Newcastle, Texas

Everything Newcastle is known for

1 song mention this city

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Newcastle. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

Music in Newcastle

Songs About Newcastle

charlie goodnight

dub miller

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Artists From Newcastle

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Rivers & Roads in Song near Newcastle

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

Brazos River 43 songs Texas State Highway 199 8 songs Wichita River 2 songs

History of Newcastle

How Oil and Gas Engineered a Ghost Town RoadyGoat

The story of Newcastle's decline is a lesson in energy technology. The town was built on a solid fuel: coal, first shipped out of here in 1908, and getting it took shafts, strip pits and a dedicated railroad. Then petroleum remade Texas. The Ranger strike of 1917 and the Burkburnett boom right behind it unlocked oceans of oil and natural gas nearby — liquid and vapor fuels that were cheaper to move, easier to store, and carried more energy per pound. Railroads were coal's single biggest customer, and one by one they converted their locomotives to burn oil instead. Power plants and homes switched to gas. Newcastle's coal could not compete, and by 1942 production here had ended for good. But the mines closing did not empty the place: the town turned to farms, vineyards and oil, actually peaked at about a thousand people in 1950, and still counts around five hundred today. It is a living monument to what happens when one energy technology displaces another.

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Life in a Company Town RoadyGoat

Imagine living in a town where your landlord, your boss, and your grocer were all the same outfit. That was life in Newcastle. The Belknap Coal Company sank its shaft here in 1908 and shipped its first coal to Wichita Falls that same year, and it didn't just run the mines -- it ran the town. The company built and owned the miners' small cottages, renting them out for a few dollars a month. It operated the company store, the only place to buy goods for miles around. Miners were often paid not in cash but in scrip, company currency good only at that store. The system created total dependency, and the men knew it: by 1909, with about 800 people in town, fifty-six miners had chartered a United Mine Workers local. Five years later they walked out in a strike that lasted twenty-two months, and the company brought in strikebreakers from Alabama. Every street and surviving older building here is a remnant of that all-encompassing corporate experiment.

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The Last Mine Whistle RoadyGoat

In 1942, a sound that had defined life in Newcastle for better than thirty years went quiet. The last working coal mine in town shut down, and the whistle that had called men underground since 1908 blew for the final time. The cause of death wasn't that the coal ran out; it was that nobody wanted it anymore. Cheaper oil and gas from the fields around here had made Texas coal obsolete. But the town didn't empty overnight. Newcastle still counted a thousand people in 1950 -- families hanging on, working ranches and oil leases, waiting to see. The leaving happened slowly, over the decade that followed, and by 1960 the population had fallen to 617. That's the quieter kind of ending: not a stampede, just a long, steady drift as one generation after another found there was no reason left to stay. It marked the end of Newcastle's industrial age and the beginning of its long, quiet life as a small Texas town.

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Elm Creek Raid - Britt Johnson

1864

On October 13, 1864, Kiowa and Comanche raiders attacked homesteads along Elm Creek in Young County. Britt Johnson, an enslaved Black man, rode alone into Comanche territory to rescue his family.

Historical Marker → · 3.2 mi away

Warren Wagontrain Raid

1871

In 1871 William Tecumseh Sherman , visited Texas to investigate complaints against Indians from the Fort Sill Reservation. The government had attempted to insure Indian containment by encircling the Indian Territory with a ring of defensive forts and allowing the Society of Friends to manage the Indian agencies, but neither approach had worked. Sherman left San Antonio on May 2, 1871, accompanied by Maj. Randolph B. Marcy , inspector-general of the army, two aides, and seventeen mounted Black troopers of the Tenth Infantry. He traveled north through forts Concho, Griffin, and Belknap, and by May 17 reached Fort Richardson, the northernmost outpost on the Texas frontier. The party had seen no Indians, and Sherman was convinced that the Texans' reports were unjustified. On May 15 over a hundred Kiowas, Comanches, Kiowa-Apaches, Arapahoes, and Cheyennes from the Fort Sill Reservation crossed the Red River into Texas. Satank (Sitting Bear), Satanta (White Bear), Addo-etta ( Big Tree ), and Maman-ti (Skywalker) were the leaders. On May 16 the war party reached Flint Creek on the Salt Creek Prairie in Young County, eight miles east of Salt Creek and twenty miles west of Fort Richardson. The next day they allowed General Sherman's small column to pass unmolested not a half-mile from their hidden position. Indian informants later testified that Maman-ti's magic had predicted that an attack on the second group of Whites to pass would be successful. Historians have speculated that the Indians recognized the first party as soldiers and decided to await a less well-armed prey. On May 18 the Indians attacked a wagon train belonging to a freighting contractor named Henry Warren traveling on the Butterfield Overland Mail route. They killed the wagon master and six teamsters and allowed three to escape. The Indians suffered one dead and five wounded. They immediately returned to the reservation. One of the escaped teamsters, Thomas Brazeal, reached Fort Richardson late that evening, where he told his story to Sherman and Col. Ranald Slidell Mackenzie , the post commander. Sherman ordered Mackenzie to pursue the Indians with three companies of his Fourth Cavalry. Sherman then traveled on to Fort Sill where, on May 27 he personally arrested Satank, Satanta, and Big Tree in a tense confrontation on the front porch of the Fort Sill commandant. Sherman ordered that the three prisoners be returned to Fort Richardson and tried for murder in the civil courts in nearby Jacksboro. On June 8, while being transported to Texas, Satank tried to escape and was killed. On July 5 and 6 Satanta and Big Tree were tried separately, found guilty, and sentenced to hang. This was the first time Indians had been tried in civil courts. Supporters of the Quaker peace policy convinced Governor Edmund J. Davis to commute the Indians' sentences to life imprisonment. Then in October 1873 they were paroled. The Warren Wagontrain raid was not the most destructive of Texas Indian raids, but none held more significance for the future of the Plains Indians. It caused General Sherman to change his opinion about conditions on the Texas frontier, which signaled the end for his own defensive policy and the Quaker peace policy as well. Sherman ordered soldiers to begin offensive operations against all Indians found off the reservation, a policy which culminated in the Red River War of 1874-75 and the cessation of Indian raids in North Texas.

Tsha Handbook → · 4.6 mi away

Harmonson Ranch

1845

Kentucky native Peter Harmonson (1797-1865) came to Texas in 1845 as a settler in the Peters Colony. The following year he helped form Denton County, where he served as the first sheriff. In 1854 he brought his family here and established a ranch near this site known as Harmonson Rancho. An organizer of Young County, he served as its first chief justice. He died from a wound received in an Indian raid on the Elm Creek community. In 1869, after it was sold, his ranch site and his son Z. J. "Jack" Harmonson figured in a skirmish between Indians and local cattlemen.

Historical Marker →

Tonkawa Scouts, C.S.A.

1861

By the time of the Civil War, 1861-65, Texans knew the horrors of Indian warfare. Hostile tribes made a business of stealing horses, cattle, women and children. The paths they followed in the "bright Comanche moons" were marked by fires and ruin. The Tonkawa tribe, by contrast, sought friendship with Texans. They became valued allies in the Civil War, scouting against hostile Indians and watching for signs of Federal invasion. Old Texas Indian fighters, who once had fought Tonkawas along with others, in wartime asked for Tonkawa scouts. Along the frontier defense line from Red River to the Rio Grande, commanders valued them so much they fed them at personal expense when necessary, to obtain their help. A few Tonkawa scouts were more useful than two or three companies of regular soldiers. They could stalk enemies better than bloodhounds. They paid for their Confederate loyalty. On Oct. 25, 1862, near present Anadarko, Okla., hostile Indians attacked the Tonkawa camp, killing 137 men, women and children out of 300. When later their Chief Castile requested a tribal home in Texas, they were located at Fort Griffin, where they remained until 1884, and then were removed to Oklahoma.

Historical Marker → · 3.1 mi away

Clifton, Elizabeth Ann Carter

1857

Elizabeth Ann Clifton, rancher, merchant, and Indian captive, was born on March 29, 1825, in Alabama. In 1842, when she was sixteen, she married Alexander Joseph Carter, a free black. The couple had two children and lived with Carter's parents, Edmund J. and Susanna Carter, in Red River and Navarro counties before moving west to Fort Belknap in Young County, where they began raising stock and farming. Elizabeth Carter managed the ranch, soon as a full partner, while her husband and father-in-law ran a cargo transportation business. Though she was illiterate and epileptic, she also ran a boarding house, the Carter Trading House. In 1857 her husband and father-in-law were both mysteriously murdered. When Carter's estate was finally settled, his remaining assets were divided between his two grandchildren, Elizabeth Carter's married daughter and her young son. Mrs. Carter was not, however, made guardian of her son's property. In 1858 Elizabeth Carter was briefly married to Lt. Owen A. Sprague, but Sprague disappeared eight months later. Elizabeth continued to be one of the most successful women on the frontier. The Trading House prospered after the Butterfield Overland Mail began stopping in Fort Belknap in 1858, and she still managed the ranch. When she was thirty-six years old, she married Thomas FitzPatrick, one of three Carter ranch cowhands, on August 26, 1862. FitzPatrick was murdered eighteen months later. Elizabeth endured further calamity when her Young County ranch was attacked in the Elm Creek Raid of October 13, 1864, and she was taken captive by Plains Indians led by Comanche chief Little Buffalo. Elizabeth's daughter Mildred Susanna Durkin and Mrs. Durkin's infant son were murdered. The Indians took captive Elizabeth FitzPatrick, her thirteen-year-old son, and Elizabeth's two surviving granddaughters, Charlotte Durkin (Lottie), age 5 years, and Mildred Durkin (Milly), age 2 years. The son was killed shortly after his capture. Mrs. FitzPatrick was held twelve months and twenty days in Kiowa chief Sun Boy's camp on the Arkansas River in northwestern Kansas. Her granddaughter Milly and several other children held in Comanche chief Iron Mountain's camp apparently froze to death early in 1865, though Elizabeth believed that Milly remained alive in captivity. The other grandchild, Lottie, spent nine months as captive of Comanches who tattooed her arms and forehead before releasing her. Elizabeth was rescued on November 2, 1865, by Gen. J. H. Leavenworth and subsequently held at the Kaw Mission at Council Grove, Kansas. There she took care of another recently released woman, who was pregnant and in poor health, and the woman's two children. For the next ten months, Elizabeth was paid three dollars a week to nurse, cook, and sew clothes for a growing number of recently released captives. She complained on the released captives' behalf that they were not receiving adequate care, that arrangements for safe transportation to their homes were taking far too long, and that more should be done to free others still in captivity. On August 27, 1866, almost two years after her capture, she and several others began the six-week trip home. Elizabeth FitzPatrick was reunited with her previously released granddaughter in Parker County. In 1869 Elizabeth married a Parker County farmer and widower, Isaiah Clifton. They moved to Fort Griffin with Lottie and Clifton's youngest four children in order to manage what remained of landholdings inherited by Lottie Durkin after her mother's death. Elizabeth Clifton remained at Fort Griffin until her death on June 18, 1882. She was buried beside Isaiah Clifton, who predeceased her in 1880, in the oldest cemetery in Shackelford County. As late as 1877 she had wired the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington to report a rumor that her granddaughter, Milly Jane, might be living with a Kiowa woman named Ama. Elizabeth Clifton died penniless. See also CAPTIVES OF AMERICAN INDIANS .

Tsha Handbook → · 4.6 mi away

Goodnight-Loving Trail

1866

The Goodnight-Loving Trail ran from Young County, Texas, southwest to Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River, up the Pecos to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and on north to Colorado. In the spring and early summer of 1866 Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving drove their first herd of longhorn cattle over the Butterfield Overland Mail route from near Fort Belknap via the Middle Concho River and Castle Gap , to Horsehead (on some old maps marked Dead Horse) Crossing. Leaving the former mail route there, they worked up the Pecos, crossing it from time to time as the terrain and watering places required. They drove a second herd, bought from John S. Chisum , from his Concho River range to Fort Sumner later that same summer. The northern extension of the Goodnight-Loving Trail was first blazed by Loving in the fall of 1866. Initially, it ran north from Fort Sumner up the Pecos to Las Vegas, then followed the Santa Fe Trail to Raton Pass and around the base of the Rockies via Trinidad and Pueblo to Denver, Colorado. Since that was a roundabout way, Goodnight in the fall of 1867 altered the route fifty or sixty miles to the east, crossing the Gallinas valley and the well-watered plains of northeastern New Mexico near Capulin Mountain before swinging back northwestward to Raton Pass. At Raton Pass "Uncle Dick" Wootton had established a toll station near the summit and charged Goodnight ten cents a head for passage. Goodnight complied, but not without protest. At the head of Apishapa Canyon, forty miles northeast of Trinidad, he set up a ranch and cattle-relay station. In the spring of 1868 Goodnight entered into a contract with John Wesley Iliff in which he agreed to deliver his cattle to Iliff at the Union Pacific Railroad town of Cheyenne, Wyoming. From the Arkansas valley near Pueblo, Goodnight and his men struck out due north, passing east of Denver, to the South Platte River. They crossed that stream at the site of present Greeley and followed a tributary, Crow Creek, to Cheyenne, where the delivery was made. Afterward, Goodnight and his men went back to New Mexico to buy more cattle from Chisum at Bosque Grande. Returning north, Goodnight further "straightened out" the trail by leaving the Pecos north of Fort Sumner and traveling north to Alamogordo Creek and across the plains via Cuervo Creek and its tributaries to a spot on the Canadian River twenty miles west of Fort Bascom. From there he proceeded to the Cimarron Seco west of Capulin Mountain. In order to avoid Dick Wootton's toll road, Goodnight opened a new, easier passageway through Tinchera Pass into Colorado. The Goodnight-Loving Trail was thus routed, and although Goodnight himself made only one more delivery at Cheyenne, many cattle concerns from Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado used all or portions of the trail extensively until the advent of railroads in the Southwest in the early 1880s. The trail was sometimes known simply as the Goodnight Trail.

Tsha Handbook → · 4.6 mi away

Things to Do in Newcastle

nature 24.8 mi away

Hell's Gate at Possum Kingdom

Hell's Gate is the narrow pass on Possum Kingdom Lake where the Brazos River cuts between two soaring sandstone cliffs. The cliffs are remnants of the Palo…

Everything Near Newcastle

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

Newcastle, TX · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Newcastle, a town born from the earth itself. Back in 1908, this spot was chosen for a new community, named after a famous coal town in England. The real story here? Coal. The Belknap Coal Company…
How Oil and Gas Engineered a Ghost Town · 0.4 mi
The story of Newcastle's decline is a lesson in energy technology. The town was built on a solid fuel: coal, first shipped out of here in 1908, and getting it took shafts, strip pits and a dedicated railroad. Then…
Life in a Company Town · 0.4 mi
Imagine living in a town where your landlord, your boss, and your grocer were all the same outfit. That was life in Newcastle. The Belknap Coal Company sank its shaft here in 1908 and shipped its first coal to Wichita…
The Last Mine Whistle · 0.4 mi
In 1942, a sound that had defined life in Newcastle for better than thirty years went quiet. The last working coal mine in town shut down, and the whistle that had called men underground since 1908 blew for the final…
Harmonson Ranch · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
Kentucky native Peter Harmonson (1797-1865) came to Texas in 1845 as a settler in the Peters Colony. The following year he helped form Denton County, where he served as the first sheriff. In 1854 he brought his family…
Two Miles Southwest to Fort Belknap · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Young County, and just a couple miles southwest of here lies the site of Fort Belknap. Established way back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1850</say-as>, this was the largest military…
Tonkawa Scouts, C.S.A. · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker
By the time of the Civil War, 1861-65, Texans knew the horrors of Indian warfare. Hostile tribes made a business of stealing horses, cattle, women and children. The paths they followed in the "bright Comanche moons"…
Fort Belknap (Texas) · 3.1 mi · Scraped Hmdb
This unassuming spot was once the northernmost outpost of civilization in Texas, a vital link in a chain of forts protecting settlers. In 1851, Fort Belknap was established by General William Belknap to defend against…
Major Robert S. Neighbors · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the area where Major Robert S. Neighbors met his end. Neighbors was a forceful peacemaker and humanist, deeply influential over Texas' Native American tribes. He served as an Indian agent, improving…
Major Robert Simpson Neighbors · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Major Robert Simpson Neighbors. Major Robert Simpson Neighbors who served in the Army of Texas, 1836 * Captured by General Woll, 1842 * U. S. Indian agent, 1845 * Born in Virginia, November 3, 1815 *…
Old Fort Belknap Powder Magazine · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Old Fort Belknap Powder Magazine. Best preserved of the original structures at Fort Belknap. The Fort, named for its builder, Brig. Gen. W.
Camp Belknap, CSA · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, near where Camp Belknap, a Confederate frontier post, stood. In the spring of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1863</say-as>, local soldiers joined the frontier regiment here…

Show all 107 nearby places

Military Road (Ft. Belknap-Ft Phantom Hill) · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past a stretch of a crucial military road, first surveyed in 1849 by Colonel J. E. Johnson for the U.S. War Department. From 1851 to 1854, this route connected frontier forts Belknap and Phantom Hill.…
Elm Creek Raid - Britt Johnson · 3.2 mi · Historical Marker
On October 13, 1864, Kiowa and Comanche raiders attacked homesteads along Elm Creek in Young County. Britt Johnson, an enslaved Black man, rode alone into Comanche territory to rescue his family.
Colonel William C. Young · 3.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, home of Colonel William C. Young. A Tennessee lawyer and U.S. Marshall, he became a Texas Ranger, a Mexican War colonel, and commanded the 11th Texas Cavalry during the Civil War. He…
Butterfield Overland Stages · 3.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, following a route once vital to a nation. From 1858 to 1861, the Butterfield Overland Stages ran semi-weekly service between St. Louis and San Francisco, right through this area. The…
Military Road (Ft. Belknap-Ft Worth) · 3.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, heading east on what was once a vital military road. Back in 1851, this route connected Fort Belknap and Fort Worth, serving as a lifeline for troops, travelers, and essential…
Military Road (Ft. Belknap-San Antonio) · 3.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the path of a vital Military Road, connecting Fort Belknap to San Antonio. Blazed in 1851 by Lieutenant Francis T. Bryan, this route served troops, supply trains, and settlers pushing the Texas…
Warren Wagontrain Raid · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
In 1871 William Tecumseh Sherman , visited Texas to investigate complaints against Indians from the Fort Sill Reservation. The government had attempted to insure Indian containment by encircling the Indian Territory…
Clifton, Elizabeth Ann Carter · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Elizabeth Ann Clifton, rancher, merchant, and Indian captive, was born on March 29, 1825, in Alabama. In 1842, when she was sixteen, she married Alexander Joseph Carter, a free black. The couple had two children and…
Goodnight-Loving Trail · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Goodnight-Loving Trail ran from Young County, Texas, southwest to Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River, up the Pecos to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and on north to Colorado. In the spring and early summer of 1866…
Johnson, Britton · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the wild West Texas frontier. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1864</say-as>, Britton Johnson’s family was taken in the Elm Creek Raid. Johnson, a man who was…
Maman-Ti · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Kiowa territory, a land shaped by powerful leaders like Maman-ti. Known as the 'Owl Prophet,' Maman-ti was a Kiowa chief and medicine man, born around 1835. He claimed to gain…
Neighbors, Robert Simpson · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the wild Texas frontier, a place where tensions ran high between settlers and Native American tribes. Right here, Robert Simpson Neighbors was a key figure, serving as an Indian…
Salt Creek Prairie · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, on what was once known as Salt Creek Prairie. For years, this rolling landscape was called 'the most dangerous prairie in Texas.' It was a favorite hunting ground for Comanche and…
Young County · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, a place that was once a flashpoint between settlers and Native American tribes. Back in 1851, the U.S. Army established Fort Belknap right here, hoping to bring order to the…
Cement Mountain · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, near Graham, and right here is Cement Mountain. It's not a mountain made of cement, but it's topped with boulders of sandstone and gravel, rising 200 feet above the prairie. This…
Elm Creek Raid · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once western Young County, near Elm Creek, right where a dramatic frontier raid unfolded on October 13, 1864. Hundreds of Kiowa and Comanche warriors swept through the valley, attacking…
Fort Belknap · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, heading past the site of old Fort Belknap. Founded in 1851, this wasn't just any outpost; it was the northern anchor of a vital chain of forts protecting the Texas frontier. Troops…
McLennon, John · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Fort Belknap, a place that saw the birth of John McLennon in 1855. McLennon wasn't just born here; he became a soldier and a hero. In August of 1877, he was part of a fierce battle…
Shumard, George Getz · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near the Llano Estacado, and you're passing through country that George Getz Shumard explored over 170 years ago. A surgeon by trade, Shumard was also a keen geologist who…
Tackett, Pleasant · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, Texas, and right here near Fish Creek, about eight miles south of Fort Belknap, is where a man known as the 'fighting parson' settled. Pleasant Tackett arrived in Texas in the 1850s,…
Turtle Hole · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, and right here is the site of Turtle Hole, a vital water stop on the old Butterfield Overland Mail route. But this peaceful watering hole has a darker history. In January of <say-as…
Woolfolk, Joseph Alfred · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once frontier Texas, and right here, in the area of Belknap, a dramatic legal battle unfolded. In 1871, lawyer Joseph Alfred Woolfolk, a Civil War veteran and cattleman, took on one of…
Belknap, TX · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Belknap was a half mile east of Fort Belknap and three miles south of the site of present Newcastle in Young County. The nearby fort was named for Gen. William G. Belknap , who selected the site and established Camp…
Flag Springs · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Flag Springs is a popular spring-fed watering hole and cow camp on the Fort Worth-Fort Belknap road and an unnamed tributary of Salt Creek, ten miles east of Fort Belknap and three miles north of Graham in central Young…
Camp Radziminski · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Indian Territory, near the modern-day border of Texas, and you might be passing near the site of Camp Radziminski. Established in September of <say-as interpret-as="date"…
M. D. Harrell Site · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, near South Bend, and you're passing over a place that was once a bustling village. This is the M. D. Harrell site, a major archeological find on the Brazos River. Excavations in the…
Farmer, TX (Young County) · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Farmer is near the junction of Farm roads 1769 and 2652, eight miles northwest of Loving and sixteen miles east of Olney in northeast Young County. The community, originally called Brush or Brushy, was renamed in honor…
Eliasville, TX · 4.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Eliasville is on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River near the intersection of Farm roads 1974, 3109, and 701, close to the Stephens county line in southwest Young County. The townsite was on the land of J. L. Dobbs, who…
Indian Raid on Elm Creek, CSA · 6.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of one of the most brutal Indian raids on the Texas frontier during the Civil War. On October 13th, 1864, Comanches attacked the Fitzpatrick Ranch, just north of here. The violence was…
Common Grave · 7.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Newcastle, and just off the road here lies a grim reminder of frontier life. On July 17, 1867, a raid by Native Americans on Elm Creek claimed the lives of three young men. Rice Carlton, only…
Proffitt Cemetery · 7.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, near Newcastle. Look around and imagine this land in 1867. It was frontier life, and it could be harsh. Right here, in a common grave on John Proffitt's land, lie the first souls…
Johnson, Britt · 7.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, near Graham, where Britt Johnson lived a life etched by the frontier. Born in 1823, Johnson was a cowboy and an Indian scout. He even served as an orderly at Fort Belknap. But his…
Home of Lewis Pinkney Brooks · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of Lewis Pinkney Brooks, a Civil War veteran. After the war, he made an incredible journey, riding a mule all the way from Georgia to Texas in 1866. He settled here and built this…
Medlan Chapel Primitive Baptist Church · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Medlan Chapel Primitive Baptist Church, built in 1882 from native sandstone. The pews were hauled here by ox wagon from Sherman. The church and land were donated by A.B. and Betty Medlan in 1888.…
Site of Cottonwood Spring · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Site of Cottonwood Spring. 19th century oasis around a lone cottonwood tree and a good spring. Wagon ruts from heavy traffic attracted here are still visible on hill to the southwest. In 1849, Capt.…
Graham, Addie M. · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, a town that owes a lot to one remarkable woman: Addie M. Graham. Born Agnes Kinter in Indiana in 1843, she followed her husband, Edwin, to Texas in the 1870s. Edwin and his brother founded…
Graham Salt Works · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, where a valuable resource once fueled local development: salt. Settlers were drawn here in the 1850s by saline residue along Salt Creek. Martin V. Bowers started commercial production…
Cattle Raisers Association Oak · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, and just off the road, imagine a mighty oak tree. It was under that very tree, on February 15th and 16th, 1877, that forty Texas cattlemen gathered to form the Cattle Raisers Association…
Ryus Store Building · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, and right here is the Ryus Store Building, a survivor built from local bricks in 1879. Druggist Joseph Ryus rebuilt here after a fire destroyed his original store. But this building saw…
1890 Bank Building · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, and you might just pass the site of a grand old bank, built in 1890. Irish quarrymen hauled stone for this Victorian beauty, which stood proudly on Bower's Hill. It wasn't just a bank; the…
Young County Jail · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Young County Jail in Graham. Built in 1878, this two-story structure housed the jailer downstairs and two cells above, one a steel cage for the toughest inmates. This place saw…
Third County Courthouse, Site of · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, where the Third County Courthouse once stood. Young County organized way back in 1856, with Belknap as its first county seat. But after Union troops pulled out during the Civil War and…
1921 Young County Jail · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the 1921 Young County Jail in Graham. Designed by Dallas architect C.H. Leinbach, this three-story concrete and brick building was built by Henger & Chambers. It housed prisoners awaiting trial until…
Early Church of Graham · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Graham's first dedicated church building, erected way back in 1885. It started as the First Baptist Church, established just four years earlier in 1880. Imagine this red brick structure,…
First National Bank in Graham · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, and right here on the north side of the town square, you're passing the original site of a bank that helped shape this city's economy. It started in 1890 as the Beckham National Bank,…
Morrison Funeral Home · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, and right here is the site of a business that started as a blacksmith shop in 1877. John Edward Morrison arrived in Young County in 1876 and quickly opened a shop on the Town Square. Over…
Standpipe Mountain · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Standpipe Mountain, a prominent peak in the Belknap Range, standing 1160 feet tall. It was part of the land purchased back in 1872 by the Graham brothers, who named this town after themselves. They…
A. B. Medlan Home · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, Texas, past the site of the A. B. Medlan Home. Medlan settled this farm way back in 1855. He was a Texas Ranger, a church leader, and even served as treasurer and commissioner for Young…
Little Salt Creek Indian Fight · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, not far from Olney, and you're passing the site of a fierce clash in Texas frontier history. On May 16th, 1869, a cattle roundup crew found themselves under an unprovoked attack by…
Graham Post Office · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the old Graham Post Office, built back in 1935. This wasn't just any post office; it was the seventh one for Graham, but the first one built to last. It was part of President Roosevelt's New Deal, a…
Brazos River Indian Reservation · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, near Graham, where over 69,000 acres once served as the Brazos River Indian Reservation. Back in 1854, the Texas Legislature set aside this land for Native American tribes, including…
Dr. & Mrs. J.W. Gallaher House · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, and just ahead is the home of Dr. J.W. Gallaher, built in 1906. Dr. Gallaher arrived in Graham in 1884, establishing a successful medical practice and becoming a civic leader. He was even…
The One-Armed Dove Hunt · 11.3 mi
One of the most remarkable things about Olney is not a building, it is an event. In 1972 two local men — Jack Bishop and Jack Northrup, each of them missing an arm at the shoulder, known around town as the One-Armed…
The Aviation Pioneer of Olney · 11.3 mi
On the edge of Olney you will find a factory that changed agriculture around the world, and it is the legacy of Leland Snow. Snow designed his first agricultural airplane in the early 1950s and built it himself, because…
The Plane That Feeds the World · 11.3 mi
The most important piece of technology to ever come out of Olney is the Air Tractor. These iconic yellow airplanes, built right here, are marvels of purpose-driven engineering. Founder Leland Snow designed them to solve…
The Roaring Twenties on Main Street · 11.3 mi
As you pass through downtown Olney, take a look at the buildings - those sturdy two-story brick fronts on Main Street are the receipts from a wilder decade. Olney was already a rail town; it incorporated in 1909 and…
The Marlow Brothers' Escape · 11.4 mi
Right here in downtown Graham, one of the most incredible tales of the Old West unfolded. In 1888, five brothers—the Marlows—were living in the area when they were accused of horse theft. The charges were likely false,…
Graham, TX · 11.4 mi
On February 15, 1877, Graham was the site of the organizational meeting of the group that became the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, created to police ranching and put a stop to cattle rustling.…
Fort Belknap, The Town Before the Town · 11.4 mi
To understand why Graham is here, you first have to know about a place just 12 miles northwest: Fort Belknap. Established in 1851 on the banks of the Brazos River, it was one of the most important military posts on the…
Engineering a Kingdom: Building the Morris Sheppard Dam · 11.4 mi
Just south of Graham lies the massive reservoir known as Possum Kingdom Lake, but it’s not a natural feature. It’s a monumental feat of engineering born from the Great Depression. In the 1930s, the Brazos River was…
America's Largest Downtown Square · 11.4 mi
As you navigate the heart of Graham, you're driving around a piece of local pride: the downtown square. Graham claims it as the largest in America — a claim Iola, Kansas will fight you over — but the scale isn't in…
Keathley, George Dennis · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, Texas, not far from Olney, where George Dennis Keathley grew up. He was a farmer's son who went on to serve in World War II. On September 14, 1944, on Mount Altuzzo in Italy,…
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, near Graham, where a legendary group of cattlemen gathered on February 15, 1877. They were fed up with rustlers, so they formed the Stock-Raisers' Association of North-West Texas, the…
Graham, Edwin Smith · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Graham, a town founded by brothers Edwin and Gustavus Adolphus Graham. These weren't just any settlers; they were shrewd businessmen from Kentucky. During a prospecting trip in the 1870s, they…
Lester, William Lewis · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Graham, William Lewis Lester was born in 1910. He became a key figure in the Dallas art scene, part of the "Dallas Nine" who developed a unique Texas Regionalist…
Snow, Henry Leland · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Olney, Texas, a town looking for a stable industry beyond oil and ranching. Right here, Leland Snow found it. A crop-dusting pilot and engineer, Snow designed a revolutionary agricultural plane. He…
Zale, Morris Bernard · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in Graham, is where a retail revolution began. Morris Zale, an immigrant who fled poverty in Russia, started his first jewelry store in 1922, right in this area. He…
Olney, TX · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Olney, Texas, a town that boomed thanks to black gold. Settled in the late 1800s, Olney was a quiet ranching community until 1923. That's when oil was discovered, and the Swastika Pool, discovered…
Graham, TX · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Graham, Texas, right where two brothers named Graham decided to make their mark after the Civil War. Edwin and Gustavus Graham bought a massive 125,000 acres here in Young County and, seeing…
Gant, Absalom Bobo, Jr. · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, and right here in Graham, Absalom Gant was a man of many hats. After serving in the Confederate Army and returning to North Texas, he settled in Graham in the late 1860s. He wasn't…
Graham, Malcolm Kintner · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Graham, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to the Graham family. In 1879, young Malcolm Kintner Graham, along with his parents, moved here from Indiana. His father and uncle had laid out…
Spiller, George · 11.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, Texas, a landscape once overseen by George Spiller. In 1876, Spiller was elected district surveyor for this vast region, covering sixteen counties all the way to New Mexico. He was…
The Tonk Valley Community · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Tonk Valley, a place named for the Tonkawa people, who called themselves 'The most human of people.' The first attempt at settlement here was way back in 1851, by Elijah Skidmore, but he was…
Olney, TX · 12.1 mi
The Olney Community Library and Arts Center is a notable landmark located on the Olney school campus at 807 W. Hamilton, serving as a cultural and educational hub for the community.
St. Luke Lutheran Church · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of St. Luke Lutheran Church in Olney. German families settling the Salt Creek Valley in 1883 used personal devotional books for religious services. The congregation was officially organized…
Salt Creek Massacre · 12.8 mi · Wikipedia
On the afternoon of May 18, 1871, about 150 Kiowa and Comanche warriors waited behind a hill on the Salt Creek Prairie, nine miles from Graham, Texas. They were watching for a target on the wagon road that ran between…
Murray Methodist Church · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be the Fish Creek community. Back in 1874, pioneers like Thomas Price used an abandoned log cabin as a place of worship for everyone, regardless of denomination. The Fish Creek…
Battle of Stone Houses · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker
On November 10, 1837, eighteen Texas Rangers rode into a fight with 150 Kichai warriors near three stone formations that gave the battle its name. The Rangers were outnumbered nearly ten to one. For two hours, they…
Tyra Graveyard-Murray Community Cemetery · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Murray Community Cemetery, originally known as Fish Creek. The first burial here was in 1884, an infant child of the Tyra family, on land donated by her grandparents. Later, neighbors added their…
Buried Here are the Remains of Seven Teamsters · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, near Loving. Look for this marker commemorating a violent clash. Here lie the remains of seven teamsters – Nathan Long, the Elliott brothers, the Williams brothers, and J.J. Baxter…
Brazos Indian Reservation School · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Graham, Texas, near where the Brazos Indian Reservation once stood. Created by the state in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1854</say-as>, this refuge was home to over a thousand Anadarko,…
Confluence of the Brazos, Trinity, and Red River Watersheds, The · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, and right here, you're passing a unique geological landmark. This 1250-foot mound is the confluence point for three major Texas river watersheds: the Trinity to the south, the…
Gooseneck Cemetery · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Gooseneck Cemetery, named for a bend in the Brazos River. This burial ground first served pioneers of the Gooseneck community, with burials dating back to shortly after the Civil War. The earliest…
Farmer · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the tiny community of Farmer, named for a missionary who camped here back in 1877. Reverend William H. Farmer was more than just a traveler; he opened a general store and became the town's first…
Farmer Cemetery · 15.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, heading past the site of what was once the town of Farmer. In 1877, Baptist preacher W.H. Farmer and his family settled here, establishing not just a store and post office, but also…
Hawkins Chapel · 15.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, near the site of Hawkins Chapel. The Hawkins family settled here in 1876, building a school by 1879 and a Methodist church in 1884. Though the school and church closed by 1916, the…
Underground in Nagasaki When the Bomb Fell · 15.9 mi
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…
Donnell Mill, Old · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Donnell Mill, a testament to grit and flour power! James Donnell and his family faced heartbreak before finally finishing this dam and mill in 1876. For nearly fifty years, it ground…
The Boomtown of '25 · 17.4 mi
Imagine these quiet streets suddenly crowded with strangers. That was Woodson in the mid-1920s. The first well came in in 1923, and then in 1925 the Texas Company -- Texaco -- brought in the Stubblefield No. 1, a well…
Woodson, TX · 17.4 mi
In 1948, Woodson was hit by a tornado that destroyed 32 houses, significantly impacting the community. Additionally, on March 23, 1945, a rancher on the Barney Davis Ranch, 8 miles north of Woodson, Ivan Miller, found a…
Drilling for Black Gold, 1920s Style · 17.4 mi
The oil that transformed Woodson came in 1925, when Texaco's Stubblefield Number One blew in and set off a drilling boom big enough that the company put a refinery up north of town. Getting to that oil took brute-force…
Woodrow, TX · 17.4 mi
The unincorporated community of Woodrow, Texas, was named in honor of President Woodrow Wilson. There was initially a debate over whether to name the town Wilson or Woodrow, but supporters of Woodrow prevailed.
Water Samples and a Chemical Truck · 18.1 mi
State Highway Sixteen in Young County, from the Palo Pinto County line northwest to Graham, is the Texas Game Warden Joseph Marshall Evans Memorial Highway. In nineteen sixty five this road was numbered State Highway…
Loving Ranch House · 19.5 mi · Historical Marker
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,…
South Prairie Cemetery · 19.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past South Prairie Cemetery, founded in 1880 as the community burial ground for a settlement that's now gone. It was the last visible reminder of South Prairie, holding graves of pioneers and veterans.

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