Ovilla, Texas

Glenn Heights owes its existence to a turf fight. In the late 1960s a Dallas firefighter named N.L. "Moe" Craddock opened a thirty-acre mobile home park on this prairie south of the city. The nearby town of DeSoto was…

Glenn Heights sits astride an invisible line that predates the town: the border between Dallas County to the north and Ellis County to the south. That single boundary quietly splits the city in two. Children on the…

Glenn Heights may be a relatively young city, but it has its own quiet story to tell. Drive down I-35E today and you see the result of that late 20th-century growth spurt — homes and businesses that sprang up as people…

The road you may be driving on right now, Interstate 35E, is more than just a highway. It's the piece of engineering that made Glenn Heights possible. Before the interstate system, this stretch of blackland sixteen…

Few Texas towns have grown as steeply from as small a start as Glenn Heights. It counted just 257 residents in 1970, the year after it incorporated. Then the numbers climbed like a staircase: 1,033 by 1980, 4,564 by…

Here's a local quirk you might not notice at first: Glenn Heights is a city divided. As you drive through town, you might cross an invisible line that has real-world consequences. The city straddles the border of two…

DeSoto High School in DeSoto, Texas (600 Eagle Drive) is where Von Miller was district defensive MVP before becoming a pass-rushing legend. He won the Butkus Award at Texas A&M as the nation's top linebacker, then was…

DeSoto is a town that produces football players the way other places produce wheat. The headliner is Von Miller, who grew up here and starred as a two-sport athlete at DeSoto High School, leading the Eagles to a…

DeSoto defeated Sheldon C.E. King 55-27 for the 2025 Texas 6A Division II state football championship.

There must be something in the water at Red Oak High School. This single school has produced not one, but two Olympic gold medalists, a truly incredible feat for any community. The first was Louise Ritter. In 1988, the…

As you drive south of Red Oak, you’re passing the ghost of one of the most ambitious science projects ever attempted. This area was the site of the Superconducting Super Collider, or SSC. Beginning in the late 1980s,…

Desoto High School (DeSoto, TX): Most recent: 55-27 over Sheldon King · 2025 6A Division 2 final.

The center of Red Oak isn't where the town started. James E. Patton and his family settled the original site in 1844 down on Red Oak Creek — folks called it Possum Trot before the name changed along with the county in…

Originally comprised of men from Ellis and surrounding counties. Organized for Civil War service at Rockett's Spring (4 mi. E. of this site), Sept. 1861, unit was trained and commanded by Col. William H Parsons, Mexican…

You're driving through Ellis County, Texas. It was carved out of Navarro County back on December 20th, 1849. The county was officially organized just a few months later, on August 5th, 1850. It’s named for Richard…

In 1967, the crew of Arthur Penn's landmark film Bonnie and Clyde rolled into little Red Oak, about 15 miles south of Dallas on Highway 35E, and put the town on screen. A spruced-up red-brick bank near the corner of…

In the early days, DeSoto was a small settlement that faced a population decline, with only 97 people recorded in 1930. However, after World War II, the area began to grow rapidly. The town's incorporation in 1949 was a…

The fast-growing suburb you're passing on Interstate 35 about 18 miles south of Dallas almost ended up with a much stranger name. Settlement started here in 1844, when James E. Patton and his family put down roots along…

If you want the family whose name runs under this whole community, it's the Pattons. Colonel James E. Patton brought his family to Red Oak Creek in the mid-1840s and, on July 25, 1847, organized the Shiloh congregation…

Red Oak grew up as a blackland farm town. Before the Civil War the main crop was wheat, but by the 1860s cotton took over the deep prairie soil, and a general store opened around 1852 by Hugh Caldwell and I.P. Jeffers…

Red Oak's first taste of national fame came on a baseball diamond. Michael Franklin Higgins, nicknamed Pinky as a baby, was born here on May 27, 1909, and grew into a hard-hitting major-league third baseman. Over…

Hollywood owes a quiet debt to Red Oak. Bill Hart, born here on July 28, 1934, became one of the great Western stuntmen of the studio era. He broke in on John Wayne's epic The Alamo in 1960 and went on to perform or…

On the evening of April 25, 1994, the worst tornado in this corner of Dallas County tore across the prairie just south of Dallas. The monster that did the killing was rated F4, the second-strongest category, and it cut…

The blackland prairie that once grew cotton on the edge of Red Oak is now being asked to grow something invisible: the cloud. Google quietly bought roughly 165 acres near East Ovilla Road and North Central Boulevard…

The baseball diamond at Red Oak High School carries the name of one of the school's own, and it is well earned. Wedsel Gary Groom Jr., known to everyone as Buddy, graduated from Red Oak High in 1983, where he was an…

Before she became a fixture of the North Texas indie scene, singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe was a kid in Red Oak. Born in Lufkin, she moved around the state as a child until her family settled in Red Oak, just south of…

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 Red Oak Cemetery, which started life as the Kemble family burial ground. Abraham Kemble bought this land around 1860, and he and his wife Mary were laid to rest here in 1867. Decades later, in…

On the dark land off Houston School Road, a brick manor and its barns spent decades as one of the oldest haunted attractions in Texas, the seasonal Reindeer Manor, opened in 1974 and run for some 49 seasons before the…

You can't talk about modern DeSoto without talking about football. The DeSoto High School Eagles are more than just a team; they are a community institution and a nationally recognized brand. The program is legendary…

In 2006, DeSoto earned a title that speaks volumes about its character: 'All-America City.' This prestigious award from the National Civic League isn't about size or wealth; it's about a community's ability to work…

On February 17, 1949, a pivotal moment in DeSoto's history occurred when a petition signed by 42 eligible voters was presented to the Dallas County judge, requesting an election for incorporation. The vote took place on…

Inside the cement plants at Midlothian, ordinary limestone gets cooked into a brand new material through some serious chemistry. Limestone is mostly calcium carbonate. Heat it past about 900 degrees Celsius in a giant…

Red Oak High School can claim something almost no school anywhere can: a father and daughter who both stood on an Olympic medal stand in the same event. Michelle Carter grew up in Red Oak and graduated from Red Oak High…

You're driving through Desoto, a community that started life as "the Store." It all began in the 1840s when families like the Parks, Cheshier, Ramsey, and Johnson settled here. In 1848, T.J. Johnson built the first…

Life Waxahachie (Waxahachie, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Shaun Malone (0.583 avg).

Friday nights are serious business in Cedar Hill, and the trophy case backs it up. The Cedar Hill High School Longhorns built one of the more feared football programs in Texas during the 2000s and 2010s, going a perfect…

Downtown Cedar Hill sits on a limestone escarpment, and on April 29, 1856, that high ground took one of the worst blows in early Texas history. Two funnels formed, one to the north and one to the south, merged into a…

In the 1930s, Texas was captivated and terrorized by the crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde. The famous pair never robbed Cedar Hill — but one of their crowd did, twice. On October 8, 1932, nineteen-year-old Raymond…

The massive body of water on Cedar Hill's western edge, Joe Pool Lake, isn't a natural feature. It's a major work of civil engineering, decades in the making. Congress authorized it back in October 1965 — as Lakeview…

Cedar Hill, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to the mid-1800s. Founded around 1846 by settlers from the Peters Colony, it became the largest settlement in the area at the time. The town's early history was…

Just a few miles from the busy highways, Cedar Hill holds a surprising secret: the westernmost grove of flowering dogwood trees in the United States. Tucked away in a limestone canyon is the Dogwood Canyon Audubon…

U.S. Highway Sixty Seven, between U.S. Highway Two Eighty Seven and Interstate Twenty in Dallas and Ellis Counties, is the Eddie Bernice Johnson Memorial Highway. Johnson was a Waco native, known to many simply as E B…

You're driving through Cedar Hill, one of Dallas County's oldest settlements. Back in the late 1840s, settlers were drawn to this high prairie hill, establishing a community. The early economy thrived by supporting…

At Trinity Christian School in Cedar Hill, Shedeur Sanders threw to a soundtrack of his father's voice. Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders ran the offense as coordinator from 2017 through 2019, and together they…

You're driving through Floyd County, and right here is the spot where Cedar Hill began. Settlers started arriving in the late 1880s, drawn to the wheat farming in this part of the Caprock escarpment. A schoolhouse…

In the spring of 1856, an early version of Cedar Hill was simply wiped off the map. Two storms collided just south of the village and merged into one enormous tornado that, as a newspaper of the day put it, swept the…

Look toward that cluster of impossibly tall towers and you're looking at one of the densest forests of broadcast masts in America, and it's no accident it lives here. Cedar Hill sits on one of the highest points between…

On the morning of October 12, 1996, one of the giant guyed masts on the Cedar Hill ridge came down in seconds, and three workers fell with it. A crew was raising a new antenna up the 1,462-foot tower using a gin pole, a…

The high ground you're climbing onto is exactly what gave this town its name. Cedar Hill grew up in the 1840s as one of the settlements carved out of the Peters Colony, the big empire-resario land grant that pulled…

Cedar Hill's musical heavyweight works in gospel, not country or blues. Fred Hammond, the singer, bassist, songwriter, and producer widely credited with shaping the sound of modern urban contemporary gospel, built his…

By day the old Penn Farm is a peaceful row of weathered barns and farm gear. After the gates close, it has a reputation. Visitors and staff have traded stories for years of figures glimpsed among the buildings,…

You're cruising past the Fry-Butcher House, a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture right here in Red Oak. Sam and Sarah Jane Fry bought this land in 1882 and, with the help of carpenter Lewis Butcher, built this…

You're driving past the Roberts House, a beautiful example of late Victorian architecture right here in Cedar Hill. This home was built in 1884 by Dr. R. A. Roberts, a North Carolina native who settled in this area back…

The name Cedar Hill is about as honest as a town name gets. Settlers from Kentucky and Alabama arrived around 1846 and found these rolling hills blanketed in native cedar, the dark evergreen eastern red cedar that still…

Tucked into a modern subdivision at 1325 Greenbrook Drive sits the Historic Nance Farm, the oldest thing in DeSoto by a wide margin. In 1851 Otway Bird Nance brought his wife and ten children down from Illinois and…

Among the outbuildings at the old Nance Farm stood a windmill, and that machine is the reason a homestead could survive out here at all. The Blackland prairie had no creek running through every farmyard, so settlers…

You're driving through Ellis County, not far from Red Oak, the birthplace of Michael Francis "Pinky" Higgins. He earned his nickname in a unique way, reportedly showing up for a sandlot football game wearing his clothes…

You're driving past the site of Hawkins Spring, a vital water source for the very first settlers in this area. In May of 1848, William Alden Hawkins and his large family arrived here from Indiana. In a remarkable 28-day…

You're driving past Mount Zion Cemetery, a place that holds the stories of early Ellis County. Back in the 1850s, an Indian who loved this hill met his end right here, killed by his own wild prairie horse. It was a…

You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Cedar Hill. This congregation got its start way back in 1854. Their very first church building didn't last long – a tornado ripped it apart in 1856! They rebuilt…

You're driving south of Dallas on I-35, and right here is Red Oak. This town started out as Possum Trot back in 1844, named for the critters that were everywhere. The first settlers were the James E. Patton family, who…

The shopping district at 305 West FM 1382 quietly marked a turning point for this corner of Dallas County. Developers broke ground in 2006 and opened it in March 2008 as Uptown Village at Cedar Hill, a roughly…

You're driving past the Nance Farm, a place that's been in the same family for a century. Otway Nance arrived here from Kentucky in 1851, settling on land acquired through Peters Colony. He started building this…

The reason Pecan Hill exists is a story of soil science. You're on the Blackland Prairie, famous for dark, clay-rich ground weathered out of Taylor Marl. This soil is packed with a mineral called montmorillonite, and it…

Pecan Hill is a community in Texas.

Honors Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle, deadliest sniper in American military history, killed at a Texas gun range February 2, 2013, by a veteran he was trying to help. Raised in Midlothian.

You're driving past the site of the Sardis School, a community hub for decades. Kids here first learned their lessons in the local Methodist church back in the early 1870s. By 1897, a dedicated schoolhouse went up…

You're driving through Sardis, Texas, where Methodism has deep roots stretching back to 1845. That's when a traveling preacher named Thomas Welch first rode through this area, spreading the word. The formal congregation…

You're driving past Bells' Chapel Cemetery, founded way back in 1875. Local landowners John and Elizabeth Gibbons gave the land for the church and cemetery on December 27th of that year, deeding it to the Methodist…

You're driving past Sardis Cemetery, where the earliest marked grave belongs to Susan Jane Rachael Kelly, who died in childbirth back in 1871. Early settler Robert Mayfield donated land for this burial ground, which…

Drive toward Cedar Hill and you will see them from twenty miles off: a forest of enormous broadcast towers crowning the ridge, the densest cluster of radio and television antennas in north Texas. It began in the…

The giant towers cluster on Cedar Hill for one elegant reason: it is high ground. The town sits atop the White Rock Escarpment, a ridge of hard Austin Chalk limestone that is the most pronounced rise in the whole…

Before it was Midlothian, this spot was Hawkins Springs, named for a spring on land the William Alden Hawkins and Larkin Newton families claimed through the Peters Colony in 1848. A post office opened in 1877 under the…

You're driving past the Midlothian Cemetery, where the story of this town really begins. It all started with the Peters Colony, bringing settlers to Texas in the late 1840s. The Hawkins family arrived in 1848, and…

You're driving past the Mulkey-Loggins House, a home with roots stretching back to the earliest days of Ellis County. This land was first settled in 1854 by Philip Mulkey, a pioneer who arrived before the nearby town of…

You're cruising past the Trotter House, a beautiful example of Arts and Crafts and Prairie School architecture. Built after 1918 for Jasper 'Jake' Preston Sewell Jr., this home was likely funded by oil dividends. Jake…

You're driving through Midlothian, where Methodists have been gathering for worship since the 1840s. For decades, circuit-riding ministers traveled from Waxahachie to serve scattered families, meeting in homes and even…

Those enormous rotating cylinders at the Midlothian cement plants are feats of chemical and mechanical engineering called rotary kilns, and they're the heart of the whole operation. Here's how they work. Limestone, clay…

Here's something Midlothian knows better than most towns: cement and concrete are not the same thing. Cement is the glue. A typical concrete mix is only about ten to fifteen percent cement by volume. Sixty to seventy…

Concrete doesn't just harden. It heats up. The reaction between cement and water gives off heat, and in a big enough pour, that heat gets trapped. When Hoover Dam went up in the nineteen thirties, Bureau of Reclamation…

In Texas, high school football is more than a game, and here in Midlothian the Panthers are a core part of the town's identity. Friday nights in the fall the place empties out toward the stadium, and generations of…

The white rock under Midlothian began as plankton. This chalk is about eighty six million years old. When it formed, a seaway split North America in two, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, and this part of…

The Austin Chalk is a graveyard from that ancient sea, and one of its common fossils is easy to miss: small chips packed with tiny prisms. Those are pieces of Inoceramus, giant clams, and around Dallas they turn up more…

So why did three of the biggest cement plants in the country end up in Midlothian? Look at what's stacked underground. A nineteen fifty seven study of the Midlothian area by Louis Read found two rock formations here. On…

Rome's Pantheon was dedicated around the year one hundred twenty eight, and it still has the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. Plenty of modern concrete crumbles within a few decades. In two thousand…

Not every Ellis County fossil comes from the ancient sea. This one is an Ice Age elephant. In May two thousand fourteen, Marty McEwen was digging sand and gravel on his father's land in Ellis County when, as he told…

You're driving through Ellis County, the birthplace of Marc Williams, a pioneering cowboy singer who bridged the gap between the rough-hewn sounds of early Western music and the smooth crooning of Hollywood cowboys.…

You're driving through Midlothian, a town with roots stretching back to the 1840s. Originally known as Hawkins' Springs after a local spring, this community got its permanent name in the early 1880s. Legend has it a…

You're driving past Midlothian, where in 1911, two Presbyterian congregations merged to form the Midlothian Presbyterian Church. The new congregation built this sanctuary between 1913 and 1914. The church has a long…

The stretch of US Highway Two Eighty Seven in Midlothian between Rex Odom Drive and Kimble Road is the Chris Kyle Memorial Highway, named by the Texas Legislature in two thousand fifteen. Kyle was born in Odessa,…

You're driving past the former home of William L. and Emma Hawkins, built right here in Midlothian. They bought this property back in 1892. Then, in 1901, they tore down the old place and hired a local wood artisan,…

You're driving past the site of the Polytechnic Institute, founded right here in 1883 by W.W. Works. Works was a respected educator from this area who even attended the University of Texas. He returned in 1892, and…

You're driving past the site of early education in Midlothian. It started in 1850 as a one-room log cabin serving both school and church. Later, Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad President George B. Sealy donated…

You're driving past Little Bethel Cemetery, where the story starts with tragedy. Two small children were buried here back in 1856, opening this resting place. The oldest stone you'd see today belongs to Etna Barker,…

You're driving through Duncanville, passing the site of the Trees Cemetery. Crawford Trees arrived in Texas in 1845, eventually buying over 5,000 acres. He and his wife Anna donated land for a school and church, but…

You're driving past Penn Springs, a place that's been a vital stop for travelers for centuries. Long before settlers arrived, Native Americans used these springs. Then, wagon trains and cattle drives on the Shawnee…

You're driving past the Daniel Cemetery, the final resting place for some of southwest Dallas County's earliest settlers. The first person buried here, back in 1853, was Fannie P. Daniel, daughter-in-law of Rev. Ellison…

You're driving past Graves Cemetery, a final resting place for many of Ellis County's earliest pioneers. The first marked grave here belongs to Joseph Hinkle, who was laid to rest in 1859. His son-in-law, Robert Russell…

You're driving through Dallas County, near Lancaster, where Margaret Hall Little Lavender arrived in 1845. She and her husband William traveled all the way from Illinois as part of the Peters Colony's push to settle…

You're driving south of Dallas, and right here in Lancaster, you're passing through a town that played a small but significant role in the Civil War. In 1861, a volunteer company from Lancaster was raised and joined the…

You're driving past the Rockett Christian Church, a building that's seen over a century of Texas history. The congregation started gathering way back in 1853, but they formally organized in 1894. This beautiful…

You're driving past the site of the First Christian Church of Lancaster. Back on July 5, 1846, Roderick Rawlins and thirteen other settlers started this Christian fellowship. For years, they met in homes and a simple…

You're rolling through Duncanville, home of one of the most decorated football programs in Texas. Earlier this year, the Panthers nearly landed a six-foot-three sophomore quarterback named Bryson Kennedy. Kennedy…

You're driving through Duncanville, right in the heart of Dallas County. Just imagine, this spot was once known as Penn Springs, a vital watering hole for travelers heading west. Back in the day, two natural springs…

You're driving near Duncanville, the birthplace of Dr. Ruby Kathryn Daniel. She wasn't just any eye surgeon; she was a global medical pioneer. After training at the Mayo Clinic and teaching in China and India, Dr.…

You're driving through Duncanville, a Dallas suburb. This town owes its start to a railroad switch, named for a line foreman. In 1880, the Chicago, Texas and Mexican Central Railway reached this area and built Duncan…

You're driving past the site of a small but important piece of Duncanville history! Back in 1887, folks were pretty resistant to building a new school, worried about taxes. But six citizens stepped up and funded it…

You're driving past the site of the Rawlins Homestead, a place that served travelers on the road between Waxahachie and Dallas. Roderick A. Rawlins, a Confederate officer, started building this house in 1855. After the…

You're driving through Ellis County, and right here is Newton Cemetery, the final resting place for a true Texas pioneer. Larkin Newton arrived in Texas in 1848, joining his nephews who had settled earlier. But Larkin…

On April 25, 1994, the sound of a freight train filled the air, but there was no train. It was the sound of an F4 tornado, half a mile wide, bearing down on Lancaster. The storm ripped through the heart of the city,…

The tornado that struck Lancaster in 1994 wasn't just a storm; it was a catastrophic weather engine, powered by a specific set of atmospheric conditions. That April day, warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico collided…

Founded in 1852 as a frontier post, Lancaster is one of Dallas County's earliest settlements. The town was surveyed and staked off by 'A' Bledsoe, who modeled it after his Kentucky hometown. During the Civil War,…

Before interstate highways, a different kind of speed connected Lancaster to the outside world. From 1912 to 1948, the Texas Electric Railway ran right through town. This was the Interurban, a fast, clean, electric…

You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Duncanville. This congregation actually started as a Union Sunday School way back in 1882, just after the railroad arrived. For a few years, classes met at Union…

On the cedar-covered hills above what is now Joe Pool Lake, a man named John Penn settled in 1854 and started a farm. What makes it remarkable is how long it lasted: the Penn family worked that same land for more than a…

David W. Carter High School in Dallas (1819 West Wheatland Road) is where Michael Crabtree played quarterback before converting to receiver. At Texas Tech he set NCAA freshman records with 1,962 receiving yards and 22…

As you drive through Lancaster, look for the site of the Confederate Arms Factory. In 1862, Joseph Sherrard, William Killem, Pleasant Taylor, and John Crockett established this factory. Their mission? To manufacture…

You're driving past Wheatland Methodist Church, a testament to faith in early Texas. Founded way back in 1847, just a year after Texas became a state, this church holds a significant title: it's the oldest Methodist…

You're driving through Lancaster, a town with a rich educational history! Back in 1846, the very first log schoolhouse was built just a mile north of here. As the community grew, so did its schools. By 1868, African…

You're driving by Wheatland Cemetery, a burial ground serving this Dallas area since the mid-1800s. Originally called Branson-Brotherton Cemetery, it holds pioneers, community leaders, and veterans dating back to the…

You're driving past the site of the First Christian Church of Duncanville. Its story begins in the early 1890s, with informal services led by a preacher from nearby Lancaster. By 1893, Robert N. Daniel and his wife…

Tucked into the same escarpment that holds the towers is a quiet natural wonder: Dogwood Canyon. This Audubon nature center sits at a genuine biological crossroads, a spot where the plants and animals of East, West, and…

On a rise on the west side of town once sat Duncanville Air Force Station, a Cold War radar post that watched the skies over North Texas from 1953 until 1964. Its strangest moment came before dawn on July 17, 1957. An…

For decades a genuine World War II legend lived quietly in Lancaster. Romus Valton Burgin, known as R.V., was a Marine mortarman in K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, who fought through some of the Pacific's worst,…

The Historic Town Square at the center of Lancaster is the whole reason this town is worth a stop. Centered near 100 Main Street, it's a true old-fashioned courthouse-style square, a ring of brick storefronts facing a…

Duncanville calls itself the City of Champions, and the claim is earned on a basketball court. The Pantherettes, the girls program at Duncanville High School, have piled up a dozen Texas state titles starting in 1976,…

Duncanville's history began in 1845 when Crawford Trees purchased land south of Camp Dallas. The city's pivotal moment came in 1880 when the Chicago, Texas, and Mexican Central Railway built Duncan Switch, named for a…

During the Civil War, this quiet farm town briefly became one of Texas's most talked-about weapons makers, and one of its most notorious. Tucker, Sherrard and Company set up a pistol factory in Lancaster to manufacture…

You're rolling through a town that started as a spot on a railroad. In 1845 Crawford Trees came down from Illinois and bought up several thousand acres of Peters Colony land south of the Dallas army camp, and for…

Everybody assumes DeSoto is named for the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto, but the better-supported story is much more local. The crossroads settlement here goes back to about 1847, when Curtis Parks built one of…

You're rolling into one of the oldest towns in Dallas County, and it carries a Kentucky name on purpose. In 1847 a man named Abram Bledsoe bought half of the Roderick Rawlins survey out here on the prairie, and about…

One of the players on arguably the most famous college basketball team ever assembled came straight out of Lancaster High. Thomas Hill starred here on the hardwood before committing to Duke in 1989, walking into a…

The hill above Armstrong Park once wore one of the great structural-engineering ideas of the 20th century. When Duncanville Air Force Station upgraded its gear in the 1950s, the Air Force capped its radar dish with a…

Lancaster High has sent a steady stream of athletes out into the wider sports world, and one who reached the very top was Demarcus Ayers. Born in Lancaster in 1994, Ayers grew into a standout wide receiver and return…

When Lancaster built out its modern Community Park on the south side of town, it didn't give the new library a generic name, it dedicated the building to the people who served. The Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library is…

You're driving through Lancaster, a town with roots going back to 1844. It was officially established around 1852 by A. Bledsoe and his son-in-law, Roderick Rawlins, who patterned it after Bledsoe's grandfather's…

You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Lancaster, a North Texas institution tracing its roots back to 1868. Organized by Reverend Andrew Davis, services first gathered in the Masonic Hall. Imagine, if…

John Byron Nelson, Jr., professional golfer, was born on his parents' cotton farm in Long Branch, Texas, near Waxahachie, on February 4, 1912. He was the son of John Byron Nelson, Sr., and Madge (Allen) Nelson. Nelson…

On the night of April 25, 1994, a violent F4 tornado dropped onto Lancaster and chewed a path roughly six miles long and as much as 800 yards wide straight through the city. It came after dark, around 9:30 in the…

Restoring a wrecked 19th-century square isn't just sentiment, it's an engineering problem. After the 1994 tornado leveled most of Lancaster's town square, the city committed to bringing the historic brick storefronts…

You're driving through Waxahachie, Texas, the hometown of Ronnie Dawson, a rockabilly legend. Born in 1939, Dawson first hit the music scene as Ronnie Dee with his band, the D Men. They were so good they won ten…

You're driving past Waxahachie, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to Emory W. Rogers. Back in 1849, Rogers was granted 640 acres right here to establish the county seat for Ellis County. He didn't just get the…

You're driving through Ellis County, and right here is Waxahachie, home of Rae Files Still. She wasn't just a teacher; she was a force in the Texas House of Representatives for a decade. Still is best remembered for…

Right here in Waxahachie, you're driving past the birthplace of Paul "Sleepy" Richards, a Major League Baseball player and manager. But what's really interesting is how this town shaped his love for the game. Back in…

Frederic Fenimore Forrest, Jr., actor, was born in Waxahachie, Texas, on December 23, 1936, and was the son of Frederic Fenimore Forrest, Sr., and Virginia (McSpadden) Forrest. The couple had one other child, a daughter…

When the main railroads bypassed Lancaster, the town refused to be cut off from the cotton economy that was its lifeblood. In 1888 a depot opened on the Dallas and Waco Railway, which folded into the Missouri, Kansas…

You're driving through Lancaster, and right here, you're passing the former site of the Head House. Lucy Frances Jeffries, a Virginia transplant, discovered her true talent wasn't just raising four kids, but cooking!…

You're driving through what was once the rugged West, and right here in Waxahachie, Texas, was born Jules Verne Allen, the original 'Singing Cowboy.' Before he hit the radio waves in the 1920s, Allen actually lived the…

You're driving through Texas, and right here, in Waxahachie, was born Sarah Campbell Blaffer, a woman who would bring world-class art to the Lone Star State. After a visit to the Louvre on her honeymoon, she began…

You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is where Dr. Manton Marble Carrick spent his formative years. He went on to become a pioneer in public health, serving as superintendent of the Texas State Leper Colony…

You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through the territory where the Twelfth Texas Cavalry was born. Organized in September of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as> near…

Frank Craig Erwin, Jr., chairman of the University of Texas System Board of Regents, was born in Waxahachie, Texas, on January 24, 1920, one of two sons of Frank Craig and Margaret (Edwards) Erwin, Sr. He enrolled at…

You're driving through Duncanville, a town that owes its very existence to the railroad. Back in the 1880s, this area was just farmland, but then the Chicago, Texas & Mexican Central Railroad decided to build a line…

You're driving past Edgewood Cemetery in Lancaster, the final resting place for some of Dallas County's earliest settlers. Look for the grave of Lizzie Richardson, a pioneer child who died way back in the summer of 1845…

You're driving through Ellis County, heading towards Waxahachie, where Amzi Bradshaw made his home. A lawyer and legislator, Bradshaw answered the call to arms in 1861, enlisting as a private in the Nineteenth Texas…

You're driving through Ellis County, near Waxahachie. Back in the 1870s, the folks here were a bit stubborn. When the Houston and Texas Central Railroad wanted to build through, Waxahachie refused to offer any money,…

You're driving through North Texas, near where Joseph Martin Dawson was born back in 1879. He was a Baptist pastor, but he was also a fierce social activist. In 1914, after reading the works of Walter Rauschenbusch,…

You're driving through Waxahachie, the town named for Justus Wesley Ferris. He arrived in Texas in 1847, drawn here after his law mentor died unexpectedly. Ferris became a prominent lawyer and judge, even authoring…

You're driving through Waxahachie, a town that owes a lot to Charles Reese Gibson. After serving in the Confederate Army and practicing law, Gibson arrived here in 1867. He didn't just settle down; he built up the…

You're driving through North Texas, passing through communities like Waxahachie and Dallas, places that were shaped by figures like Anson Rainey. He started his Texas journey in Crockett in 1867, then moved to…

You're driving through Waxahachie, home to Southwestern Assemblies of God University. But this school has a history that stretches across state lines and multiple mergers. It began in 1927 as Southwestern Bible School…

You're driving through Ellis County, near Waxahachie. Right here, Josiah Wright Kemble, a prosperous farmer and merchant, made a big decision around 1861. Fearing the Civil War's violence back in Kentucky, he packed up…

Waxahachie, the county seat of Ellis County, is on Interstate Highway 35E and U.S. Highway 287, thirty miles south of Dallas in the central part of the county. The name comes from an Indian word meaning "cow" or…

You're driving through Ellis County, a place established in December of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1849</say-as>. It was drawn from Navarro County and likely named for Richard Ellis, a key figure in the…

You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Waxahachie, Samuel Ewell McKnight got his start. Born in 1864, he worked the family ranch before heading out on his own around 1891 to lease land near Brady. He…

You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in Waxahachie, Chalmers McPherson arrived in 1879. He was a minister with a vision, serving the Christian church for twenty years. But his real passion? Education.…

You're driving through Waxahachie, the birthplace of Dr. Albert Olin Singleton. Born in 1882, Singleton went on to become a pioneering professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He…

You're driving past the site of the First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster. It all started in 1856, when Reverend Michael Dickson and just nine members gathered in a small workshop to get this church off the ground. For…

You're driving past the First Baptist Church of Lancaster, but its story starts way back in the 1840s, with Baptists meeting in private homes. Then, on September 29th, 1867, fourteen people officially organized the…

You're cruising past the former home of W.A. Strain, built in the late 1890s. Strain's pioneer family had already owned this land since 1846. Noted Dallas architect James E. Flanders designed this frame Victorian house,…

You're driving past the Winniford House, a testament to Texas grit and good design. William Johnson Winniford arrived here in 1853, chasing opportunity after a stint in the California Gold Rush. He homesteaded 320…

You're driving through Duncanville, heading past the site of John C. Pelt's family home, built in 1927. Pelt was a carpenter and builder who constructed many local buildings, including what's now Central Elementary…

You're cruising past the Trippet-Shive House in Waxahachie, a beautiful example of late 19th-century architecture. Banker H.W. Trippet finished this home in 1896, right around the turn of the century. Later, Walter…

You're driving past the site of Rocky Crest School, a vital part of African American education in Lancaster. In 1868, this school opened its doors in a former Confederate pistol factory, serving 73 students. Imagine…

You're driving past Getzendaner Memorial Park, originally West End Park, established way back in 1889. For decades, it was the site of massive Chautauqua assemblies, drawing thousands for two weeks each summer. Imagine…

You're driving past the site of a cultural phenomenon that swept across America! Back in 1899, Waxahachie became a hub for Chautauqua assemblies, drawing huge crowds from all over. People would camp out for days,…

You're cruising through Waxahachie, and you might just pass a fairytale house! This French Eclectic home was built in 1939 for H.P. and Mollie McCartney. Noted Dallas architect Charles S. Dilbeck designed it, giving it…

You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church, a community cornerstone for over 150 years. It all started way back in 1861, with just twelve members meeting in the local…

Midlothian sits on a ridge of Cretaceous limestone called the Austin Chalk, and that white rock underground turned this town into what locals proudly call the Cement Capital of Texas. Three cement plants mine the local…

You're driving past the site of Pleasant Run, a town that nearly was! Madison Miller arrived here in 1846, a Texas Ranger who’d served with Bigfoot Wallace. He settled down, married, and opened a store in his home,…

You're driving past a truly unique home in Waxahachie, built back in 1890 and 1891. This isn't just any house; it's a fantastic example of Queen Anne Revival style, featuring two hexagonal rooms and two octagonal rooms!…

As you navigate the ramps and flyovers around Duncanville, you're driving on the single most important structure in the city's modern history. Duncanville began as a railroad stop, Duncan Switch, named for a line…

During World War II, the Army Air Corps established a landing field for flight training on property near the present-day intersection of Main St and Wheatland Road in Duncanville. This development marked a significant…

You're driving past the site of St. Paul Freewill Baptist Church in Lancaster. This congregation was organized in 1870, born from the community of freed Black Texans after the Civil War. Land was acquired in the late…

If you want the unglamorous, lived-in side of Duncanville, pull in at Judy's Cafe at 126 West Camp Wisdom Road. It opened in 1996 and has run as a plain home-cooking diner ever since, the kind of place where breakfast…

You're driving past the Williams-Erwin House in Waxahachie, a beautiful example of Victorian architecture. Built in 1893 for cotton merchant Edward Williams, this home showcases the wealth generated by the booming…

You're driving past Waxahachie, and right here is where a faith community planted its roots way back in 1849. Nine charter members, led by Reverend Falacius Reynolds, met in a settler's cabin to start a Methodist…