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In 1871, Jacksboro gained national attention when two Kiowa chiefs, Satanta and Big Tree, were tried for murder in the town. This event marked a significant moment in the history of Jacksboro, as it brought the town into the national spotlight and highlighted its role in the legal proceedings involving Native American leaders.
On May eighteenth, eighteen seventy-one, about a hundred and fifty Kiowa warriors ambushed a supply convoy on the road near Fort Richardson, killing seven men. What made it historically unusual was that General William Tecumseh Sherman and his inspection party had ridden through that exact stretch of road just hours before the attack. When Sherman heard about it at Fort Sill, he had the raid's leaders arrested. Satanta, one of the chiefs, had already made the mistake of bragging about the raid directly to Sherman. He and Chief Big Tree were transported to Jacksboro, Texas, where they were tried before a civilian jury — the first time Native American leaders had ever been prosecuted in a United States civilian court. Both were convicted of murder. Satanta was eventually paroled, returned to raiding, was re-arrested, and died in the Texas state penitentiary in eighteen seventy-eight.
Right here in Jacksboro, a legal drama unfolded that changed the American West. In May 1871, Kiowa warriors attacked a freight wagon train on the Salt Creek Prairie, killing seven teamsters. General William T. Sherman had traveled that same road out of Fort Richardson only hours before and narrowly missed being attacked himself. Weeks later, up at the reservation agency in Indian Territory, the raid's leader Satanta brazenly admitted his role to agent Lawrie Tatum—and Sherman had him and another chief, Big Tree, arrested at Fort Sill. They were hauled down to the Jack County courthouse here in Jacksboro. For the first time in American history, Native American chiefs were to be tried for murder in a civilian court, not treated as enemy combatants. The trial was a sensation. Armed soldiers filled the courtroom to prevent an escape or rescue. The chiefs were found guilty and sentenced to hang, though the sentence was later commuted.
Fort Richardson was officially established in February 1868 in order to provide protection against marauding bands of Comanche and Kiowa Indians on the North Texas frontier and named for Union general Israel Bush (Fighting Dick) Richardson. The unstockaded reservation occupied some 300 acres on Lost Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River, one-half mile south of Jacksboro, in Jack County. Eventually fifty-five stone, picket, and cottonwood-lumber buildings were constructed at an estimated cost to the government of $800,000. Located seventy miles from the Indian Territory and 120 miles from Fort Sill, Richardson was the northernmost army outpost in Texas and the anchor of a defensive line of fortifications that included forts Griffin and Concho . For a brief period from 1868 to 1873 Richardson was strategically the most important post in Texas, and in 1872 it had the largest garrison (666 officers and men) among military installations in the United States. During its ten-year history the fort served as the regimental headquarters for the Sixth United States Cavalry (1868-71), the Fourth United States Cavalry (1871-73), and the Eleventh Infantry (1873-76), as well as home for various elements of the Tenth United States Cavalry and Twenty-fourth United States Infantry . The soldiers of Richardson maintained the post, helped local law officers keep the peace, pursued criminals and deserters, escorted wagon trains, oversaw elections, protected cattle herds, and, most importantly, patrolled for Indians ( see RECONSTRUCTION ). During the prime raiding months of April through September, scouting parties were in the field constantly. Although most of these excursions were fruitless, occasionally the soldiers had bloody encounters with bands of hostile Indians; in July 1870, for instance, Capt. Curwin B. McClellan and fifty-six officers and men of the Sixth Cavalry were ambushed near the Little Wichita River by a large war party of Kiowas and Comanches led by the Kiowa chief Kicking Bird ( see LITTLE WICHITA RIVER, BATTLE OF THE ). After a desperate fight McClellan and his men were able to hold off the Indians and retreat to safety. Thirteen men of the Sixth won the Medal of Honor for gallantry in action in the battle of the Little Wichita. In May of 1871 Gen. William T. Sherman visited Fort Richardson as part of a fact-finding tour of the Texas frontier. While there, he received word that a freight-hauling wagon train had been attacked by a large party of Indians on the Salt Creek Prairie twenty miles from the fort ( see WARREN WAGONTRAIN RAID ). At Fort Sill, Sherman personally arrested the ringleaders of the raid and ordered them taken to Jacksboro to stand trial. The Kiowa chiefs Satanta and Big Tree were held in custody at Fort Richardson and in July 1871 had the dubious honor of becoming the first Indians to be tried in a Texas civil court. After sensational hearings that received nationwide publicity, the chiefs were found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. In response to these events, General Sherman authorized Fort Richardson's commanding officer, Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie , Fourth Cavalry, to begin offensive operations against any Indians not on the reservation. Over a fifteen-month period Mackenzie led four major expeditions from Richardson into the Panhandle of Texas. In late 1871 he fought a running battle with the Quahadi Comanches , led by their famous war chief, Quanah Parker . In the summer of 1872 Mackenzie explored the unmapped Llano Estacado , and late that year, on the North Fork of the Red River, he located and attacked the encampment of the Comanche chief Mow-way , killing fifty warriors and capturing 130 women and children. During the Red River War (1874-75) Fort Richardson served as a major staging base for the columns of cavalry and infantry that swept the plains and inflicted final military defeat on the Comanche and Kiowa Indians. With the North Texas frontier secure, there was no longer any need for a mi
Battery F, 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Division, Texas National Guard mobilized here November 1940, for active duty. Sailed from San Francisco, November 1941, was at sea when Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Went to defend Java where unit was captured March 1942. Prisoners in many parts of Asia for three and one-half years. Performed forced labor for Japanese, suffering untold hardships and starvation. 8 of original 63 died. Most deaths occurred building Burma-Siam Railway. Survivors returned after Japanese surrender. (1968)
Big Tree (Ado-Eete), Kiowa warrior, chief, and cousin of Satanta , was born somewhere in the Kiowa domain at the time when pressures from the expanding Caucasian population were threatening the tribe's traditional way of life. By the late 1860s the embattled Kiowas were forced to seek an accord with Whites. The agreement, arrived at during the Medicine Lodge Treaty Council in 1867, forced Big Tree and the Kiowas to move to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. Frustrated by the confinement, Big Tree came under the sway of leaders of the tribal war faction at an early age. He joined Satank , Lone Wolf , and Satanta in raids on settlements inside Indian Territory and across the Red River in Texas. He reputedly was involved in an abortive attack on Fort Sill in June 1870 but really gained notoriety as a result of his participation in the Warren Wagontrain Raid , or Salt Creek Massacre, of May 18, 1871. After this incident, at the urging of Gen. William T. Sherman , the army moved to suppress the Kiowas. Army activity proved to be unnecessary, however, because, within days of the raid, Satanta, Satank, and Big Tree arrived at Fort Sill to collect their rations. There Satanta boasted of his role in leading the Warren raid and implicated Big Tree and Satank. Sherman had the three chiefs arrested. Big Tree attempted unsuccessfully to escape by diving through a window. He was transferred with the others chiefs, in handcuffs and leg irons, to Jacksboro, Texas, to stand trial for murder. At Jacksboro, in the first instance where Indian chiefs were tried before a civil court, Satanta and Big Tree (Satank had been killed on the way to Jacksboro) were convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. However, the federal government, fearing Indian reprisals following the scheduled executions, pressured Texas governor Edmund J. Davis to commute the death sentences to life imprisonment. Davis took that action despite vocal opposition from General Sherman and large segments of the Texas population, and in September 1871 Big Tree and Satanta were transferred to the state prison at Huntsville ( see TEXAS STATE PENITENTIARY AT HUNTSVILLE ). The principal effect of this sequence of events was to divide the tribe more firmly between war and peace factions. In Indian Territory federal agents recognized the danger and, hoping to control what promised to be a volatile situation, promised the tribe that the two chiefs would be released and returned upon promises of good behavior. On August 19, 1873, after two years of serving as "hostages" to ensure Kiowa passivity, Big Tree and Satanta were paroled. Their continued freedom, however, was conditional and could be revoked by any hostile acts committed by the Kiowas, even if the two chiefs were not involved. Yet, despite the stiff parole terms, the Kiowas, allied with Quahadi Comanches, resumed raiding in the winter of 1873-74, and by the next summer Big Tree and Satanta seem to have joined in the attacks. On August 22, 1874, a number of Kiowas, led by Satanta and Big Tree, combined with Quahadis and skirmished with troops during ration distribution at Anadarko Agency, Indian Territory. From there the Indians moved onto the Llano Estacado in Texas, where, on September 9, 1874, a party of 200 Kiowas, including Lone Wolf, Satanta, and Big Tree, attacked Gen. Nelson A. Miles 's supply train, some thirty-six wagons escorted by a company of the Fifth Infantry and a detachment of the Sixth Cavalry. For three days the army held off the Indians until, unable to overwhelm the soldiers, the Kiowas drew off and returned home. This was to be Big Tree's last military venture. The latest series of confrontations convinced the army to step up its patrols across the Llano Estacado, an effort that made life miserable for the constantly fleeing fugitives. Satanta and Big Tree turned themselves in at the Cheyenne Agency in Darlington, Indian Territory, in late September. From there they were transferred in chains to Fort Sill,
William Riley Curtis was born about 1845 in Jacksboro, Texas, where he grew up a ragged orphan and learned self-sufficiency at an early age but was denied the education he coveted. He worked for several years learning the cattle business from William S. Ikard . He earned some of his first money riding for Oliver Loving , driving herds to Shreveport, Louisiana, and up the Chisholm Trail to Kansas. For a time he served as a Texas Ranger. He married Alice V. Ghormley of Weatherford on May 18, 1869; they made their home in Jacksboro. To their union were born three sons and a daughter. In 1870 Bill Curtis and his younger brother, Jim C., purchased Mose Dameron's small herd of Diamond Tail Ranch cattle. They grazed this herd along Cache Creek near Fort Sill after securing a government contract to sell beef to Fort Reno and Fort Sill in the Indian Territory. Soon they accumulated enough wealth to build up ranches on both Cache Creek and the Wichita River. After the expiration of the contract compelled them to seek other pastures, the Curtises established their ranch headquarters near Cambridge in Clay County. There Bill was dealt a severe blow with the accidental death of his brother in 1878. At the same time, he realized that his land was too crowded for good grazing and therefore moved his cattle north to Grosebeck Creek, near the site of present Quanah. Curtis formed a new partnership with Thomas J. Atkinson, one of a family of Jack County pioneers. With the help of a cowboy, Sam Bean, the partners early in 1879 selected for their headquarters a site on Gypsum Creek, in southeastern Childress County. Later they moved this new headquarters to the junction of Doe and Buck creeks in Collingsworth County. Since their families resided in Henrietta, where the children had better educational opportunities, the partners never constructed a permanent ranchhouse. However, the Curtis and Atkinson families enjoyed summers on the ranch; the Atkinsons brought their own hired nurse and trail cook, along with appropriate camping equipment. Over the next few years Curtis secured more government contracts for reservation beef sales and delivered herds to the Kansas markets. In the early 1880s George Loving , son of Oliver Loving, made a proposition whereby Curtis could sell out to British capital for a handsome sum and Loving himself could make a $100,000 commission. Curtis accepted, the contract was drawn up, and Loving went to Scotland to form a company and bring back prospective investors to see the Diamond Tail. Despite the ranch's crude living conditions, the Scotsmen were impressed and offered Curtis $1.25 million for the place, which he accepted. Before the deal could be completed, however, Curtis was indicted for shooting a lawyer from Henrietta who tried to kill him. Although he was acquitted, this turn of events caused the Scotsmen to call off negotiations. Due to their initial lack of trust, Curtis later turned down a second offer from Scotland, proposing that he retain one-quarter interest and manage the ranch himself. George Loving lost his commission, and the Diamond Tail remained in the possession of Curtis and Atkinson. Curtis was widely known for generosity. After Giles emerged as the Diamond Tail's main shipping point with the arrival of the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway in 1887, Curtis began hosting an annual barbecue. A highlight of that event was his presentation of a baby carriage to every baby named for him during that year. When the lean years of the late 1880s caught up with Curtis, he brought in Sam Lazarus, a man with remarkable financial skills, as a receiver to put the ranch in the black again. On February 11, 1893, when a blizzard swept across the Panhandle , Curtis saved the Diamond Tail cattle by riding ahead of them in a heavy Arctic suit. With a pair of wire clippers he cut every fence in his path, allowing the herd to pass through and find safety. Beginning in 1895, Curtis moved most of his cattle to Chavez C
On May 18, 1871, Kiowa warriors attacked a wagon train near Jacksboro, Texas. The subsequent trial of chiefs Satanta and Big Tree was the first criminal trial of Native American leaders in a U.S. court.
Created 1856. Organized 1857. Named for W. H. and P. C. Jack, brothers and patriots in the Texas Revolution. Butterfield Overland Mail, 1858-1861, had 3 stage stops in county. In 1861, Jack County voted against secession, 76-14. Most men fought in frontier units. Some were Confederates; others joined Federal army. Fort Richardson was established in 1867. In 1871 near Jacksboro, Kiowas massacred Warren Wagon Train teamsters. General of the Army W. T. Sherman, then at the fort, sent General Ranald S. MacKenzie, commander, to arrest the Indians. Chiefs Satanta and Big Tree were convicted in first non-tribal trials of Plains Indians in North Texas. By 1875 MacKenzie's raiders had opened West Texas for settlement. A Corn Club founded in Jacksboro by County Agent Tom Marks on September 8, 1907, was the forerunner of the International 4-H Clubs. Fort Richardson, with 7 original buildings standing, is now a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Museum is open the year round. Other attractions include circular high school building and old limestones on square, Jacksboro. Recreation centers about lakes, parks, campgrounds. Economy is based on agriculture, oil, cattle, sheep, and goats. (1965)
90 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
Fort Richardson was officially established in February 1868 in order to provide protection against marauding bands of Comanche and Kiowa Indians on the North Texas frontier and named for Union general Israel Bush…
Big Tree (Ado-Eete), Kiowa warrior, chief, and cousin of Satanta , was born somewhere in the Kiowa domain at the time when pressures from the expanding Caucasian population were threatening the tribe's traditional way…
William Riley Curtis was born about 1845 in Jacksboro, Texas, where he grew up a ragged orphan and learned self-sufficiency at an early age but was denied the education he coveted. He worked for several years learning…
You're driving through North Texas, an area once defined by conflict. Back in 1871, right here, a landmark trial took place. Lawyer Thomas Ball III, who’d later serve in the Texas Senate, stood alongside Joseph Woolfolk…
You're driving through Jacksboro, a town that played a surprising role in the Wild West. After the Civil War, this was one of the most western settlements still standing in Texas, but it was in ruins, battered by Indian…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, you're passing through territory that was once the heart of a fierce debate over frontier defense. In the late 1850s, Harris A. Hamner, an editor in Jacksboro, was a…
You're driving through Jack County, a place that was once a critical outpost on the Texas frontier. Right here, Fort Richardson was established in 1867, a vital U.S. Army post designed to protect settlers from frequent…
You're driving through Jack County, near Jacksboro, the hometown of Othol Hershel "Abe" Martin. Born in 1908, Abe wasn't born with a silver spoon, but he sure knew how to work for it, chopping weeds for twenty-five…
You're driving through Jacksboro, the birthplace of Waldo Lafayette O'Neal, a cowboy who turned his life experiences into hit songs for the legendary Jimmie Rodgers. O'Neal grew up on ranches, and by fifteen, he was…
You're driving through Jacksboro, Texas, the birthplace of Ewing Halsell. While he spent much of his life managing vast ranches and even oil interests in Oklahoma and South Texas, his story started right here. After his…
You're driving through Jacksboro, the county seat of Jack County. Back in 1891, this town was trying to attract new residents with a brand new college: North Texas Baptist College. It opened its doors in September of…
You're driving past Oakwood Cemetery in Jacksboro, a burial ground serving the community for over a century, with graves dating back to 1859. The land was given by early settlers between 1883 and 1904, and the Oakwood…
On May 18, 1871, Kiowa warriors attacked a wagon train near Jacksboro, Texas. The subsequent trial of chiefs Satanta and Big Tree was the first criminal trial of Native American leaders in a U.S. court.
You're driving by the site of the First Baptist Church of Jacksboro. Organized in 1875 with seven members, the congregation met in borrowed halls before building their first church in 1889. Pastor Rice C. Farmer helped…
In 1871, Jacksboro gained national attention when two Kiowa chiefs, Satanta and Big Tree, were tried for murder in the town. This event marked a significant moment in the history of Jacksboro, as it brought the town…
Created 1856. Organized 1857. Named for W. H. and P. C. Jack, brothers and patriots in the Texas Revolution. Butterfield Overland Mail, 1858-1861, had 3 stage stops in county. In 1861, Jack County voted against…
You're driving through Jacksboro, Texas, where a youth movement that's now international got its start! Back in 1908, Tom Marks, the Jack County agent, wanted to teach young folks about farming. When some adults…
You're driving past the site of the old Fort Richardson Hotel, built back in 1899 by H.J. Hensley and L.A. Wilson. This spot used to be home to the Wichita House, which was run by a woman named Mrs. Francis Duke.…
You're driving through Jacksboro, and you might not even notice it, but you're passing a relic of a bygone era. This isn't just any old stone; it's the cornerstone from the *third* Jack County Courthouse, removed in…
You're driving past the Old Hess Building in Jacksboro, built in 1898 by Crummel Hess. This native sandstone structure housed Hess's furniture and undertaking business for 43 years. Hess, one of the state's first…
You're driving through Jack County, and right here, for a brief but important time, ran a lifeline across the West. This was a key stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail Line, a legendary stagecoach route connecting St.…
On May eighteenth, eighteen seventy-one, about a hundred and fifty Kiowa warriors ambushed a supply convoy on the road near Fort Richardson, killing seven men. What made it historically unusual was that General William…
You're driving past the former Gulf, Texas & Western Railroad Depot in Jacksboro. Built in 1910, this stone structure was a symbol of local ambition and outside investment. Local contractors, the Risley Brothers, used…
You're driving past the Jacksboro area, the site of G.D. Cross's later life. Born in Arkansas in 1855, Cross served with Hunter's Texas Ranger Company from 1873 to 1874, playing a role in the removal of Native Americans…
Right here in Jacksboro, a legal drama unfolded that changed the American West. In May 1871, Kiowa warriors attacked a freight wagon train on the Salt Creek Prairie, killing seven teamsters. General William T. Sherman…
As you near the south side of town, you're approaching Fort Richardson — for a few years, the most important army post in Texas. Construction started in 1867 on three hundred acres along Lost Creek, half a mile south of…
The dusty hills around Jacksboro hold a secret about three hundred million years old. Back in the late Pennsylvanian, long before the dinosaurs, this whole area lay under a shallow, warm sea. The gray shale you see in…
You're driving through what used to be Kiowa territory, near the Red River. Right here, in July of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1870</say-as>, a Kiowa chief named Kicking Bird led his warriors against U.S.…
This community's resilience was tested on a Monday afternoon, March 21, 2022. An EF-3 tornado with winds up to a hundred and fifty miles an hour tore a thirty-four-mile path across Jack County and went straight through…
You're driving through what was once the vast territory of the Diamond Tail Ranch. In the late 1800s, brothers Jim and Bill Curtis drove thirteen thousand cattle into this region, the largest herd ever reported in…
You're driving through Jack County, heading west of Jacksboro, and you're entering a place called Lost Valley. It's a twenty-square-mile region surrounded by hills, and it earned a fearsome nickname: the 'Indian Death…
You're driving past Squaw Mountain Community. Legend tells of a mountaintop skirmish between Native Americans and Texas Rangers in 1875. A woman was accidentally killed; the Rangers buried her on the mountain and named…
Finis was along Rock Creek near the intersection of the Young, Jack, and Palo Pinto county lines in far southwestern Jack County. Finis was founded about 1880 at a natural crossing of the creek; the community name was…
You're driving through Jack County, maybe near Cundiff, where Joe Paul Nichols was born in 1941. He learned guitar at nine, and by sixteen, he was performing on Fort Worth's Cowtown Hoedown. For over three decades,…
Antelope is near the intersection of Loop 187, U.S. Highway 281, and Farm Road 175, twenty miles northwest of Jacksboro in northwestern Jack County. In 1858 Antelope received a post office, and in 1859 B. F. Spear was…
Vineyard is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 380, State Highway 114, and Farm Road 1156, on Beans Creek, two miles south of Wizard Wells and thirteen miles southeast of Jacksboro in eastern Jack County. The current…
You're driving past the site of Fort Richardson, established in 1867 by the U.S. Army. Its mission was to defend the Texas frontier against Native American tribes. This fort also served as a crucial mail station for the…
Established November 26, 1867 by the United States Army to defend the frontier against the Indians. A mail station on the Butterfield Overland Stage Line, 1858-1861. Abandoned as a military post May 23, 1879.
You're cruising past Sewell Park in Jacksboro, the city's very first public park! This land was a gift to the city back on June 25th, 1921, from Dan Roland Sewell. He was quite the character – a teacher, lumberman,…
You're driving past the site of Jacksboro's first railroad depot, built back in 1898. This native stone building, constructed by the Risley Brothers, was a hub for the Chicago, Rock Island & Texas Railway. It wasn't…
You're driving past the site of the Fort Richardson Cavalry Post Hospital. This fort was built to stop Indian raids in North Texas. Imagine being here in May of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1871</say-as>.…
Battery F, 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Division, Texas National Guard mobilized here November 1940, for active duty. Sailed from San Francisco, November 1941, was at sea when Japanese attacked Pearl…
You're driving past the site of Fort Richardson, a key U.S. Army post established way back on November 26, 1867. Its mission? To protect the Texas frontier from hostile Native American tribes. The fort was named for…
You're driving through Jack County, not far from where James B. Dosher made his home. Dosher arrived in Texas back in 1847, serving in the Texas Rangers. After marrying in 1851, he settled near Jacksboro in 1855. He…
You're driving past the last remaining Officers' Quarters from a 19th-century western army post in the entire United States. Built in 1867 from local cottonwood lumber, this building outlasted the fort's barracks and…
You're passing the Hicks Cemetery, established in the late 1800s. George Washington and Levicia Jamison buried their infant daughter here in 1893, and the land became a burial ground for original settler families. The…
Every mile of U S Highway Two Eighty One inside Texas is the American Legion Memorial Highway, and the name is much older than the law behind it. On April thirtieth, nineteen thirty five, the Texas Highway Commission…
You're driving through Jack County, near where the historic Butterfield Stage route once ran. This cemetery, Winn Hill, is named for William H. Wynne, who was killed by Indians right around here in 1863. The community…
You're driving past the Salt Creek Cemetery, also known as Dark Corner. It started in 1878 when the Jonas family, early settlers here since 1876, offered a burial spot for a child from a traveling family. They later…
On July 12, 1874, Major John B. Jones was leading a patrol of his newly formed Texas Ranger Frontier Battalion through Lost Valley in Jack County when roughly 125 Kiowa and Comanche warriors sprang an ambush. The…
You're driving past the site of Wizard Wells, a place that started as a healing oasis for Native Americans and became a booming Texas resort town. The Kiowa Indians knew about these mineral waters first, using them for…
You're driving past Roberts Branch Cemetery, where the story of this community began with an unknown cowboy. He died here in the early 1870s, driving cattle, and his unmarked sandstone grave marks the oldest part of the…
You're driving through Lost Valley, a place marked by the distant 'Seven Blue Hills' and the lookout point of Spy Knob. This valley has seen its share of conflict. Back in 1857, settlers from the Cambren and Mason…
Farm to Market Road Eighteen Ten, from State Highway Fifty Nine to the eastern edge of Jack County, is the Luther G. Prunty Memorial Highway. Luther Prunty was born in Jack County in January nineteen twelve, and he…
You're driving through Jack County, past Lynn Creek Cemetery. This burial ground dates back to 1878, with the first recorded interment of a cowboy. By the 1870s, the community of Squaw Mountain was developing, and this…
The oil boom that defined Bryson was a feat of early 20th-century engineering, guided by geology. The key was understanding the rock beneath your feet. Bryson sits on a geological feature called the Bend Arch, which…
In the early 1920s, Bryson was a quiet little railroad town serving farmers and ranchers — the Rock Island had reached it back in 1903. Then oil came in. Wildcatters had found it in Jack County as early as 1898, but by…
Bryson's history began in the late 19th century when it was first known as 'Mount Hecla'. The community was renamed after Henry Bryson, who built the area's first residence, a log cabin, in 1878. The name change was…
You're cruising past the site of Jermyn, a town that owes its very existence to the railroad. Founded in 1909, Jermyn sprang up around the roundhouse and depot of the Gulf, Texas & Western Railroad, named for its…
You're driving past Joplin Fairview Cemetery near Jacksboro. The earliest marked burial here is from 1881, for Jessie T. Gillis. Johnny Joplin, the namesake of the nearby community, was buried here in 1899.
You're driving through Jermyn, where the First Methodist Church was organized on November 24, 1909. The first service was held in the home of W. T. Jones. This church building, the first in the area, was constructed in…
You're passing through Bryson, once the undisputed Petroleum Capital of Jack County! It all started back in 1878 when Civil War veteran Henry E. Bryson built his log cabin right here. The town grew from farming and…
Bryson was originally known as 'Mount Hecla' when a post office opened there in 1878. The community was later renamed after Henry Bryson, who built the area's first residence, a log cabin, in 1878. The name change was…
You're driving through Bryson, Texas, and just a few miles east of here, a man named James Madison McCloud started something that lasted over fifty years. A Civil War veteran from Tennessee, McCloud moved his family to…
You're driving through Bryson, Texas, a town that started life as Mount Hecla. <break time="400ms"/> It all began in 1878 when Henry Bryson built the first log house right here. <break time="400ms"/> The post office…
Perrin-Whitt (Perrin, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Cole Keeney (0.606 avg, 1 HR).
You're driving through Jack County, past the site of the old Loving Ranch House, built in 1872. This wasn't just any ranch; it was the birthplace of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. J. C. Loving,…
You're driving past Hyde Cemetery, a resting place for early settlers. Look for the graves of Dizania and Felix Barnes, who died on the same day in 1879. This cemetery also holds many unmarked graves and serves as the…
The city of Runaway Bay exists because of an engineering project finished half a century before the town did. Fort Worth was growing fast and needed water. The Tarrant County Water Control and Improvement District…
The Lost Battalion Memorial Highway carries U.S. Highway Three Eighty through Wise and Jack Counties, and its name comes from a group of Texas soldiers in World War Two. In November nineteen forty one, the Second…
You're driving through Willow Point, home to Samuel G. Evetts, a Texan who fought for independence. He was wounded in December 1835, during the Siege of Bexar, a key battle in the Texas Revolution. After the war, Evetts…
You're driving past Willow Point Cemetery, which began in 1882 with the burial of Anna M. English on land later owned by Samuel G. Evitts. Evitts himself was buried here the next year. The land was eventually deeded to…
You're driving past the site of a vital World War II training ground! From 1942 to the war's end, Lake Bridgeport was a key bombing target area and seaplane base for the Marines. Pilots practiced everything from…
You're driving through Palo Pinto County, near Graford. Look around you – this area was once wild frontier, and Reuben Vaughan and his family were the very first to call it home. Arriving in 1854, this Alabama farmer…
You're driving through Shannon, Texas, a town that started as Stampede Springs in 1878, named for a nearby spring and general store. The first person buried here was Mary W. Gibson. The town was renamed Shannon around…
You're driving past Gibtown Cemetery, a final resting place with roots going back to the late 1800s. <break time="400ms"/> The land here was first known as New Hope City, but it was renamed Gibtown to honor local…
You're driving through Palo Pinto County, heading towards Oran, and you're passing the site of Charles Goodnight's first ranch, established way back in 1857. This celebrated cowman and trail driver was a true legend of…
You're driving through Oran, but this place used to be called Black Springs. Settled before the Civil War, it got its name from a dark water source nearby. This community was a big deal in Palo Pinto County, playing…
You're driving past the site of the Black Springs Cemetery, originally established for the pioneer settlers of the Keechi Valley. The earliest marked grave here belongs to Mary A. Lasater, who lived from 1841 to 1871.…
You're driving past Olive Branch Cemetery, a final resting place born from a wagon train tragedy. Back in the early 1870s, settlers H. H. Bradford, B. P. Cox, J. C. Cartwright, and J. C. Weaver donated this land…
You're driving past Antelope Cemetery, established as early as 1882 with the oldest tombstone. The land was sold to the Methodist Church in 1890, which later deeded it to the Antelope Cemetery Association in 1954. An…
U.S. Highway Three Eighty, from Graham east to Bryson, is the Henry H. King Memorial Highway. Henry King served in the Army in World War Two and was captured by the Japanese in the Philippines. He survived the Bataan…
You're driving past the site of Markley Cemetery, but this marker tells a story that's more about community than final rest. Back in 1881, this burial ground started next to a schoolhouse. By 1890, it was neglected, so…
You're driving past Antelope, a town named for the very springs where herds of these graceful animals once watered, and where Kiowa Indians made camp. In 1875, Walter S. Jones laid out this townsite right on the mail…
You're driving near Buffalo Springs, Clay County. This Pleasant Valley Cemetery was established in 1883 on land donated by Jim Draer. The earliest documented burial here is Lydia Bowman, who died in 1883.
You're driving through Palo Pinto County, heading towards Graford. Keep an eye out for a local legend, Alfred Lane. He arrived in Texas back in 1836, settling near the Brazos River. Later, he moved out here to the Black…
You're driving past Antelope United Methodist Church. The Rev. Isaac Newton Crutchfield organized this congregation in 1879 as the Antelope Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Charter members were Mollie Edwards, James…
You're driving through Palo Pinto County, where Simpson Crawford settled down after fighting in the Mexican War. Born in Kentucky in 1824, Crawford saw action at Vera Cruz and Mexico City. After the war, he married and…
You're driving past the site of George Rice Bevers' homesite, a vital stop back in the 1850s. Travelers on the Fort Worth-Fort Belknap Road knew they could find food and shelter here, with even Indian agent Robert S.…
You're driving past Whitt, a town that officially started in 1877, but folks were settling here even earlier, around 1855. It began as a farming community, then became a stagecoach stop. Later, Whitt turned into an…
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