Moody, Texas

You're driving past the Kuykendall House in Moody. In 1900, Dr. P.M. Kuykendall, a prominent physician, built this beautiful Victorian home. He ordered the plans from a St. Louis architect, and the house features…

You're driving past Naler Cemetery, a resting place that started with a family tragedy. In 1863, Joseph Naler buried his wife Polly here, on land he'd settled just 12 years earlier after migrating from Georgia. Naler…

You're driving through Moody, Texas, and right here is Moody United Methodist Church. This congregation started way back in 1855 as a union church in the old settlement of Perry, just a couple miles northeast of here.…

You're driving past the Moody Cemetery, a final resting place for many of this town's early pioneers. The idea for this burial ground came about soon after Moody was founded in 1881, as folks sought a closer spot than…

You're driving through Moody, Texas, and right here is the Welborn-Bostick Home. This land has been in the same family for over 120 years, making it the oldest continuously family-owned property in Moody. James Irby…

You're driving past the last vestige of the Perry community, established by pioneer settlers here in McLennan County. Look around – all that remains is this cemetery. It began with the burial of Jane Leach, a…

Stampede Creek takes its name from a horse stampede that occurred near this site in 1839. On May 26 of that year, Capt. John Bird and a Ranger force of 34 men encountered more than 200 Caddo, Kickapoo and Comanche…

You’re driving through a town that literally owes its existence to art. By the 1960s, Edom was on the verge of becoming a ghost town. The railroad had passed it by, the school had closed, and young people were leaving.…

One of the most important things that ever happened to Edom is something that *didn't* happen. In the 1870s, railroad companies were laying tracks across Texas, creating boomtowns wherever they went. The Texas and…

As you look out at the landscape around Edom, you're seeing the product of some very specific soil science - and of a town that got named out of the book of Genesis. This settlement started in 1849 a few miles from…

As you pass through town, picture the old Edom school. For a full century it was the heart of this community. Edom's schools opened in 1866, in a settlement that had already been here since 1849 under the name Hamburg —…

You're driving past the Moody-Leon United Methodist Church, a testament to German immigrant faith in Bell County. Established way back in 1877 by Reverend F. Von Schulenbach, this congregation was brought together by…

You're driving through Bruceville-Eddy, a town born from a rivalry between two railroad stops. <break time="400ms"/> Back in 1882, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad laid tracks, creating two stations: Bruceville,…

You're driving past the First Baptist Church of Moody, a congregation with roots stretching back to 1855. It was organized over two miles north in a community called Perry, with Elder S.G. O'Bryan as its first pastor.…

You're driving past the Flowers House, a reminder of the cotton boom that once fueled this area. Built in 1910, this home was designed by Roy E. Lane, a prominent architect who left his mark on Waco. Look for the…

You're driving past the Eddy Methodist Church, a place that's been serving this community for over a century. It all started back in 1868, when Methodists in the area built a simple sanctuary near a cedar log toll…

You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Eddy. It started life way back in 1875 as Sage Chapel. The congregation packed up their little frame church and moved it two miles east to the new town of Eddy…

Ever wonder where Texans went for outdoor fun nearly a century ago? Mother Neff State Park, just ahead, has been a beloved escape since the 1930s. Isabella Neff, affectionately known as Mother Neff, and her son Noah…

You’re driving through a place with a split personality, literally. Bruceville-Eddy wasn’t always one town. For 92 years, they were Bruceville and Eddy, two separate, competing towns founded about a mile apart on the…

Bruceville-Eddy might seem like just another blur of highway signs along I-35, easily missed between Waco and Temple. But it’s got a story, like every place does, and a few interesting characters have called it home.

You're driving past the site of Texas's first official state park, Mother Neff State Park! It all started in 1916 with a six-acre plot willed to the state by Isabella Neff, the mother of Governor Pat Neff. She wanted…

First official state park in Texas; suggested the idea for the State Parks system. Originated with a 6-acre plot willed to Texas in 1916 by Mrs. Isabella E. Neff, mother of Pat M. Neff, Governor of Texas (1921-1925)…

As you cruise down Interstate 35, you're on the piece of engineering that redefined this place. Bruceville and Eddy started as two separate railroad stations in 1882 - Bruceville named for Lucien N. Bruce, who donated…

You're driving past the birthplace of Roy Bedichek, a giant of Texas education and culture. Born in Illinois in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1878</say-as>, he came to Falls County as a boy and was educated…

The reason you're passing a town here at all is a railroad nicknamed the Katy. In 1882 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas put stations on this stretch of prairie, and two communities formed around them. One took the name of…

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…

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…

You're driving past the site of Bruceville Baptist Church, a congregation with roots going back over 125 years. It started around 1870 as Salem Baptist Church in the town of Mastersville, holding services in homes and…

You're driving past the site of Bruceville Methodist Church, a congregation with roots stretching back to the Civil War era. Local tradition says it began as Cedar Bridge Methodist, holding services near a cedar bridge…

You're driving past the site of Eagle Springs Baptist Church. This congregation started way back as the Church of Onion Creek, but their first log building burned down in 1854. By 1858, they’d built a new place here and…

The history of Bruceville-Eddy is marked by the convergence of two communities, Bruceville and Eddy, both of which became stations on the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad in 1882. Bruceville was named after Lucien N.…

Since you're in Troy, Texas, here's the Troy tangent: the archaeological site at Hisarlik in modern Turkey is not one frozen city. People built, destroyed, repaired, and rebuilt settlements on the same strategic hill…

Since you're in Troy, Texas, here's the Troy tangent: Greek tradition describes a ten-year war after Paris of Troy took, or eloped with, Helen, wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. Archaeology confirms that a fortified…

Since you're in Troy, Texas, here's the Troy tangent: the wooden horse appears after the events of Homer's Iliad, in later Greek and Roman tellings. Greeks supposedly hid warriors inside, left it as a gift, and sailed…

Since you're in Troy, Texas, here's the Troy tangent: Achilles is the Greeks' greatest fighter, but the Iliad does not tell the familiar heel story. It focuses on his rage after a dispute with Agamemnon and the human…

Since you're in Troy, Texas, here's the Troy tangent: Heinrich Schliemann made Troy internationally famous in the nineteenth century, but his determination to find the Homeric city damaged the site. He drove a large…

Since you're in Troy, Texas, here's the Troy tangent: Helen of Troy became the face that launched a thousand ships, though that famous phrase was written long after Homer. In the myth, Paris judges a contest among…

Since you're in Troy, Texas, here's the Troy tangent: Homer's Iliad covers only a short period near the end of the supposed ten-year war. It does not begin with Paris taking Helen, and it ends before the wooden horse…

Since you're in Troy, Texas, here's the Troy tangent: Troy's reputed walls made Trojans a natural mascot for strength and defense, while the trick that bypassed those walls gave computing the opposite metaphor. A…

You're driving past Bruceville, Texas, where a Scottish immigrant named Martin Irons spent his final years. Irons, a machinist by trade, became a powerful union leader in the late 1800s. He helped organize workers for…

You're driving past the site of Pendleton, a town that started life as Pendletonville in the 1880s. It was renamed in 1904 for George C. Pendleton, a true Texas political powerhouse. Pendleton served as a State…

You're driving past The Grange in Texas. The Grange, also known as the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, was a nonpartisan national organization comprised of farmers to establish economic independence, socialization and…

James Taylor Gaines, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence , was born on November 14, 1776, in Culpeper County, Virginia, the son of Thomas and Susanah (Strother) Gaines and a descendant of the distinguished…

You're driving past Moffat Cemetery, a final resting place that began as a family and Masonic burial ground. The oldest marked grave here belongs to Mary Marshall, who died in 1861. Later, in 1869, two acres were set…

You're driving through McGregor, Texas, the hometown of John "Killer" Kane. Born here in 1907, Kane wasn't your typical hometown hero. After a stint at Baylor, where he was involved in a campus brawl and survived a…

You're driving through North Texas, and you might be passing near McGregor. Right here, in 1946, Dr. Alfred Iverson Folsom, a true pioneer in his field, met his end in a car accident just outside Dallas. But Folsom…

You're driving near McGregor, and right here, you're passing the former site of the Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant. Opened in 1942, this massive facility was built to support the World War II effort, churning out bombs for…

You're driving through McGregor, Texas, the birthplace of Roy Bennett Davis. Born here in 1900, Davis would go on to become a giant in the cotton industry. He transformed the Plains Cooperative Oil Mill in Plainview…

You're driving through McGregor, Texas, a town born from a handshake and a promise. It started in 1882 as McGregor Springs, named for Dr. Gregor Carmichael McGregor, who gifted land to the railroad. Imagine this: lots…

You're driving through Bell County, near Troy, where Willis L. Harrison, a surgeon and preacher, made his mark. In the late 1890s, he served in the Texas Senate as one of only two Populists. He championed a bill to…

You're driving north on I-35, and right here is Troy, Texas. This town didn't just appear; it grew up around a railroad station built in 1882. It actually supplanted an earlier community, also called Troy, that was two…

You're driving through Freestone County, and right here, you're passing the site of what was once Troy, also known as Pine Bluff. Established around 1847 by a handful of families, Troy quickly became the most important…

On a sprawling stretch of land outside McGregor, SpaceX fires its rocket engines, and the ground itself seems to shake with it. Essentially every engine the company builds is test-fired right here before it's ever…

Here's a puzzle that sounds impossible. A rocket engine burns its fuel at a temperature hotter than the melting point of the very metal the engine is made from. So why doesn't the whole thing just melt into a puddle the…

What exactly is a "static fire"? It's running a rocket engine at full power while it stays bolted firmly to the ground, going absolutely nowhere. That might sound pointless, but it's one of the smartest things in all of…

When an engine roars to life on a test stand, it looks like pure spectacle, all fire and thunder. But to the engineers, it's mainly a flood of information. The stand is wired head to toe with sensors, all measuring at…

You're driving past the Station Creek Cemetery, a final resting place for early Coryell County settlers. Established in 1856, it holds the remains of Robert F. Morris, the first buried here. Look for the graves of…

You're driving past the Glenn and Mary Gulledge Crain House, built in 1892. Glenn Crain, whose father was McGregor's first mayor, started selling insurance and married Mary Gulledge in 1890. They hired architect Charles…

You're driving past the site of Zion Lutheran Church, a spiritual and cultural anchor for German immigrants in Central Texas. As early as 1890, families gathered in homes, speaking German and holding informal worship…

You're driving through McGregor, and right here is the First Baptist Church. Its roots go way back to 1858, with the Onion Creek Baptist Church, about ten miles southwest. About thirty members from the Comanche Springs…

You're driving past the site of McGregor's First Christian Church. It all started in the 1870s with just four families near Comanche Springs. They called Reverend W. L. Harrison to be their first pastor. When the…

You're driving past the McGregor Mirror, a newspaper that's been serving this town since 1904. It was founded by T.E. Streight, but the Hall family really made it their own, purchasing it in 1918 and running it for…

You're driving past McGregor, a town that owes its start to the railroad. On this day, back in 1882, lots were sold for this brand new town, advertised statewide by two major railways. It was named for Dr. Gregor…

You're driving through Coryell County, where Jesse Graham settled with his family in 1855. He was a Primitive Baptist minister who organized Sugarloaf Baptist Church and pastured it. Graham also helped establish…

Lorena High (Lorena, TX): Most recent: 35-18 over Brock · 2021 3A Division 1 final.

You're driving past Lorena Cemetery, a final resting place with roots stretching back to the railroad boom. In eighteen eighty-one, Daniel Aerl set aside two acres here for pioneer settlers. Just days later, financier…

The area just west of McGregor is one of the most important rocket engine test sites on the planet. This legacy of engineering began when the WWII Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant was converted to test rocket technology after…

You may be in Central Texas, but you're surprisingly close to the history of the Apollo moon landings. After WWII, the old bomb factory here was repurposed for something even more powerful: rockets. Phillips Petroleum…

Take a look at the streets in downtown McGregor. Notice anything unusual? Main Street and several others run at a sharp diagonal, cutting across a more traditional north-south grid. That isn't a planning mistake; it's…

During World War Two, the landscape around McGregor was completely transformed. In February 1942, the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps acquired eighteen thousand acres of farmland just southwest of here to build the Bluebonnet…

While no famous individuals are noted as originating from this Texas city, its association with a popular HGTV show brings a touch of celebrity.

You're driving past the site of Moffat, a town named after Dr. Chauncy W. Moffet, though his name was misspelled from the start. He and his wife Amelia founded this community in 1857. Dr. Moffet, a Union loyalist, was…

You're driving past the Deyerle-Fall House, a testament to central Texas stone craftsmanship. Banker William Deyerle brought his family here from Virginia in the late 1800s. He hired stonemason Henry Wissman to build…

You're driving past the site of St. Paul Lutheran Church. German farmers organized a congregation in the late 1870s, formally chartering it in 1883. They built their first sanctuary by 1896, then moved to this location…

You're driving through Lorena, and right here is the Lorena United Methodist Church. Organized way back in 1881, this congregation first met in the local Baptist church building. By 1886, they’d built their own…

You're driving past the H. J. and Cora Hudson House, built starting in 1881. Herbert Hudson, originally from England, came to Lorena in 1877 and married Cora Field here in 1880. He became a prominent businessman,…

There's a motorcycle bolted to the roof of Papa Joe's Texas Saloon, right off Interstate 35 in Lorena. Inside it's pool tables, neon, and paintings of the Coors cowboy wrapped in plastic to keep the cigarette smoke off…

The place you know as Troy is not the original. The first settlement sat two miles north of here on Elm Creek, and it was called Troy too. Then in 1882 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad ran its line through, and…

The road you're driving on right now, Interstate 35, is the single most important piece of engineering in Troy’s modern history. When it was built in the late 1950s and early '60s, it was a monumental undertaking of…

Lorena's always been a place where Friday night lights shine a little brighter, especially when the Leopards are facing McGregor. That rivalry's a constant, something you can set your watch by. But lately, there's been…

Troy, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to 1882 when it was established around a railroad station of the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad. This development replaced an older village known as Old Troy, which was…

You're driving past the site of the Bull Hide Creek Iron Bridge, built in 1914 by the El Paso Bridge and Iron Company. This 69-foot Warren pony truss bridge, with its timber deck and concrete piers, served as a vital…

Troy was founded in 1882, but for nearly eighty years it wasn't officially a city. It was an unincorporated community, meaning it had no mayor, no city council, and no local police force. It relied on Bell County for…

You're driving through Navarro County, Texas, and right here, in Lorena, is where Charles Davis Daniel spent his final years. Born in Alabama in 1856, Daniel’s life took him from Brazil, where his family moved after the…

You're driving southwest of Waco on I-35, and you're passing through Lorena. This town owes its existence to the railroad. Right here, in 1881, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line was being built, and the townsite was…

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…

You're driving past the site of Blevins, a community that started around 1860 with the Barron family. By the 1870s, Reverend Isaac Taylor was already teaching local kids. The Blevins School opened in 1885, and by 1916,…

You're driving past Blevins Cemetery, a final resting place that tells a story of Texas grit. It began in 1875 with the burial of Amanda Ruble Taylor, who arrived here in 1855, born back when Texas was its own republic.…

You're driving past the K.M. Jones Family Cemetery, a resting place for a true Texas pioneer. Keeton McLemore Jones himself was buried here in 1890, but his story goes way back. He fought in the Texas War for…

You're driving past Harris Creek Cemetery, a final resting place for some of the earliest settlers in this part of McLennan County. The story here starts back in the 1850s when families like the Haleys, Crains,…

Oglesby (Oglesby, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Jaxon Markum (0.515 avg, 2 HR).

You're driving through Lorena, Texas, and right here is the site of the old Westbrook Plantation. Charles Alexander Westbrook arrived in Texas from Mississippi in 1859, eventually settling in McLennan County after…

You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Oglesby. Its history traces back to 1893, with an official founding in September 1896. The congregation has been active in missionary outreach and community…

You're driving through McLennan County, and right here is where Joel Bunditt Crain lived out his days. He was a sergeant-major in General Sam Houston's army during the Texas War for Independence. Imagine this: Crain was…

You're driving through Oglesby, Texas, a town born from the railroad. It started as 'Hilltop' in 1882, named for its high elevation along the St. Louis Southwestern Railway. But the name didn't stick. It was soon…

You're driving past the site of Oglesby's First Methodist Church. Organized in 1891, the congregation lost its first building to a tornado just two years later. The current Queen Anne style structure was completed in…

You're driving past the Isaac Jackson Teague property, a home built for a large family back in 1899. Isaac Teague, born right here in Texas, bought this land in 1893. He hired a local contractor to build this farmhouse,…

You're driving past the site of Harris Creek Baptist Church. Worship services once gathered in the home of Aquilla and Delila Jones. In 1872, they donated this land for a church, school, and cemetery. The congregation…

Lake Belton (Temple, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Logan Winkler (3 HR).

The very ground Morgan's Point Resort is built on exists as a town because of a massive work of civil engineering just a few miles away: the Belton Dam. Authorized by Congress after devastating floods in the region, the…

By 1970 this peninsula on the east shore of Belton Lake was brand new. Developers had bought 1,277 acres of the old James E. Morgan family land and cut it into lakeside lots, and at the end of June that year the people…

The ethnic heritage of Morgan's Point Resort is diverse, with the 2000 census indicating a population that was 91.03% White, 0.43% African American, 0.43% Native American, 0.60% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, and 5.82%…

You're driving through Temple, and right here is the site of a groundbreaking arts organization. Back in 1958, during a national surge in the arts, a group of Temple women, led by violinist Nora Lee Wendland, decided to…

You're driving past the Messer-Limmer Farmhouse, a rare survivor from a time when Bell County was dotted with farm complexes just like this. Built in 1895 for Mary Margaret Messer by her family, it features the…

You're driving through Mooreville, Texas, a community founded by an Irishman named Robert Moore in the 1850s. He opened a general store right here, and soon other families joined him. By 1865, Confederate veteran Edward…

You're driving past the site of a fierce clash on May 26, 1839. Captain John Bird and his Ranger force of 34 men faced overwhelming odds, battling 240 Indians. Though Captain Bird, Sergeant Weaver, Jesse Nash, H.M.C.…

You're driving past Stanford Chapel Cemetery, a place with roots stretching back to 1862 when Reverend Thomas Stanford and his family arrived in Texas. The Stanfords, along with the E. R. Barcus family, were true…

You're driving past Hillcrest Cemetery in Temple. What started as a simple family graveyard in the 1870s, known then as Williamson Branch, grew into a sprawling urban resting place. In 1884, the landowners deeded the…

You're driving past the site of a medical pioneer in Temple. Raleigh R. White, Jr., a Mississippi native, came to Texas in 1882. After graduating from Tulane's medical school, he was hired in 1895 as the house physician…

You're driving past the site of a Texas medical giant, Dr. Arthur Carroll Scott, Sr. Born in Gainesville in 1865, Scott graduated medical school in 1886 and quickly rose through the ranks. By 1892, he was Chief Surgeon…

You're driving past the site of a true medical pioneer! Claudia Potter, born in 1881, became one of Texas's first female doctors. After graduating from UT Medical Branch in 1904, she made history right here at Scott and…

You're driving through Temple, and right here is the story of Dr. George Brindley. A Texas native, he graduated from medical school in 1911 and came straight to the Temple Sanitarium, which you might know today as Scott…

You're driving past the former home of James Andrew Fletcher, a true Temple titan. Born right here in Bell County in 1858, Fletcher built a business empire. By 1907, he and his son Omar took over a local business,…

You're driving through Temple, where Yee Pat Ling, a Chinese immigrant, built a life despite facing immigration restrictions. Arriving in 1898, he became a respected businessman and restaurateur by 1899. He even married…

You're driving past the site of a remarkable life, that of Raleigh Richardson White, Sr. Born into wealth in Missouri, he defied his father to join the Confederate army, even serving under the legendary Nathan Bedford…

You're driving past the heart of Temple, where Cyrus Maxwell Campbell built a lumber empire. He fought in the Civil War as a captain, then returned to Texas to build a business from the ground up. His C.M. Campbell &…

You're driving past the heart of Temple, where Nora Lee Mayhew Wendland left her mark. A violinist and musicologist, she led the State Federation of Music Clubs during World War II, donating musical items for the war…

You're driving past the former home of Omar L. Fletcher, a Bell County native who built a business empire right here. Fletcher Enterprises, a major banking and industrial firm, grew from a family business started way…

You're driving through Temple, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church. But this congregation started way back in 1874, just a mile west of here, as Pleasant Hill Baptist Church. Their first little…

You're driving past Seven Star Cemetery, a place with a name that whispers of freedom. Though its exact beginnings are lost to time, many believe this was a burial ground for African Americans in the 1860s, possibly…

You're driving past the C.L. Walker residence, a home built in 1912 by contractor Will Campbell for the Walker family. C.L. Walker himself served as Temple's mayor from 1922 to 1924, and he and his wife Daisy lived here…

You're driving past the site of Cottonwood Baptist Church, a testament to faith and community for over a century. <break time="400ms"/> This congregation began in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1884</say-as>…

You're driving past the site of the Bird Creek Battlefield, a pivotal clash in Texas Ranger history. On May 26th, 1839, Captain John Bird and just 34 Texas Rangers faced a massive force of 240 Native Americans right…

You're driving through Temple, and right here, you're passing the site of a century of women's civic leadership. After Temple's first women's club successfully founded a library and disbanded, this City Federation rose…

You're driving past the Dr. John S. and Mary McCelvey House, completed around 1906. Notice the concrete blocks it's built from – they were cast right on the Horne family plantation near Waco! Dr. McCelvey was a…

You're driving through Hewitt, a town born from the expansion of the railroad. In 1882, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad laid track through this area, and decided to name this new stop after George A. Hewitt, one…

You're driving through Bell County, and right here in Temple, Texas, on March 17, 1914, a legend was born. Sammy Baugh, known as "Slingin' Sammy," would go on to revolutionize professional football. He earned his…

You're driving through Central Texas, perhaps near modern-day Temple. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1839</say-as>, this was the wild frontier. John Bird, a veteran of earlier wars, was captain of a…

You're driving through Central Texas, maybe near Temple, and you might notice how green it is. Well, you can thank William Goodrich Jones for that. He was so inspired by European forests in the 1870s that he came back…

You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Temple, a musical legend was born. In 1959, José María de León Hernández, known to the world as Little Joe, formed his band, initially called Little Joe and the…

You're driving through Bell County, and right here is the area that Frank Mayborn helped shape. He wasn't just a newspaper publisher; he was a kingmaker and a military booster. In the late 1930s, as president of the…

You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Temple, you're passing the historic Scott and White Memorial Hospital. For over forty years, this was the domain of Dr. Claudia Potter, a true pioneer. Born in…

You're driving through Temple, Texas, a city that owes much of its medical legacy to Dr. Arthur Carroll Scott. Born near Gainesville in 1865, Scott returned to Texas after his medical training in New York. He quickly…

You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Temple, a legend was born. Elmore Rual 'Rip' Torn, a name synonymous with intense acting, got his start right here. After studying agriculture and then theater at…

You're driving through Central Texas, maybe even passing through Temple, the birthplace of Clifford 'Boots' Douglas. Born in 1908, Douglas became one of the state's top jazz bandleaders during the 1930s. He got his…

You're driving through Temple, and right here is the Olin E. Teague Veterans Center. Its story begins back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1942</say-as> as McCloskey General Hospital. It was a massive…

You're driving through Travis County, and right here, Leslie Clay Procter Jr. made a name for himself fighting corruption. Born in Temple, Procter was a decorated Marine who served in both World War II and the Korean…

You're driving through Bell County, Texas, and you might be passing near the town of Temple, where Dr. Levi James Russell lived. He was a doctor and a botanist, but he also held some radical views for his time. In fact,…

You're driving through Temple, the heart of a medical empire that started with a couple of ambitious doctors. Arthur Scott, originally from Gainesville, came here in 1892 to run the Santa Fe Railroad hospital. He soon…

You're driving through Temple, Texas, a city named for the man who built the railroad that made it possible. Bernard Moore Temple was a Confederate veteran turned railway engineer. In 1881, he was surveying a line for…

You're driving through Temple, Texas, a city that owes much of its medical legacy to Dr. Raleigh R. White, Jr. After graduating medical school at just twenty years old, he came to Temple in 1895 to take a position as a…

You're driving through Central Texas, maybe near Temple, and you're thinking about taking to the skies. Well, back in December 1941, a young A.J. High, just seventeen, was determined to fly. He'd scraped together some…

You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Temple or Fort Worth, where William Archibald Barclay made his musical mark. Born in Temple in 1907, this prodigy was playing piano as soon as his hands could reach the…

You're driving through Central Texas, perhaps near Temple, where Dr. George Valter Brindley spent over half a century shaping one of the region's most important medical institutions. Born in Auburn back in 1886,…

You're driving through Bell County, Texas, and right here in Temple, George Cassety Pendleton built a remarkable career. Born in Tennessee in 1845, his family moved to Ellis County when he was just twelve. After serving…

You're driving through Temple, a town that owes its very existence to the railroad. Back in 1880, Jonathan Moore sold land to the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway for a construction camp. It was first called Temple…

You're driving through Temple, Texas, a town that was home to Alexander Dienst, Jr. While he was a practicing dentist, Dienst was also a passionate historian and collector, especially focused on the Texas Navy. His…

You're driving through Temple, Texas, where Richard Tudor Fleming was born in 1890. Back in college at the University of Texas, Fleming was more than just a pole vaulter and yearbook editor. He was one of the…

You're driving through Central Texas, maybe near Temple, where Cecil Herbert Lang, Sr. was born back in 1891. He became a Presbyterian minister, serving churches all over the South. But Lang wasn't just a preacher; he…

The highway you may be driving on right now, Interstate 35, is the single most important piece of engineering in Hewitt's modern history. Think of it as a great concrete river. When it was built through here in the…

You're driving past the Ferguson Home in Temple. This house was built in 1907 for James E. and Miriam A. Ferguson. Now, you might recognize the Ferguson name – both James and Miriam were elected governor of Texas, twice…

The town of Hewitt owes its existence, its location and even its name to a railroad. In 1882 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas - the Katy - pushed a line south from Hillsboro toward Taylor, straight across this stretch of…

For nearly eighty years, Hewitt was barely a village. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad put it on the map in 1882 and named it for a railroad director, George A. Hewitt. From the early 1930s clear through the…

Hewitt's community flourished on farming and agriculture, especially during the days when 'cotton was king'. This agricultural heritage has been a significant part of the town's identity and economy.

You're driving through Temple, and right here is the site of the First Lutheran Church. It started in 1886 as Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church, organized by Rev. Carl Kreutzenstein for the city's German-speaking…

You're driving past the site of the First Presbyterian Church of Temple. This congregation was the very first church established in Temple, organized way back on October 19, 1881. Twenty-four charter members, dismissed…

You're driving through Hewitt, and right here, you're passing the site of the First United Methodist Church. It all started way back in 1875, eight miles west, with Methodist settlers gathering at Stanford Chapel.…

You're driving past the site of what used to be Lake Polk Park, a place born from a railroad's need for water. Right after founding Temple, the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad Company built a dam on Bird Creek. By…

You're driving past the Christ Episcopal Church of Temple, a beautiful Gothic Revival building. It started as a mission way back in 1889, but it wasn't until 1902 that it became a full parish. After a public fundraising…

You're driving past the First Christian Church of Temple. When this town was founded by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1880, churches got free land if they built here. A group of Christians took that offer, organizing their…

You're driving past Hewitt Baptist Church, a place that's been a cornerstone of this community for over a century. It all started on November 4th, 1894, when twenty members of a nearby church decided to form their own…

You're driving past the site of Immanuel Baptist Church. It began as a West Side Mission shortly after 1900, organized as Emmanuel Baptist in 1913. The church built its first new structure in 1923 and later formally…

The location of Oglesby isn't an accident of history - the railroad put it here. In 1882 the narrow-gauge Texas and St. Louis Railway pushed a line from Waco to Gatesville, straight through country that had been settled…

You're driving through Temple, and just a little ways back, this marker honors the 42nd reunion of Hood's Texas Brigade. These Confederate veterans met annually, starting in 1872, with their final reunion in 1934. This…

You're driving past Maruna Meadow, a rare glimpse into the past. In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1881</say-as>, Czechoslovakian immigrants arrived in Bell County, finding this Blackland Prairie much like the…

You're driving past Evergreen Cemetery, established on land given by William and Margaret Oliver back in 1860. For decades, families gathered here for camp meetings, and later, these evolved into annual reunions for…

You're driving through Temple, and right here is the site of a library with a story that's all about community power! Back in 1900, two women's clubs, the Literary Club and the Self Culture Club, joined forces to create…

You're driving past Temple, where for over a century, one newspaper has shaped the very landscape. The Temple Daily Telegram, born in 1907, grew from humble beginnings into a powerful voice for Central Texas. By 1929,…

You're cruising through Temple, Texas, a town born from the iron horse! Back in 1881, the Santa Fe Railroad laid its tracks here, and the town sprung up, named for a Santa Fe official. Imagine: June 29th, 1881, a grand…

You're driving through Temple, and right here, a banker named W. Goodrich Jones had a big idea. He arrived in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1888</say-as>, a time when this prairie town needed trees. Jones…

Temple feels like a warm, friendly hug, and much of that comes from the waves of people who built it. The town owes its existence to the railroad, and with the railroad came folks from everywhere – some from the older…

You're driving through Temple, and right here is the First United Methodist Church. Organized in 1882, it was one of the very first institutions established in this city, just a year after Temple itself was founded. The…

You're driving past the location of Knob Creek Lodge No. 401, a Masonic lodge founded in Bell County in 1875. For over a century, they've been involved in fraternity, charitable works, and public service, supporting…

You're driving through Temple, and right here, you're passing the former site of the Y.M.C.A. Back in 1898, the Santa Fe Railroad started this organization to give lodging and recreation to its workers. But it wasn't…

You're driving through Temple, and right here is where W. Goodrich Jones, known as the Father of Forestry in Texas, got his start. He arrived in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1888</say-as>, not as a forester,…

You're driving past the site of the Cora Anderson Negro Hospital, a vital medical facility that opened in Temple in 1953. For years, African American residents of Bell County faced discrimination, denied access to the…

You're driving past the Santa Fe Memorial Hospital in Temple. This was the very first hospital in town, opening its doors in 1891, specifically for the employees of the booming Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad. The…

You're driving past Lancaster Cemetery, a place with roots stretching back to 1851. That's when Thomas Lancaster, a farmer and rancher, arrived in Bell County and decided to set aside this very spot for neighbors to…

You're driving past the site of a pioneering Texas aviation factory. Back in 1927, George Williams and his partners formed the Texas Aero Corporation right here in Temple. They designed and built the Temple Monoplane, a…

You're driving through Temple, a town that owes its start to the railroad. Back in 1882, the Rev. L.J. Mackey organized a church specifically to serve the African American railroad workers who were building this new…

You're driving past the former site of Tennessee Valley, a community that thrived for nearly a century. It was named in 1851 when eight families from Tennessee arrived, seeking fertile land nestled between the Sparta…

You're driving past Wayman Chapel A.M.E. Church, a cornerstone of Temple's African American community. It all started back in 1883, when missionary elder George Connor organized the congregation. They built their first…

You're driving through Temple, and right here stands a piece of German heritage. In 1882, German immigrants founded this congregation, calling it Friedens, or Peace Church. The very next year, in 1883, this sanctuary…

As you pass the enormous Baylor Scott & White campus, you're looking at the evolution of a hospital built for railroad workers. In 1891, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway established a hospital here for its…

The massive medical center you see in Temple is more than just a big hospital; it's the result of a revolutionary idea about how medicine should be organized. Dr. Arthur C. Scott and Dr. Raleigh R. White Jr. became…

You’re in the headquarters city of a company that keeps America’s convenience stores, restaurants, and retailers stocked. McLane Company started in 1894 not here, but in a small town nearby, as a tiny retail grocery. By…

You're driving through Temple, Texas, home of Joseph Dennis, a Tennessee native who arrived here in 1849 with his wife and children. After Bell County was formed in 1850, Dennis was crucial in choosing the spot for the…

You're driving past Hodge Cemetery, a pioneer graveyard in Bell County. Burials here date back to at least 1868, with the Clary family interred before the cemetery was named for J.W. Hodge, who bought the land in 1870.…