Red Oak, Texas

Everything Red Oak is known for

2 songs mention this city 1 artist from here

Music in Red Oak

Songs About Red Oak

the interstate 35 waltz
garret t. capps & justin boyd
10%
I’ve Been Everywhere...In Texas
Brian Burns
2%
"Red Oak"

Artists From Red Oak

C
Cherilyn Johnston
country Pop: 1

Rivers & Roads in Song near Red Oak

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Red Oak.

Interstate 45 7 songs Interstate 20 13 songs Trinity River 10 songs Chisholm Trail 7 songs Texas State Highway 199 8 songs Interstate 35 42 songs

Musical Heritage

The Indie Songwriter Who Grew Up in Red Oak RoadyGoat

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 Dallas, where she grew up. The pivotal moment was small and ordinary: her mother bought her a used acoustic guitar when she was around nine or ten years old. That secondhand guitar set her on a path through acoustic folk, indie pop, and even hip-hop collaborations, and her clear, aching voice would later draw national notice and a devoted following once she planted herself in nearby Denton's rich music community. It is a quietly powerful local note. The polished suburb rolling past your window is the place where one of the region's most distinctive songwriting voices first learned a few chords on a borrowed guitar. Not every Red Oak story is about cotton, railroads, or a bank robbery filmed downtown. Some of them are about a teenager and a guitar. (Source: Wikipedia.)

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History of Red Oak

When Hollywood Shot Bonnie and Clyde Right Here RoadyGoat

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 Waller and Methodist streets stood in for the gang's bank job, the scene that fuses slapstick getaway-parking comedy with sudden gunfire. The film's most aching moment was filmed here too: the dreamy, soft-focus family reunion, shot in an old sand quarry on the edge of town, where a death-haunted Bonnie says goodbye to her people. The best Red Oak footnote is in the casting. As locals gathered to watch the production, filmmakers spotted Mabel Cavitt, a Red Oak schoolteacher in the crowd, and put her in the picture as Bonnie Parker's mother. A working teacher from a Texas farm town ended up in one of the most celebrated American films of the 1960s, simply because she showed up to watch. (Source: movie-locations.com; Handbook of Texas.)

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The Town That Used to Be Called Possum Trot RoadyGoat

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 a spring-fed stream in what was then frontier Peters Colony country in northern Ellis County. The little community that grew up was first known as Possum Trot, a plainspoken nod to the opossums that filled the creek bottoms and timber. When Ellis County was organized in 1849, the settlement took a steadier name from the waterway running through it: Red Oak Creek, named in turn for the red oak trees crowding its banks. So the modern city of Red Oak carries a name that points all the way back to the trees and the water, even as Possum Trot lingers in the old stories as the name nobody could quite make stick. It is a reminder that before the data centers and subdivisions, this was creek-bottom timber where the wildlife outnumbered the settlers. (Source: Handbook of Texas; City of Red Oak.)

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The Patton Family and the Church That Came Before the County RoadyGoat

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 of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, two full years before Ellis County itself existed. Twenty charter members met under the early ministry tied to frontier preacher Finis Ewing King's denomination, and the present frame Shiloh sanctuary, raised in 1872, still carries a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark plaque. Just as telling is the Shiloh Cemetery nearby, where the earliest marked grave belongs to Mary C. Patton, wife of the elder James E. Patton, who died on August 14, 1851. Around her rest the Peters Colony pioneers who founded neighboring Ovilla in 1844. The Pattons did the things founding families do, breaking the first ground, raising the first church, and being the first to be buried, so when you see Patton names on the oldest stones here, you are reading the original roll call of the settlement. (Source: Texas Historical Commission markers; Handbook of Texas.)

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Higgins, Michael Francis

1927

Michael Francis (Pinky) Higgins, baseball player, was born on May 27, 1909, in Red Oak, Texas, to Michael Francis and Mattie (Orr) Higgins. He grew up in Red Oak, where he is said to have earned his nickname when, confined to bed because of illness, he showed up for a sandlot football game wearing his clothing over pink nightclothes. He entered the University of Texas in the spring of 1927 and there played halfback on the football team of 1928. He played on the Texas baseball team during the 1928, 1929, and 1930 seasons, during which time he was all-conference third baseman. He was captain of the University of Texas team that won the Southwest Conference championship in 1930. He left the university in June of 1930 and signed with the Philadelphia Athletics for what was then a monumental bonus, $5,000. In 1938 Higgins established an American League and major league record by tallying twelve consecutive hits. In the 1940 World Series, he set three fielding records in addition to posting a .333 batting average. His lifetime average was .292. Higgins played for the Philadelphia Athletics, the Boston Red Sox, and the Detroit Tigers and set four batting and fielding records. He retired from playing in 1946 and became a manager in the Boston farm system. He became the Boston Red Sox manager in 1955 and pulled the team to fourth place in the league, thirty games above their 1954 showing, a feat that earned him manager-of-the-year honors. He managed the team for five years and later returned for two more years on the field before moving into the front office for Boston. He later joined the Houston Astros as a scout. He was elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1965. He died on March 21, 1969, in Dallas, having served thirty-nine years in major league baseball as a player, manager, and scout. He was survived by his wife, Hazel, whom he had married in 1935. They had three children. Higgins was buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Dallas.

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Parsons' Cavalry C.S.A.

1861

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 War veteran, colorful duelist, editor, merchant, and lawyer. In a confederate brigade, this unit was joined with 12th, 19th, and 21st Texas Cavalry regiments, Morgan's Battalion and Pratt's Battery, to scout and fight in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Indian Territory. It was famous for attacks on federal ironclad ships, Red River campaign, 1864.

Historical Marker →

Ovilla, TX

1844

Ovilla, on upper Red Oak Creek in northern Ellis County, is the oldest town in the county. It began in 1844 as a fortified settlement and grew as settlers arrived in the area to attend brush arbor meetings of the Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which was started by Rev. Finis E. King in 1847. The church met in a brush arbor until 1853, when a log cabin, which served as both church and schoolhouse, was built. A frame church building was finished in 1872; in 1984 about 190 members still met in the structure, which had been enlarged and remodeled. The church was instrumental in moving Trinity University to Waxahachie in 1902 and in establishing a girls' school in the nearby town of Milford. Although Ovilla was a thriving farming community by the 1850s, it remained unnamed. Mrs. M. M. Molloy, wife of Rev. D. G. Molloy, formed the name from the Spanish word villa . Ovilla continued to grow and by the early 1900s had a post office, a bank, a cotton gin, a pharmacy, a blacksmith shop, and several dry-goods stores. Its post office closed in 1906. Fires in 1918 and 1926 destroyed most of the downtown buildings, and this destruction, together with the fact that Ovilla was bypassed by railroads and major highways, led to a decline in growth. As Dallas grew, however, and people started moving from the city to the suburbs, Ovilla once again began to grow. To escape annexation by DeSoto or any other neighboring city, the town of Ovilla was incorporated in 1963. In the first census after incorporation its population was 339; by 1980 it had risen to 1,067. Its 1984 population was estimated to be nearly 1,300. In 1990 it was 2,027 and the community had extended into Dallas County. The population reached 3,405 by 2000.

Tsha Handbook → · 4.9 mi away

Red Oak, TX

1844

Red Oak is on Interstate Highway 35 twenty miles south of Dallas in northern Ellis County. In 1844 James E. Patton and his family settled on Red Oak Creek a few miles southeast of Billingsley Fort, at the site of present Ovilla. The first post office came to the area in 1847 from Mitchell's Branch, two miles from the site of future Red Oak. The settlement was originally called Possum Trot because of the abundance of possums in the area. It was renamed Red Oak after Ellis County was formed in 1849 for the creek. Before the Civil War the principal crop of the local farmers was wheat. In the 1860s an increase in cotton production occurred because more slaves came to the area from other southern states. Cotton was still produced in 1988, although farming was not central to the local economy. James E. Patton also founded the first church in the area, the Shiloh congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, on July 25, 1847. Other churches, including the Baptist and the Methodist, were founded at cemeteries. In 1884 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad reached Red Oak. The townspeople did not want the trains to disturb the tranquility of the community, so the tracks passed by a mile northwest. The line was finally finished in 1890, connecting Red Oak with Dallas and Waco. The town eventually moved out and centered along the railroad. Fires in 1909 and 1919 caused extensive damage first to the southern and later to the northern part of town. Red Oak was incorporated in 1949. The population was 350 in 1950 and 1,882 in 1980. In 1967 Red Oak was used as the site for three days of filming for the motion picture Bonnie and Clyde . A local woman, Mrs. Mabel Cavitt, made a brief appearance as Bonnie Parker's mother. In 1987 Red Oak had an estimated 2,425 residents, most of whom were commuters to Dallas or Fort Worth. In 1990 the population was 3,124. The population grew to 4,301 in 2000.

Tsha Handbook →

Fry - Butcher House

1882

Sam and Sarah Jane "Jennie" Fry purchased 150 arces here in 1882. Aided by noted local carpenter Lewis Butcher, the Frys built this farmhouse in 1883. The house is an excellent local example of the Queen Anne architectural style and features a gable roof, turned-wood porch posts, and jig-sawn brackets and porch friezes. The property eventually passed to George A. Butcher, Jennie's son from a previous marriage, and remained in the family until 1986.

Historical Marker →

Bells' Chapel Cemetery

1875

Founded 1875. Site for church cemetery was given on Dec. 27, 1875, by local landowners John and Elizabeth Gibbons. This tract and some later purchases were deeded to the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Church and cemetery were named in honor of confederate war veteran Jodie M. Bell, a church and civic leader in Rockett Community, and first person to be buried here, 1877. Red Oak Masonic Lodge No. 461, chartered in 1876, helped build 2-story chapel and meeting hall. The lodge moved to Red Oak in 1894.

Historical Marker →

Things to Do in Red Oak

historical 18.1 mi away
Dealey Plaza

On November 22 1963 President John F Kennedy rode through Dealey Plaza in an open Lincoln convertible and was shot from the sixth floor window of the Texas…
historical 18.1 mi away
The Sixth Floor Museum

Where Lee Harvey Oswald fired from. The JFK assassination site at Dealey Plaza.
quirky 18.3 mi away
Big Tex at the State Fair

A fifty-five-foot cowboy named Big Tex has welcomed visitors to the State Fair of Texas in Fair Park Dallas every fall since 1952. He booms howdy folks over a…
food 18.4 mi away
Pecan Lodge

Dallas' best BBQ. The beef rib alone is worth the drive.
spooky 21.1 mi away
Lady of White Rock Lake

Since the 1930s drivers along White Rock Lake report picking up a soaking-wet woman in a white dress. She asks for a ride home then vanishes leaving the seat…

Everything Near Red Oak

1305 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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