern Presbyterian Home and Service Agency · 0.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
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…
The Bee Scientist from Itasca · 0.1 mi
Lonnie Standifer was born in Itasca in nineteen twenty six, one of ten children, and he grew up to be one of the country's honey bee scientists. He studied at Prairie View A and M and went on to research honey bee…
Down in the Fog · 0.1 mi
On a foggy Saturday morning in January of nineteen thirty six, a small plane took off from a private airfield near Grand Prairie, carrying its pilot and two Dallas men headed to Victoria to bid on a hospital job. Around…
The Flour Sacks That Said Thank You · 0.1 mi
Itasca once wove cotton cloth, and cotton cloth carried one of the great relief efforts in history. During World War One, Herbert Hoover's Commission for Relief in Belgium shipped five point seven million tons of food…
Before It Was a Mascot, It Was a Word · 0.1 mi
Long before there was a wampus cat on a jersey, there was the word. The Oxford English Dictionary records catawumpus as nineteenth century American slang for a bogy, a fierce imaginary animal. Its cousin, cattywampus,…
The Shotgun Bought in Itasca · 0.1 mi
In September of nineteen oh six, a young farmer named Earl Hobbs, just past twenty one, lived with his wife and baby about four miles east of Itasca. He had hired a stranger to pick cotton, and after his wife told him…
First Presbyterian Church of Itasca · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Itasca, where history is a bit of a moving target. This church's story isn't about one building, but six different communities and congregations across the 19th century. Think Itasca, Osceola,…
Life in the Mill Village · 0.1 mi
The Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company built a whole village of low rent houses for its workers. After a child was killed while playing in the mill area, the company's board took out its first employees' liability…
Site of Switzer College · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
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,…
Park, J. W., Home · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of John Wilkes Park, built around 1908 in Itasca. Look for the massive Corinthian columns and classic details of this beautiful Classical Revival house. Park, a Mississippi native,…
The Famous Itasca Crash · 0.4 mi
For decades, Itasca wasn't just a place on a map; it was a label you could find in homes across America. That was thanks to the Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company, organized on March 6, 1900, which began production…
Beware the Wampus Cat · 0.4 mi
If you happen to pass the high school, you might notice a very unusual mascot: the Wampus Cat. This isn't your everyday tiger or bulldog. The Wampus Cat is a mythical creature from American folklore, a terrifying,…
The Engineering of 'Itasca Crash' · 0.4 mi
The Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company wasn't just a mill; it was a whole integrated machine. It was organized in March of 1900 and started production on the seventh of September, 1901, with a hundred bales of cotton,…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Itasca (Itasca) · 0.4 mi
Itasca (Itasca, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Brayden Daniel (0.529 avg).
Nothing but prairie, then the Katy · 0.4 mi
Look at the railroad tracks cutting through Itasca. You're looking at the town's creator. In 1881, this place was nothing but prairie. But the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad—the 'Katy'—was building its line south, and…
Itasca, TX · 0.4 mi
Itasca's founding is closely tied to the establishment of a railroad station for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad in 1881. This event marked the beginning of the city's development, leading to its incorporation…
Itasca Railroad Depot · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
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…
The Woman in the Cougar Skin · 1.4 mi
Out here on a dark creek bottom near Itasca, it's easy to see why people told this story after sundown. It's an Appalachian tale, and the woman in it is said to be Cherokee. The old story says her husband hunted with…
Running Deer and the Spirit of Madness · 1.8 mi
There's another wampus cat legend, and in this one, she's the hero. It's told today as a Cherokee story from the mountains of North Carolina. The legend says a demon called the Ew'ah, the spirit of madness, was…
The Specter of Some Huge Bobcat · 2.9 mi
The wampus cat has prowled Texas stories for a long time. Up in Sherman, Texas, the old story went that the great wampus cat was first seen on the Oklahoma border around nineteen hundred. It was described as the specter…
Eureka Cemetery · 3.3 mi · Historical Marker
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…
The Town With a Misspelled Name · 5.0 mi
There's a little spot on the map here called Lovelace. And the name is wrong. Not a bad idea kind of wrong. A misspelling kind of wrong. After the Civil War, a man named J. M. Loveless came to Texas with his two…
The Walk to Lovelace · 5.0 mi
On March thirteenth, nineteen seventy two, a man named Jack Smith walked into Lovelace on foot. Then he turned around. By his own signed confession, he had just shot his wife, Norma Jean, at their home, after an…
Southwestern Presbyterian Home and School for Orphans · 5.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Southwestern Presbyterian Home and School for Orphans in Itasca. It all started in Dallas with a few church women caring for four children whose father had died. That act of kindness…
Site of Fort Smith · 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Fort Smith, established around 1846. This was one of a chain of forts built to protect settlers from Indian raids, stretching all the way from the Colorado River to the Red River. The…
Lackawanna Ranch · 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the historic Lackawanna Ranch, once owned by Dr. John S. Scofield. He bought this 2500-acre spread in 1858, naming it after the Indian word for 'dwelling of the deep valleys.' Dr. Scofield wasn't…
Covington, TX · 6.4 mi
In the early 1860s, Gathings College was founded by brothers James and Philip Gathings in Covington. It quickly became the largest school in the state with an enrollment that exceeded 200 students. The school offered…
The Iron Horse and the Blackland Prairie · 6.4 mi
Covington's railroad story isn't about the line that came. It's about the one that didn't. James J. Gathings founded this town in the 1850s, long before anybody laid rail out here, naming it for his wife, Martha Wall…
Gathings College · 6.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Gathings College, founded around 1860 by Colonel James Gathings and his brother Philip. This school, which enrolled over 200 students, even had a military department that trained young…
Gathings, James J. · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, and right here is the area where James J. Gathings decided to build his dream. He arrived from Mississippi in 1849, seeking cheap land. He settled near Richland Creek, eventually…
Covington, TX · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, heading towards Covington. This town owes its very existence to James J. Gathings, who arrived here in 1852. He envisioned a community built on his own terms. Gathings set aside land…
Douglass, Astyanax M. · 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County right now, and you're passing through the territory once home to Dr. Astyanax Douglass. He was a physician who answered the call to fight for the Confederacy. Douglass served in the…
Covington Cemetery · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Covington Cemetery, a resting place for Hill County pioneers. The earliest marked grave here belongs to Joseph Patterson Wier, who died fighting in the Civil War's Battle of Yellow Bayou. His…
Grandview Baseball — Randy Pistokache, District 18-3A Newcomer of the Year 2026 · 7.1 mi
Randy Pistokache, a freshman (#29) at Grandview High School (Grandview, TX — Johnson County), was named the District 18-3A Newcomer of the Year for the 2026 baseball season.
Emory Home · 7.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Emory Home in Grandview. Built in 1907 by John Samuel and Mary Elizabeth Emory, this two-story residence was a testament to John's success as a farmer and stockman. He was also a leading civic…
Grandview, TX · 7.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Grandview, Texas, right where U.S. 81 and I-35W meet. This town owes its start to a general store opened by J. F. Scurlock back in the 1850s. By 1860, a townsite was laid out, and a two-story…
How the Purple Heart Trail Grew Across Texas · 7.8 mi
This highway is part of the Purple Heart Trail, a symbolic trail that runs through all fifty states to honor those killed or wounded in combat while serving in the armed forces. In Texas it started with one road. In two…
Grandview · 7.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Grandview, a town born from a beautiful vista. Settled in 1850 on land granted by Governor Pease, its early settlers hauled supplies by ox wagon all the way from Houston. A visitor once exclaimed,…
Grandview Masonic Lodge · 7.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Grandview, home to Johnson County's oldest continuously operating Masonic Lodge. Chartered in 1861, this lodge has met in several buildings, including one shared with the Methodist church. A fire…
Arnotville School · 7.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Arnotville School, named for Albert M. Arnot, on whose land the first schoolhouse went up sometime between 1874 and 1879. This building served as both a classroom and a church for the…
Grandview High School — State Softball 2026 · 8.0 mi
Grandview High School in Grandview, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class three A, Division One.
UIL 3A Football State Champions — 2 titles · 8.0 mi
Grandview High School (Grandview, TX): Most recent: 42-35 over Pottsboro · 2019 3A Division 1 final.
The Town That Chased the Tracks · 8.0 mi
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…
The Ground That Breathes · 8.0 mi
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…
Oakland Cemetery · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Oakland Cemetery, established around 1866. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2007.
What a Grand View · 8.8 mi
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…
Grandview Cemetery and Original Grand View Town Site · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Grandview Cemetery, the final resting place for the original Grand View town site. This place got its name in 1854 when John Whitmire looked around and declared, 'What a Grand View!' Just two years…
Woodbury Missionary Baptist Church · 9.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Woodbury, Texas, where the Missionary Baptist Church has been a cornerstone for over 150 years. Organized way back on September 28th, 1871, by Elder Samuel Lacy and Elder S. E. Brooks, this…
Chosen by math, not by pioneers · 9.6 mi
The very existence of Grandview in its current location is a lesson in 19th-century engineering and infrastructure. It started a mile north of here in the 1850s, when J. F. Scurlock opened a general store; a proper…
The Night Grandview Burned · 9.6 mi
Take a look at the brick buildings that line downtown Grandview. This town has rebuilt itself more than once. It moved, first — the Missouri, Kansas and Texas ran its track two miles off in 1882, and over the next year…
Freeland, J. W. · 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hill County, and right around here is where J.W. Freeland made his mark. He was the city marshal of Hubbard back in the late 1800s, a tough time with lots of lawlessness. Freeland moved on to…
Cox, John P. · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a man who served Hill County for over two decades. John P. Cox was sheriff for sixteen years, but his service started earlier. In 1861, he joined the Confederate Army's Parsons Brigade.…
A Star in the Window, a Marker by the Road · 10.0 mi
This road carries a Blue Star Memorial Highway designation, one of a string of them across Texas. The name comes from a family tradition. When someone in a household was serving in the armed forces, the family displayed…
Abbott's Grove · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what used to be Abbott's Grove, a beloved community gathering spot right here in Hillsboro. Back in the late 1800s, folks came to this grove along Hackberry Creek for picnics, concerts, and…
Hillsboro City Cemetery · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Hillsboro City Cemetery, established back in 1855. It's recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery, with this marker dedicated in 2002.
Brin House · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Brin House in Hillsboro, a beautiful Victorian home built in 1896 for attorney Robert Jones. But the real story starts in 1917, when Louis and Rebecca Brin purchased it. Louis arrived from Poland…
McKinnon - Anderson House · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the McKinnon-Anderson House, a beautiful example of Victorian architecture built in 1896. It was first erected by A. P. McKinnon, a highly respected local lawyer who came to Hillsboro in 1873. He…
Sims-Womack House · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Sims-Womack House in Hillsboro. The first part of this home was built before 1870, just two rooms and a kitchen detached. Later, Dr. William Thomas Sims, a prominent Hillsboro dentist and civic…
Abbott House · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Jo Abbott House in Hillsboro. Jo Abbott himself was a judge, a congressman, and a banker, but this house has a few stories of its own. He and his wife bought this land back in 1883. The house you…
The Courthouse That Burned and Rose Again · 10.2 mi
Look towards the center of town and you’ll see it: the grand, almost castle-like Hill County Courthouse. It’s the heart of Hillsboro, but it’s also a miracle. On New Year’s Day, 1993, a fire broke out, gutting the…
Rebuilding a Landmark: The Engineering of the Hill County Courthouse · 10.2 mi
When you see the magnificent Hill County Courthouse in the center of Hillsboro, you're looking at a masterpiece of both 19th-century architecture and 20th-century engineering. The original 1890 structure was a marvel,…
Hill County Courthouse · 10.2 mi
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…
Willie Nelson's First Paycheck · 10.2 mi
Just a few miles south of here is the tiny town of Abbott, birthplace of country music legend Willie Nelson — and you are sitting in his home county. Willie's first paying job in music came while he was still in the…
The Jail That Looks Like a Mansion · 10.2 mi
Right beside the courthouse stands a building that fooled people for a century. The old Hill County jail was completed in 1893, and with its towers and ornamental brickwork it looks far more like an elegant Victorian…
The Whistle that Built a Town · 10.2 mi
As you drive through Hillsboro, listen for the train. Those tracks are the reason this town looks the way it does. Before 1881 Hillsboro was a small, dusty county seat. Then the railroad came through, the Katy set up…
The Lost Interurban Railway · 10.2 mi
Between 1913 and 1948 you could get from Hillsboro to Dallas or Waco without a car. The Southern Traction Company pushed its electric interurban line south from Waxahachie through Hillsboro and on to Waco in 1913, and…
Hillsboro, TX · 10.2 mi
Cotton became the mainstay of Hillsboro's late 19th-century economy, leading to a building boom between 1890 and 1910. The cotton industry's prosperity is evident in the numerous Queen Anne homes and the noted 1890 Hill…
Katy Depot · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hillsboro, and right here is the old Katy Depot. Built in 1902, this station served the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Rail Line, the Katy, which first arrived in town back in 1881. Imagine the hustle and…
Hill County Jail · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hill County Jail, built in 1893. This is the third jail for the county, designed by W. C. Dodson, the same architect who designed the Hill County Courthouse. Notice the Victorian and medieval…
St. Mary's Episcopal Church · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Hillsboro, a beautiful building with a dramatic past. The mission started in the 1870s, but the first church building didn't last long. Bishop Alexander C. Garrett laid…
George L. and Roxie Brooks Porter Home · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hillsboro, and just ahead is the Queen Anne style home built in 1901 for George L. and Roxie Brooks Porter. Roxie was the daughter of Cincinattus Ney Brooks, an early Hill County official. George…
Lone Star Cafe: The Comfort-Food Highway Stop · 10.3 mi
For traditional Texas comfort food, the Lone Star Cafe is the Hillsboro stop, sitting right off Interstate 35. The menu is exactly what you want on a long drive: chicken-fried steak, meatloaf, big burgers, and generous…
James L. Harris · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hillsboro area where James Lindell Harris was born in 1916. He served with the 756th tank battalion, fighting his way through North Africa and Europe. In France, though mortally wounded, Harris…
Tarlton, G. D., House · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Tarlton House in Hillsboro, a Victorian gem built in 1895. Noted attorney Greene Duke Tarlton spared no expense. Imagine hand-carved mantels, stained glass windows, and even a speaking tube…
Gebhardt Bakery · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hillsboro, and right here is the Gebhardt Bakery building, a taste of early 20th-century commerce. German immigrant Charles Gebhardt opened Hillsboro's very first bakery back in 1901. He moved…
Hill County Courthouse · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hill County Courthouse in Hillsboro, a landmark built in 1890. This impressive rusticated limestone structure replaced an earlier brick courthouse. Designed by Waco architect W. C. Dodson, it…
Site of Old Lexington Village · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near the site of Old Lexington Village, which was founded around 1851. This was Hill County's very first settlement! When the county officially organized on May 14, 1853, Lexington served as its only…
The Hillsboro Deputy Who Talked · 10.3 mi
In November nineteen oh nine, a Hillsboro man named R. J. Ritchie sat before a committee of Texas legislators investigating the state prison system. Ritchie had been a Hill County jailer and deputy sheriff. Starting in…
Central Christian Church · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hillsboro, and right here is Central Christian Church. It started way back on September 11th, 1881, with just a small worship service. Six years later, the fellowship officially chartered with 35…
Hill County · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hill County, named for Dr. George W. Hill, a key figure in Texas politics. This county was officially created on February 7, 1853, and organized just a few months later. The first village here was…
Branded Burger: Home of the Branded Bun · 10.4 mi
If you stop for one bite in Hillsboro, make it Branded Burger Company, right downtown across from the courthouse square. Its signature is exactly what the name promises: the bun arrives seared with the restaurant's own…
The Fire That Saved Texas Courthouses · 10.4 mi
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…
The Hillsboro Drummer Who Helped Invent Rock · 10.4 mi
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…
Reverse-Engineering a Lost Courthouse · 10.4 mi
Rebuilding the courthouse was really a feat of forensic engineering. When the fire left only the limestone shell standing, engineers and preservation architects had to play detective. First they stabilized cracked,…
Bonnie and Clyde's Disputed Hillsboro Killing · 10.4 mi
On the night of April 30th, 1932, members of the Barrow gang robbed a Hillsboro storekeeper and jeweler named J. N. Bucher, and Bucher was shot and killed. For decades the killing was pinned on Clyde Barrow himself, but…
Hillsboro's Hand in a Famous Prison Album · 10.4 mi
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…
The Olympic Champion Who Confronted an Assassin · 10.4 mi
Hillsboro is also the birthplace of one of the greatest athletes America ever produced. Rafer Johnson was born here in 1934 and became a legendary decathlete, the man considered the world's greatest all-around athlete…
Bond's Alley · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hillsboro, and right here is Bond's Alley. Picture this: it's 1881, and Bond's Drug Store opens its doors. This alley quickly became the town's unofficial hangout, especially for folks seeking…
Hillsboro Post Office Building · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former Hillsboro Post Office, a building that served the community for over fifty years. Construction kicked off in 1912, designed by Architect James Knox Taylor in a striking Spanish Renaissance…
Lumpkin House · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hillsboro, and right here is the Lumpkin House. Built in 1883 by contractor John Self Robinson, this home was for R. S. Lumpkin and his wife Mary. Lumpkin was a big deal in town – he was the…
Pioneer Bank Building · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past one of the oldest bank buildings still standing in Hill County. Look to your right – this structure was built way back in 1887 by the Farmers National Bank, originally using sun-dried bricks. Imagine…
First Baptist Church of Hillsboro · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hillsboro, the site of the First Baptist Church. Baptist ministry here started way back in the 1840s with Reverend J. M. Samford. But the official congregation, known then as 'The Baptist Church…
Hillsboro Junior College · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of one of the very first public junior colleges in Texas! Hillsboro Junior College opened its doors in 1923, right as part of the local school system. It saw a high of 410 students in the…
City of Hillsboro · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hillsboro, a town that owes its start to a doctor who served the Republic of Texas. In 1853, this area, named for Dr. George Washington Hill, officially became Hill County. Early on, cotton was…
Unarmed Into Pearl Harbor · 10.7 mi
Richard Carmichael was born in Hillsboro in nineteen thirteen, and on the morning of the seventh of December, nineteen forty one, he was flying into Pearl Harbor. Major Carmichael had left California the day before,…
Three Shots on Nob Hill · 10.7 mi
Margaret Philpott was born in Hillsboro and became the silent movie star Madge Bellamy. She starred in John Ford's western The Iron Horse, and later with Bela Lugosi in White Zombie. Then, in nineteen forty three, she…
Willie's Picnic at Carl's Corner · 10.7 mi
About seven miles northeast of Hillsboro is Carl's Corner, a town that began as a truck stop, with giant dancing frogs on its sign. On the Fourth of July, nineteen eighty seven, Willie Nelson, who was born just down the…
John Wesley Hardin's Hill County Christmas · 10.7 mi
Late in the fall of eighteen sixty nine, a sixteen year old named John Wesley Hardin came to Hill County, stayed a short time in Hillsboro with his Aunt Anne Hardin, and then went out into the county to trade in cotton…
The Ambush at the Presbyterian Church · 10.7 mi
In the early morning hours of the twenty first of June, nineteen eleven, Hillsboro police officer Frank Glasgow was walking home at the end of his shift when two shotgun blasts hit him near the Presbyterian church. A…
Don't Shoot That Woman · 10.7 mi
In the early nineteen twenties, the Wade brothers of Hill County were fighting over a family estate, and Rosie Wade had filed a criminal complaint against her brother in law, Lynn Wade. One day Lynn and another brother…
Harris, James L. · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, maybe near Hillsboro, and right here, we remember James L. Harris. Born in Hillsboro in 1916, Harris was a tank commander in World War II. On a brutal night in October 1944, near Vagney,…
Philpott, Margaret · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hillsboro, Texas, the birthplace of Madge Bellamy, a silent film star who found herself in a real-life drama. While her career spanned over sixty films, including classics like 'The Iron Horse'…
The Bottle Rocket Motel · 10.7 mi
Wes Anderson's first feature film, Bottle Rocket, which was also the first movie for Owen and Luke Wilson, was shot in Dallas and here in Hillsboro. A big part of it takes place at a motel on Interstate thirty five,…
The Lieutenant in the Road · 10.7 mi
Second Lieutenant James Harris was born in Hillsboro and entered the Army here. On the night of the seventh of October, nineteen forty four, in Vagney, France, an enemy raiding party with a tank attacked his battalion's…
The City Clerk Who Stopped the Bank Runs · 10.7 mi
Melvin Traylor grew up on a Kentucky farm with about a sixth grade education, came to Hillsboro as a young man, read law, and was elected city clerk of Hillsboro, and then assistant county attorney. For a couple of…
Martial Law in Hill County · 10.7 mi
In December of eighteen seventy, a freedman and his wife were murdered in neighboring Bosque County, and a lieutenant of the Texas State Police followed the suspects into Hill County, among them the son of James…
The Hillsboro Kid Who Became Red Duke · 10.7 mi
The famous trauma surgeon Red Duke was born in Ennis, but he grew up here in Hillsboro, where he delivered newspapers, picked cotton, dug ditches, made Eagle Scout and graduated from Hillsboro High. A Texas Parks and…
Jones, Maggie [Fae Barnes] · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Hillsboro, the hometown of Maggie Jones, born here in 1894. She was a blues singer, pianist, and lyricist who became known as the 'Texas Nightingale.' After singing in church, she moved to New York…
Bullock, Robert Douglas [Bob] · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hillsboro, the hometown of Robert Douglas "Bob" Bullock. Bullock was a powerhouse in Texas politics, serving as state representative, secretary of state, and comptroller. But he really made his…
Edens, Roger · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hillsboro, Texas, the hometown of Roger Edens, a man who helped shape some of Hollywood's most iconic musicals. Born right here in 1905, Edens started as a pianist for dancers and Ethel Merman…
Glinn, Lillian · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hillsboro, Texas, the birthplace of Lillian Glinn, a blues singer who hit it big in the late 1920s. Discovered by a Dallas musician, Glinn landed a recording contract with Columbia Records and, in…
Hill County Rebellion · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, and right here, back in 1871, things got a little wild. Governor E. J. Davis was trying to clean up crime, but the locals weren't having it. When a state police lieutenant came…
Knight, Harry Obadiah · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hillsboro, the birthplace of Harry Obadiah Knight, a man renowned as a brilliant anatomist and professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch. While he helped build one of the nation's finest…
Martin, Crawford Collins · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hillsboro, the hometown of Crawford Collins Martin. He wasn't just any politician; he was a trailblazer. After serving as mayor and then a state senator, Martin made history as Texas Attorney…
Wier, Joseph Patterson · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, and right here in Hillsboro, you're passing through the hometown of Captain Joseph Patterson Wier. Wier was the first lawyer in town and started the county's first newspaper, the…
Hillsboro's Blues Singers · 10.7 mi
Two early blues singers came out of Hillsboro. Maggie Jones was born here in eighteen ninety four, went to New York, and was billed as the Texas Nightingale. She recorded nearly forty songs, some of them with Louis…
The Texans Who Sailed for Brazil · 10.7 mi
After the Civil War, some Confederates couldn't stand the thought of staying, and one of the men who led them away was Frank McMullan, whose father was an early landowner and lawyer in Hill County. He found land in…
The Night of the F Four · 10.7 mi
Around nine on the night of the thirty first of March, nineteen fifty nine, an F Four tornado touched down near Vaughan, southwest of Hillsboro, and tracked about ten miles northeast to within a couple of miles of town.…
The One Mile in Five Myth · 10.7 mi
Hillsboro is where Interstate thirty five splits in two, east through Dallas and west through Fort Worth, so here are some interstate facts. You may have heard that one mile out of every five on the interstate has to be…
The Town That Built a Monument to a Bug · 10.7 mi
Hillsboro grew up on cotton, and cotton's worst enemy was the boll weevil, which came up out of Mexico into Texas in the eighteen nineties and spread across the South. In Enterprise, Alabama, the weevil wrecked the…
The Hill That Became a Mountain · 10.7 mi
Hillsboro is named for a man, Dr. George W. Hill, not for any hill. But here's a story about a hill anyway. In Britain, a peak has traditionally had to reach two thousand feet to count as a mountain, and for more than a…
Ben Franklin's Turkey · 10.7 mi
The Hillsboro High mascot is the Eagle, so here's the bird that almost wasn't. In January of seventeen eighty four, Benjamin Franklin, writing from France to his daughter, complained that the bald eagle had been chosen…
Wilkinson Family Cemetery · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Johnson County, not far from Grandview. Look around and imagine the Wilkinson family, Henry and Sarah Ann, pulling their ox-drawn wagons into this area back in January of 1867. They'd left…
Abbott, Joseph · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, and right here in Hillsboro is where Joseph Abbott made his mark. A Civil War veteran, Abbott returned to Texas and found himself navigating the tricky waters of Reconstruction. He…
Hill College · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past Hillsboro, Texas, where a bit of educational history unfolded. Back in 1923, Hillsboro Junior College opened its doors, but not in a brand new building. The high school had burned down the year…
McGee, John Vernon · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hillsboro, Texas, the birthplace of John Vernon McGee. Born in 1904, McGee grew up with a strong religious calling. After earning multiple degrees, he pastored churches in Georgia and Tennessee…
Traylor, Melvin Alvah · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hillsboro, Texas, where a young man named Melvin Traylor arrived in 1898 with little more than a fifth-grade education. He worked as a store clerk, but his ambition led him to law and then…
Hillsboro, TX · 10.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hillsboro, the county seat of Hill County. This town owes its existence to a land donation in 1853 by Thomas M. Steiner, who gave 220 acres to establish the community. It was named Hillsborough in…
The Concorde That Hung Over Times Square · 10.7 mi
Up the interstate in Itasca, a local tool and die shop made national news in nineteen ninety six, according to a wire story that year, for building a half size replica of a British Airways Concorde jet to hang over New…
Why the Interstate Splits Here · 10.7 mi
Just north of Hillsboro, Interstate thirty five splits in two: thirty five E toward Dallas and thirty five W toward Fort Worth. Both were approved in nineteen fifty nine, each running from a junction at or near…
Bob Bullock of Hillsboro · 10.7 mi
Bob Bullock, one of the most powerful figures in Texas government, was born in Hillsboro on the tenth of July, nineteen twenty nine, the son of the city's engineer and manager. He graduated from Hillsboro High School in…
The State Police and the Kinch West Gang · 10.7 mi
Reconstruction Hill County had more than one outlaw band. In September of eighteen seventy, the Texas State Police moved in to break up a gang led by a man named Kinch West and the Cox brothers, and, the Handbook of…
Remembering Dr. King on the Road · 10.8 mi
This road carries a local memorial name, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Highway. King was born Michael Luther King, Jr., in nineteen twenty nine, and later had his name changed to Martin. He graduated from…
Hill county, C.S.A. · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Hillsboro, the heart of Hill County during the Civil War. This wasn't a battlefield, but a vital supply center for the Confederacy. Imagine wagons loaded with flour, shoes, saddles, and machinery,…
Peabody School · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the former Peabody School in Hillsboro. Back in 1885, a bond was issued to build this school specifically for the African American community in the Freetown neighborhood. Named for George…
Confederate Veterans and Old Settlers Reunion Grounds · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the old grounds of the Confederate Veterans and Old Settlers Reunion, a place that was the heart of Hill County social life for over two decades. Starting in 1901, this 73-acre spot hosted annual…
The Day the Sky Turned Black · 11.1 mi
As you roll into Milford, it's easy to miss how much history sits along this quiet ridge just south of Mill Creek. The town was laid out back in 1854, and a settler named William Hudson gave it its name after a little…
The College on the Prairie · 11.1 mi
In the early 1900s, Milford was more than just a cotton town; it was a college town. The town put up ten acres and twenty-five thousand dollars, and in September 1902 the Presbyterian Synod of Texas opened the Texas…
Named for a factory town near Boston · 11.1 mi
The spot where you're driving through Milford now is where the town has always been. Men from Cherokee County came into the Mill Creek valley in the early 1850s and bought land at fifty cents an acre. In 1854 Arvin…
Milford, TX · 11.1 mi
Milford's history dates back to the 1850s when men from Cherokee County bought land from Ellis County landowner Arvin Wright. The town was named by William R. Hudson after Milford, Massachusetts. Milford was…
Aurburn Cemetery · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ellis County, near the site of what was once the thriving farming community of Auburn. Pioneer settlers used this cemetery as early as 1856, and it was later part of land deeded for a school and…
Hammel's Branch · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be Hammel's Branch, a Texas town born from a German family's settlement. In 1876, the John Henry Himmel family arrived, and seven years later, their daughter Emma became the first…
Forty Minutes in the Wreck Near Milford · 11.7 mi
Interstate Thirty Five through the Hillsboro city limits is the Trooper Milton Alexander Memorial Highway. Milton Alexander began his career with the Department of Public Safety on February fourteenth, nineteen sixty…
Carnohan, Harry Peyton · 12.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Milford, where artist Harry Carnohan got his start. After studying art in Dallas and Chicago, he spent over four years in Europe, soaking up modernist ideas. Back in…
Milford, TX · 12.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Milford, a community that owes its start to a bit of foresight and a bargain. Back in the 1850s, settlers bought land for just fifty cents an acre. Then, in 1854, men like William R. Hudson laid…
Milford Presbyterian Church · 12.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Milford, and just off the road stands Milford Presbyterian Church, organized way back in June 1855. It started with 16 members and was one of only four Presbyterian churches within a massive…
McMullan, Francis · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, Texas, and right here is where a remarkable Texan, Francis McMullan, decided to leave it all behind. Rather than live under Reconstruction governments after the Civil War, McMullan, a…
Steiner, Josephus Murray · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, Texas, where a dramatic confrontation unfolded back in 1853. Dr. Josephus Murray Steiner, stationed at Fort Graham, found himself in a dispute with his commanding officer, Major…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Hillsboro (Hillsboro) · 12.3 mi
Hillsboro (Hillsboro, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Braxton Borde (0.500 avg).
Stansbury Site · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, near the Whitney Dam, and right below the surface of Lake Whitney lies the Stansbury Site. This was the spot where the first aboriginal dwelling was ever excavated in Central Texas.…
Vigilantes and Vigilance Committees · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, a land where sometimes the law couldn't quite keep up. Especially in the decades after the Civil War, when courts were scarce and sheriffs overwhelmed, citizens formed vigilance committees.…
Towash, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Towash was on Towash Creek fifteen miles west of Hillsboro in extreme west central Hill County. The area was originally settled by a band of Ioni Indians, who moved from Louisiana to the east bank of the Brazos River in…
Vaughan, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Vaughan is at the intersection of Farm roads 1947 and 310, half a mile east of Aquilla Lake and nine miles southwest of Hillsboro in south central Hill County. Archeological excavations before the construction of…
Saint James A.M.E. Church · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Milford, and right here stands Saint James A.M.E. Church, Milford's oldest African-American church and building. It all started back in 1883, organized by Reverend Joshua Goins, Sr. Services first…
Hill County · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here in Hill County, you're driving through land that saw its first European visitors over two centuries ago. In December of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1786</say-as>, a Frenchman named Pedro Vial,…
Twentieth Texas Cavalry · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Hill County, the recruitment ground for the Twentieth Texas Cavalry. <break time="400ms"/> Organized in the spring of 1862, this unit spent most of the Civil War fighting in the…
Brandon, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Brandon is at the intersection of State Highway 22 and Farm Road 1243, ten miles east of Hillsboro in eastern Hill County. In 1840–41 a road was surveyed on the banks of Pecan Creek several miles from the site of…
Irene, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Irene is on Farm roads 308 and 1946 just north of Navarro Mills Reservoir and twelve miles southeast of Hillsboro in southeastern Hill County. Settlers began moving into the area as early as 1848, when Edwin Zollicoffer…
Walling, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Walling is off Farm Road 744 twelve miles southeast of Hillsboro in southeastern Hill County. The town developed around the home of Alonzo Dru Walling, who settled on a 480-acre tract in 1883. About 1885 Walling…
Blum Rockshelter · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, and right here, near the town of Blum, lies a spot that helped us understand ancient Texas. In 1952, as Lake Whitney was about to flood the area, archaeologists rushed to excavate the…
First Baptist Church of Milford · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Milford, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church, chartered way back in 1855. It started with just eleven members meeting at a doctor's home. The first pastor, Reverend J.M. Perry,…
Birome, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Birome is on Farm Road 308 fifteen miles south of Hillsboro in south central Hill County. The town was established in 1910 as a shipping point on the International-Great Northern Railroad, which had recently extended…
Files Valley, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Files Valley, or Files, was on Farm Road 66 and Valley Branch fourteen miles northeast of Hillsboro in northeastern Hill County. Originally the community was called Eureka Valley, but it was renamed on November 19,…
Hammel's Branch, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Hammel's (Hammel, Himmel) Branch was on what is now Farm Road 1243, twelve miles northeast of Hillsboro in eastern Hill County. In 1883 the Himmel Branch School was built and named in honor of the first teacher, Emma B.…
Kyle Rockshelter · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Kyle Rockshelter, a stratified prehistoric archeological site near the Brazos River in Hill County, now under the waters of Lake Whitney, was partially excavated in 1959 and 1960 by E. B. Jelks and the Texas…
Mayfield, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Mayfield is on Hackberry Creek and State Highway 171 seven miles north of Hillsboro in north central Hill County. By the 1850s, area land was being sold for ranching. The first permanent settlers who arrived after 1865…
Menlow, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Menlow is on Farm Road 1304 four miles west of Interstate Highway 35 and ten miles southwest of Hillsboro in southwestern Hill County. The community was named after a park in the Carolinas by some of its settlers who…
Osceola, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Osceola is on State Highway 171 and Farm Road 934, fifteen miles north of Hillsboro in north central Hill County. Anglo-American settlers began moving into the area as early as the 1850s, but the settlement itself was…
Peoria, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Peoria, one of the oldest settlements in western Hill County, is at the intersection of State Highway 22 and Farm Road 1947, six miles west of Hillsboro. It began as an area for travelers to rest and let their cattle…
Scotts Chapel, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Scotts Chapel, two miles south of Farm Road 1304 and twelve miles southwest of Hillsboro in southwest Hill County, was named after J. B. Scott, who settled in the area with Mr. and Mrs. P. G. Scott in 1852, when the…
McDaniel, James · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of James McDaniel, a veteran of the Texas Revolution. Born in Alabama in 1810, McDaniel came to Texas and served in the army in 1836, the very year Texas won its independence. He…
Milford Cemetery · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Milford Cemetery, a final resting place for generations of Ellis County pioneers. It all started back in 1853 when W.R. Hudson and J.M. Higgins settled here, laying out the townsite of Milford just a…
Jordan, Thomas J. · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the final resting place of Thomas J. Jordan, a soldier who fought for Texas's independence in 1836. Born in Tennessee in 1808, Jordan lived a long life, passing away in 1880. His wife, Stacy Choate…
Frazierville Community and School · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be Frazierville, a community named for Richard Cason Frazier. He and his wife Agnes settled on a land grant right here in 1852, drawn by the timber and spring water. Later, in 1883,…
Watts Chapel Methodist Church and Cemetery · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Watts Chapel, named for Nathaniel Franklin Watts. He and his wife Rachel settled here in 1872, building a life and a farm that included a cotton gin. Their family grew, but tragically,…
Jackson Cemetery · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ellis County, heading past a piece of early Texas history. Dr. Henry L. Jackson, a doctor from North Carolina, was moving west with his wife Nancy in 1852 when tragedy struck. After Nancy's death,…
Maypearl Cemetery · 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Maypearl, Texas. This cemetery started in 1907 when landowner William P. Wilemon died and was buried on his farm. His widow Minnie later sold four acres to create a community burial ground, a…
Pure Country Came to Maypearl · 13.4 mi
In the spring of nineteen ninety two, George Strait's movie Pure Country came to Maypearl. Filming began that May, and the town is thanked by name in the film's closing credits. Strait plays Dusty Chandler, a…
Five Miles From a Black Hole · 13.4 mi
Here's a Maypearl story about something that never happened. In November of nineteen eighty eight, Ellis County was picked for the Superconducting Super Collider, a fifty four mile ring of tunnel circling Waxahachie,…
Hart, Meredith, House · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Meredith Hart House, built way back in 1856. This wasn't just any pioneer home; it was built by a man who saw a lot of Texas history unfold. Meredith Hart was an Indian fighter, a cattleman, a…
Brindley, Paul · 13.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Maypearl, Texas, the birthplace of Paul Brindley, a pathologist and professor who earned the nickname "Uncle Paul" from his students. He was the last of seven children and went on to earn his M.D.…
Peoria Cemetery · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving by Peoria Cemetery, established in the 1830s as this community began to grow. The very first burial here wasn't a pioneer elder, but a child who fatally bit by a rattlesnake. Over generations, the William…
Ivy-Atchison Pioneer Home · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Ivy-Atchison Pioneer Home, originally built as a log structure in the 1840s. It was one of the first homes in the settlement that became Peoria. The home was once owned by Colonel…
Ozro Cemetery · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ozro Cemetery, the last vestige of a town that vanished. Back in 1858, land was donated for a church and this burial ground. The earliest marked graves here date to 1870. By 1895, it served Nation…

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Itasca, Texas

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The Songwriter Who Survived the Train RoadyGoat

Searchin from Itasca RoadyGoat

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The Doctor, the Banker and the Duel RoadyGoat

Three Stories for One Name RoadyGoat

The Paper the Kids Ran RoadyGoat

Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company

Itasca, TX

Southwestern Presbyterian Home and Service Agency

Site of Switzer College

Itasca Railroad Depot

Eureka Cemetery

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