Rhome, Texas

Before Rhome was Rhome, it was Prairie Point, a stagecoach crossroads settled by Missourians in the late 1850s and laid out by Samuel Sheets in 1858. By the early 1860s it was the second-largest place in Wise County,…

Georgia native George Lawton Bledsoe (b. 1805), a carpenter and cotton gin builder, came to Texas in 1834. A veteran of the Texas Revolution and the Battle of San Jacinto, he received a pension for his military service…

The real reason Aurora faded has nothing to do with spacemen. Two ordinary disasters did it. First, around 1888, a spotted-fever epidemic, now thought to have been a form of meningitis, swept the town, and so many…

In April 1897, the Dallas Morning News ran an astonishing story out of Aurora. A local writer reported that a mystery airship had sailed over town at dawn, clipped a judge's windmill, and exploded in his yard. The…

Long before the airship story, Aurora got its name from something hopeful. Settlers arrived in the late 1850s, and the man credited with naming the place chose Aurora, after the Roman goddess of the dawn, by one account…

You're driving past the site of Rhome's First National Bank. It all started in 1904, not as a national bank, but as a private venture by prominent businessman Dan Waggoner, who also ran a bank in nearby Decatur. His…

You're driving past Rhome, where the United Methodist Church was organized in the 1880s. Early services were held in a schoolhouse, under brush arbors, and in a tent before their first building was finished in 1903. The…

We have said clearly that this town is named for a rancher and not for Rome, Italy. But here is a genuine little twist that ties the two together in a way you would never guess. The Hereford cattle that made Byron Rhome…

The man this town is named for did not just raise cattle. He raised champions. Colonel Byron Rhome was known across the Southwest as the finest breeder of purebred Hereford cattle, the sturdy red animals with the clean…

Say the name out loud and your ear plays a little trick on you. Rhome. It sounds exactly like Rome, the ancient capital of Italy, home of emperors and gladiators. So let me clear this up right now, because it is a fair…

Rhome was actually named for Colonel Byron Rhome, a local rancher remembered for bringing the first Hereford cattle to Wise County, so the resemblance to ancient Rome is pure coincidence, right down to the extra letter.…

Here is the honest story of how this town got its name, and it has nothing to do with any city across an ocean. You are rolling through Rhome, Texas, spelled with an H, and it is named for a man: Colonel Byron Crandall…

Your ear heard Rome, but the truth is closer to home: this town was named in eighteen eighty-three for Colonel Byron Crandall Rhome, a Wise County rancher, and the echo of the ancient city is pure coincidence. Still,…

Those white-faced red cattle that made Byron Rhome famous did not start in Texas. They came from a green county in western England called Herefordshire, right on the border with Wales. And here is how a breed like that…

You're driving through Aurora, and just off the road is the Teague Cemetery. It's named for John Teague, who came here from Missouri in 1858 with his family. He fought in the War with Mexico and served on the frontier…

You're driving through what used to be Deep Creek, settled around 1854 by folks like Sam Woody and Tom McCarroll. They farmed cotton and corn, raised cattle, and built a church that also served as a schoolhouse. But…

The road you're likely driving on, Farm to Market 407, is a perfect piece of engineering history. The 'FM' road system was a massive Texas infrastructure project started in the 1940s with a simple goal: get agricultural…

As you drive along Farm to Market Road 407, look at the street sign — along part of its length this road is Illinois Lane, and that is the oldest thing here. New Fairview grew out of a settlement called Illinois…

The city was originally called Fairview, but in 1999, the name was changed to New Fairview to distinguish it from several other cities named Fairview in Texas. This change was made to give the city a unique identity and…

One of the oddest things about New Fairview is that it lives a double life. The city sits in Wise County, but a slice of it reaches across into Denton County, and that line has real consequences for the people who live…

You're driving past the Thurmond-Fairview Cemetery. This burial ground began in 1883 when J. F. Thurmond asked neighbors to select a spot for a graveyard after his infant daughter died. He donated land for the church,…

You're driving through Decatur, and just ahead is the site of Sam Woody's Cabin. Woody, a pioneer from Tennessee, brought his family to Wise County in 1854 and built this cabin near Deep Creek. It was the very first…

Boyd sits right in a bend of the West Fork of the Trinity River, and that bend explains a lot about the town. When a river rounds a curve, the water on the inside of the bend slows down and drops the silt it is…

Boyd worked through two other names before it settled on this one. Farmers settled in the early 1890s in a curve of the West Fork of the Trinity, in rich bottomland where hogs were turned loose to fatten, so the place…

Of all the places for a movie legend to settle down, the actor who played Chewbacca in the Star Wars films chose a quiet ranch in Boyd. Peter Mayhew, the seven-foot-two Englishman behind the famous furry character,…

Southeast of Boyd, along a rural road in Wise County, there is a memorial rebuilt in bright pink. It stands where the search for seven-year-old Athena Strand ended. Athena disappeared from outside her father's home near…

Between Boyd and Decatur, half a mile down a dirt lane off County Road forty-two twenty-seven, the Deep Creek Cemetery holds a headstone with a whole frontier story cut into it. It belongs to Sallie Bowman. Her father…

For its first half-century Boyd was a cotton-and-livestock town, but after the 1940s the farms here turned to a sweeter crop and the area became known as melon country. Those farm roots still flavor the place. For a…

Boyd is on State Highway 114 seven miles south of Decatur in southern Wise County. In the early 1890s farmers settled at the site, in the curve of the North Fork of the Trinity River. The community was originally…

Boyd High School baseball has won two state championships at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock. On June tenth, two thousand twenty three, the Yellowjackets beat Wall six to four there for the first state baseball…

You're driving past Boyd, Texas, and if you look closely, you might imagine a whole town on the move! This building, originally constructed in 1877, was the heart of Old Aurora, just two miles east of here. The ground…

You're driving through Newark, a town with a name that might sound familiar, but its origins here in Wise County are anything but ordinary. It started in the mid-1850s, first known as Caddo Village, then Odessa. Later,…

Boyd High School (Boyd, TX — Wise County, northwest of Fort Worth) won the 2026 UIL Class 3A Division I state baseball championship, beating London (Corpus Christi) 9-8 in the final.

Boyd, TX placed on the Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF HITS leaderboard for the 2026 postseason: Keelan Clary (16 hits, #15 in TX).

Boyd, TX placed on the 2026 Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF leaderboards (H=hits, HR=home runs, RBI, R=runs, SB=steals, K=strikeouts, H/IP=hits per inning): Will McIntire — 47 K (#3), .440 H/IP (#12); Lane Beacham —…

Settlement in what is now Newark began in the mid-1850s, with the area known as Caddo Village due to remnants of the Caddo Indian culture along the West Fork of the Trinity River. The town's fortunes changed with the…

You're driving past the site of the Anneville School. This community, likely named for early settler Annie Davis, got its start when land was donated in 1883 for a school, church, and cemetery. The original school…

The existence of Boyd is a story of farming and railroad politics. Farmers settled here in the early 1890s, in a curve of the Trinity's North Fork, and called the place Greasy Bend -- the bottomland was used to fatten…

This town is where an NFL gunslinger got his start. Billy Joe Tolliver grew up right here, and his athletic talent was obvious early on at Boyd High School. He went on to become a record-setting quarterback for Texas…

In 2011, the new Boyd High School was completed, which is three times the size of the former high school building. This expansion was necessary to accommodate the growing population of the town.

You're driving through Newark, Wise County, and right here is the site of the very first post office in the county, established way back on September 8th, 1855. The first postmaster was Benjamin B. Haney, who was also…

You're driving through Pleasant Grove, home to one of three communities with that name in Wise County. This spot has been a center of life since the late 1870s, when the earliest graves were marked here. In 1879, a…

Nestled in Parker, Tarrant, and Wise counties, Briar is a picturesque community near the west side of Eagle Mountain Lake. The area spans 21.9 square miles, with 20.5 square miles of land and 1.5 square miles of water,…

You're driving through Fort Worth, and just a little ways from here, a story from the Texas frontier unfolds. It's September of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1865</say-as>. Tensions are high between settlers…

You're driving past the Keeter Cemetery, serving this community for over a hundred years, starting in 1882. The oldest grave is Ida Mae Ryan, who lived from 1881 to 1882. Albert Lafayette Keeter, the namesake of the…

You're driving past the Decatur area, the former stomping grounds of Texas Ranger Captain Ira Long. Born in Indiana and wounded twice fighting for the Confederacy, Long joined the Texas Rangers in 1874. He quickly rose…

You're driving through Sand Hill, a place that was the heart of pioneer culture in North Texas. Folks gathered here at a good spring, right near the hill that gave this community its name. Back in 1854, the first…

You're driving past the historic New Hope Cemetery and Church. Back in 1875, pioneer settler Joseph Wren donated five acres right here for a community cemetery. That same year, the New Hope Baptist Church moved to this…

You're driving past Trimble Cemetery, the main burial ground for the tiny community of Flatwood, also known as Davis City, in the late 1800s. Named for James W. Trimble, who bought land here in 1877, it was formally…

John Townes Van Zandt (1944–1997) — the Fort Worth-born songwriter behind 'Pancho and Lefty' and 'To Live Is to Fly' — is buried in the Van Zandt family plot at Dido Cemetery, northwest of Fort Worth. The Van Zandts…

Dido, sixteen miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern shore of Eagle Mountain Lake, is a true ghost town: founded in 1848 and named for the mythological queen of Carthage, it thrived with a post office and stores…

Dido was one of the first communities in Tarrant County: by 1848, settlers homesteaded this part of the Peters Colony along the stage route from Fort Worth to Decatur. The Dido School organized in 1854, with A.C.…

You're driving through Avondale, near where the Dido community first took root. Settlers homesteaded here in 1848, along a stage route from Fort Worth to Decatur. By 1854, they'd organized Dido School, with a teacher…

You're driving past the Dido Cemetery, a final resting place for many of Tarrant County's earliest settlers. The oldest marked grave here belongs to Amanda Thurmond, who died way back in 1879. Her grandfather, Dave…

The big water just east of town wasn't always here, and making it cost a few small communities their existence. Construction of the dam on the West Fork of the Trinity River began on January 23, 1930, finished on…

For decades Azle was just another quiet crossroads where not much happened and nobody was in a hurry. Then in 1932 they started building a dam on the West Fork…

May the 4th be with you — and with the Wookiee. Peter Mayhew the seven-foot-three British actor who brought Chewbacca to life in every Star Wars film from 1977…

You're driving past the Nelson Cemetery, originally donated by Hugh Nelson in the mid-1800s. The earliest dated stone marks his infant son, Hugh, who died in 1864. Many children's graves here date from a dysentery…

The seven-foot-three British actor who played Chewbacca in every Star Wars film from 1977 to The Force Awakens is buried right here at Azleland Memorial Park.…

You're driving past the site of the New Salem Freewill Baptist Church, organized in April 1893 by Reverend Josephus Wesley Ford and other families. Reverend Ford pastored here until his death in July 1898, and the…

The land you're passing near looks like it belongs to a televangelist — because it does. That sprawling campus on the east side of Eagle Mountain Lake is Kenneth Copeland Ministries. But before Copeland bought it in…

You're driving through North Texas, not far from Justin, where a French revolutionary named Adolphe Gouhenant tried to start a utopian community. He was a follower of Étienne Cabet, a French communist, and in 1848,…

You're driving through Denton County, just northwest of Grapevine Lake, and you're passing through a place that started as a dream from across the ocean. Back in 1848, a group of French colonists arrived, establishing…

Before Reno was a city, it was Parker's Shop, a scattering of farms gathered around a log cabin that served as both church and school. The settlement grew up along Walnut Creek, and Walnut Creek Baptist Church was…

Reno's most colorful documented resident may be a barber named E.R. Bird Harris. In 1995, Harris was ninety-one years old and held what was reported to be the oldest barber's license still in active use anywhere in…

The earthquakes beneath Reno did not require the ground to be torn apart. Changing the pressure of water inside ancient rock was enough to loosen faults that had stayed quiet for millions of years. Reno sits in the Fort…

A Reno post office opened back in 1884, but the place stayed tiny for most of the next century, a farm community held together by its church, its school, and a few small businesses. Reno did not formally incorporate as…

Here is a problem you do not think about until it bites you: Texas has two incorporated cities legally named Reno. One is this one, in Parker and Tarrant counties. The other sits clear across the state in Lamar County,…

In the spring of two thousand twenty five, the little city of Reno put its own existence on the ballot. The question went back to two thousand twenty two, when former Mayor Eric Hunter led a petition drive to dissolve…

Reno has spent the last few decades transforming from a sleepy farming settlement into one of the faster-growing corners of Parker County. The population, just a few hundred into the 1960s, passed 2,800 by the 2020…

Tarrant County lies within the Cross Timbers, a region defined by its mix of prairie grasses and woodlands. This transitional zone features rolling hills and diverse vegetation, a contrast to the flatter plains further…

You're driving past the site of Walnut Creek Baptist Church, a congregation that's been serving this community for generations. It all started way back in 1867, with worship services held in a simple log cabin. By the…

Just next door to Justin is a landmark you absolutely cannot miss: the colossal Texas Motor Speedway. When it opened for its first season of racing in 1997, it permanently changed this corner of Denton County. Before…

Starting in November 2013, people around Reno and nearby Azle felt something North Texas almost never feels: earthquakes. This part of the state had recorded very little felt seismic activity in its history, so a sudden…

Texas Motor Speedway, a few miles east of Justin, is a piece of civil engineering built for one thing: extreme speed. The track is a mile-and-a-half quad-oval, and the most critical feature is the banking in the turns.…

Here's a piece of Texas confusion that turned into an identity. The town of Justin is not named for Justin Boots - it's named for Justin Sherman, a chief engineer with the Santa Fe, back when the community applied for a…

The city's name, Justin, is not related to the Justin Boot Company as commonly believed. Instead, it was named in honor of Justin Sherman, a chief engineer with the Santa Fe Railroad. In January 1887, the community…

You're driving near Decatur, and you're passing the site of the old Wise County Poor Farm. From 1885 to 1962, this 320-acre farm was home to dependent citizens and county convicts who worked out their fines. The first…

The rolling hills of Wise County, part of the Cross Timbers region, offered early settlers a mix of prairie and woodland, ideal for ranching and farming. Unlike the flatter plains to the west, the varied terrain…

A few miles southwest of Reno, a small cemetery is the last clear physical reminder of a community that no longer exists, a place once called Sabathany. James and Margaret Clark settled there in 1865 and took in an…

East of here, under the water of Eagle Mountain Lake, is the site of a frontier raid. In April of eighteen sixty-seven, about sixty Kiowa riders, led by the chiefs Satank and Satanta, struck the home of William Hamleton…

You're driving through Azle, but just a few miles east, under the waters of Eagle Mountain Reservoir, lies the site of a dramatic Kiowa raid. It was April 1867. Led by Chiefs Satank and Satanta, about sixty Kiowa…

You're driving through Decatur, and you might just be passing the site of one of Texas's oldest public events! It started as informal gatherings for Confederate veterans in the 1860s and 70s. By 1881, it grew into a…

The young man who briefly became the fastest under-18 half-miler on Earth runs his home laps right here at Northwest High School in Justin. In the summer of 2025, Cooper Lutkenhaus, then a 16-year-old rising junior,…

If you hear a deafening roar overhead out here on Eagle Mountain Lake, don't be alarmed. You're hearing what locals call the sound of freedom. Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth sits a dozen-odd miles…

The very ground Pelican Bay is built on owes its existence to a monumental feat of 1930s engineering: the Eagle Mountain Dam. Before this, you would have been in the valley of the West Fork of the Trinity River. To…

Long before Cooper Lutkenhaus was rewriting record books at Northwest High School, another future pro was throwing on these same fields: Dustin May, born in 1997 and a Northwest High graduate right here in Justin. May…

In 1970 a man named Olen Yandell looked at his struggling dairy farm on the shore of Eagle Mountain Lake — the Circle-Y, a hundred and fifty head of cattle grazing the ground you're driving over — and saw something else…

Founded by Olen Yandell on his struggling dairy farm in 1970, Pelican Bay incorporated in 1981. Yandell had aspirations to create a new Sausalito, California, but Pelican Bay remains a modest enclave today.

You're driving past Perrin Log Cabin. William Perrin and his wife, Charlotte, along with two other families, left Rock Castle, Kentucky in the fall of 1853, arriving forty days later in the Peters Colony near Dallas.…

You're driving through Ponder, and right here is Eakins Cemetery. It began around 1855 on land owned by Noah and Susan Eakins, who settled here from Kentucky. The first burial was Angelina Rayburn, who died tragically…

Pelican Bay feels like a place that's been here forever, but it only became an official city in 1981. It started in 1970, when Olen Yandell began selling lots off his dairy farm on the Eagle Mountain Lake shoreline.…

The handsome old building at 116 North Jackson Avenue has worn three lives. It began in 1905 as Pennington College, a private preparatory school and high-school equivalent that Justin's citizens, led by Dr. Thomas…

You're driving past the site of Decatur's First Baptist Church. Organized in 1856, it first met in a log cabin. The church has a long history of community involvement, including working with Northwest Texas Baptist…

You're driving through Decatur, and right here is a spot with a claim to fame in higher education. In 1898, Decatur Baptist College was planned as the world's very first institution designed from the ground up as a…

Almost everyone assumes this town is the home of Justin Boots, but the name has nothing to do with cowboy footwear. When residents petitioned for a post office in 1887, they named the place for Walter Justin Sherman,…

In 1848, a group of 70 French utopian socialists led by Étienne Cabet arrived in what is now Justin, aiming to establish an Icarian community. Despite their best efforts, the experiment ultimately failed. Over a century…

You're driving past Decatur, and you might be looking for a ghost of the Old West. This area, and much of Texas, was a hideout for some of America's most notorious outlaws. Think Jesse and Frank James, Cole Younger, and…

Justin existed as a loose farm settlement before the rails arrived, but it was the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railroad that turned it into a real town. The first train rolled through in 1886, and the line between Fort…

You can read the founding families of Justin straight off its street signs. Streets named Harmonson, Jackson, Hardeman, and Allen honor the pioneer clans who settled this prairie in the 1840s, generations before the…

On May 15, 1896, the young town of Justin nearly ceased to exist. A tornado, called a cyclone in the language of the day, tore straight through the settlement, flattening most of the business district and wrecking many…

Here is an oddity you would never guess about a quiet farm town: for much of the late 20th century, Justin made its living off railroad wrecks and overflow. After the depot stopped being the commercial heart of town,…

Out near Justin sits a piece of equipment that has been quietly watching every thunderstorm roll across North Texas since January 25, 1995: WFAA Channel 8's 750-kilowatt Doppler weather radar. It is a serious science…

Before interstate highways and fancy hotels, there were tourist camps like this one! They offered a safe and affordable place for early automobile travelers to rest. The Texas Tourist Camp in Decatur, Texas, was built…

You're driving through Justin, a town named for a railroad engineer, but its story starts much earlier. This land was once home to Native American tribes. Then, in 1841, a pioneer named John B. Denton was killed in…

You're driving past Decatur, where Dr. William Renshaw became the very first doctor to permanently settle in Wise County. Born in Illinois and practicing in Tennessee, he first came to Texas in 1853 to claim a land…

If you want to eat right in the historic heart of Justin, pull up to Outlaw Burgers and BBQ at 111 West 4th Street. The address matters: Fourth Street is the original Main Street of Justin's Old Town, the strip platted…

You're driving through Wise County, Texas, and right here is the town of Decatur, the county seat that owes its very existence to one man: Absalom Bishop. Bishop arrived in Texas in 1852, but it was in 1855 that he…

You're driving through Wise County, Texas, where Daniel Waggoner carved out a massive ranching empire. In the 1850s, this was a dangerous frontier, prone to Indian raids and cattle thieves. Waggoner, who moved here from…

You're driving through Decatur, Texas, the hometown of Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Jr. He was born here in 1899 and headed to Hollywood in 1919, drawn by the new motion picture business. His good looks and horsemanship…

You're driving through Wise County, a place that was once a vital frontier outpost. Established in 1856, this region was home to Wichita and Delaware Indians before settlers arrived. But life here wasn't always…

You're driving through Decatur, the county seat of Wise County. This town was established in 1856, originally named Taylorsville. But just two years later, in 1858, a state legislator changed the name to Decatur to…

You're driving through Wise County, and right here is where Decatur Baptist College got its start back in 1891. It was founded by the Northwest Texas Baptist Association, who chose Decatur for its central location and…

You're driving through Decatur, Texas, a town that owes much of its early financial success to a man named John J. Lang. After fighting in the Civil War, losing an eye at the Battle of Seven Pines, and even trying his…

You're driving through Wise County, Texas, right near Decatur. Back in 1854, a man named George Bibb Pickett was drawn to this area by the promise of wide-open pastureland. He settled here, building his life and raising…

You're driving through Wise County, perhaps near Decatur, where Charles Vernon Terrell got his start. Born in a log cabin in 1861, Terrell's life was a testament to Texas grit. He worked as a store clerk, drove ox…

You're driving through North Texas, not far from Decatur. Right here, you're passing through the heart of land once shaped by Guinn Terrell Williams. He wasn't just a local banker and rancher; Williams rose to represent…

You're driving past the old Texas Tourist Camp Complex, a relic from the early days of road trips. Businessman E. F. Boydston bought this spot in 1927, turning a feed lot into a gas station and cabins for travelers. By…

You're driving through what was northeastern Wise County, near where John James Terrell was born on January 28, 1857. He grew up in Decatur after his family moved there for protection from intensified Indian conflicts.…

You're driving through Wise County, not far from Decatur, the hometown of Henry Grady Woodruff. He wasn't just any lawyer; Woodruff served in the Texas Legislature for over a decade. He started in the House of…

You're driving through Decatur, and look to your left for the Episcopal Mission of the Ascension. This little church, consecrated by Bishop A. C. Garrett, was built way back in 1889, facing Main Street. It earned the…

The throwing rings at Azle High School launched a genuine Olympian. Shelbi Vaughan, born August 24, 1994, grew up here and competed for the Azle Hornets, where in 2010 she won the Texas Class 4A state discus title with…

Wise County, nestled in the rolling terrain of the North Texas Cross Timbers, finds its identity rooted in agriculture and community. This land, characterized by its mix of woodlands and prairie, proved ideal for…

You're driving past the site of the old Jay Bird Union School, Church, and Cemetery. This route, Jay Bird Lane, has been used since the 1860s. In 1883, local landowners donated land for a school building that also…

Standing in the heart of Texas, it's hard to imagine a time when this area was a hotbed of anti-Confederate suspicion. But few Wise County settlers owned slaves, and when the Civil War came, opinion here was badly split…

As you drive around Decatur, you're passing over the heart of a technological revolution that changed the global energy map. Deep beneath you lies the Barnett Shale, a layer of rock containing vast amounts of natural…

Paradise is a rural town in Wise County, near Fort Worth. On November thirtieth, two thousand twenty two, seven-year-old Athena Strand disappeared from outside her father's home there. A contract delivery driver for…

You can't miss the building that dominates downtown Decatur. The Wise County Courthouse, with its towering clock tower and distinctive pink granite, is the heart of the city. But it's actually the fourth courthouse to…

Picture the town square you see today in the late 1860s, with the eastern fork of the Chisholm Trail running just past the edge of town. From the late 1860s to the 1880s, Decatur lived off that trail. Drovers pushing…

Imagine this spot in 1893. Paradise had been here for twenty years already -- Bill Anderson's general store, a post office since 1876, a place folks first called Eldorado and then Paradise Prairie for the wildflowers.…

The Paradise you see today was fundamentally re-drawn by a 19th-century engineering project: the railroad. This was not open country before it came -- there had been a store here since the early 1870s and a post office…

A notable event in Cottondale's history is the burial of the infamous American gangster Machine Gun Kelly in the Cottondale Cemetery. He passed away of a heart attack at Leavenworth Prison on July 17, 1954, in…

The town was originally named Taylorsville in honor of Zachary Taylor. However, Absalom Bishop, an early settler and member of the Texas Legislature, opposed naming the town after a Whig Party member. In 1858, he…

Imagine a time of cattle barons and sprawling Texas ranches – that's the world surrounding the Waggoner Mansion. Built in 1883 by the prominent Waggoner family, this sixteen-room mansion, also known as El Castile, was a…

You're driving through Wise County, where a ghost of a railroad runs alongside you. The Dallas, Pacific & Southeastern Railway was planned way back in 1889 to connect Dallas all the way to Albuquerque. They graded a…

You're driving past Decatur, and right here is the Old Stone Prison. Built around 1859 using prison labor, this wasn't just a jail – the main part was the sheriff's home! The basement served as the jail cells, with…

You're driving past the S. W. Tilghman House in Decatur. Born in Tennessee, Tilghman arrived in Wise County in 1870. He married a local woman, Eliza Miller, and they had four children. Tilghman was a master builder, and…

You're driving through Haslet, a town born from the railroad. In 1883, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway pushed its tracks through this part of Tarrant County. A community soon followed, named for the hometown of…

You're driving past the site of Decatur's oldest congregation, organized way back in 1862. Services started in a vacant store, and early members even used their home and pump organ for worship. The first sanctuary was…

In the midst of the Civil War, Decatur, Texas, witnessed a dark chapter in its history. In October 1862, Unionist sympathizers were arrested by Confederate troops and taken to Gainesville for trial on charges of treason…

You're driving past Decatur, and you might have just passed a legend. Randolph Vesey wasn't just a respected homeowner; he was a champion pioneer fiddler whose music filled the air at frontier forts across this county.…

You're driving through Decatur, the county seat of Wise County, a town that owes a lot to Colonel Absalom Bishop. Bishop, a veteran of the Seminole War, arrived in Texas in 1852 and settled here in 1855. He was…

You're driving through Wise County, the birthplace of Charles Vernon Terrell. He started as a lawyer here in 1886, then served in the Texas Senate, even sponsoring the act that created North Texas State University. But…

A leading public man in Texas, 1896-1939. Born in Wise County to early (1854) settlers. After two years at Texas A & M, read law and began practice in 1886. Served 1888-92 as Decatur City attorney; 1892-96 as county…

You're driving through Decatur, the heart of Wise County, a place that saw some serious action during the Civil War. <break time="400ms"/> Even though the county voted against secession, its men were eager to fight,…

You're driving through Wise County, where Captain George Stevens carved out a life on the Texas frontier. Born in Alabama in 1830, Stevens moved here in 1855 and quickly became a leader in defending settlers from Native…

You're driving through Decatur, and right here is the birthplace of a Texas newspaper that's seen it all. The Wise County Messenger started in 1880, bouncing between Paradise and Alvord before settling in Decatur in…

Just northeast of Azle sits Eagle Mountain Lake, and the way it was built is a quietly clever piece of engineering. The dam went up on the West Fork of the Trinity River in the early 1930s, and rather than spanning the…

You're driving through Decatur, and to your right, you might have passed the site of East Side Elementary School. In 1882, Decatur's African American community, concentrated east of the railroad tracks, established this…

You're driving past the site of Decatur's First National Bank, a financial pillar for over a century. Organized in 1883 by local businessmen, it was led for decades by W. T. Waggoner, a Texas legend in cattle and oil.…

You're driving past the last remnants of a historic hedge, right here near Decatur. These aren't just any trees; these are bois d'arc, planted back in 1861. They formed a natural, spiny fortress around the log cabin of…

You're driving through Decatur, passing the site of St. John Missionary Baptist Church. Organized in the spring of 1882 by a group of women led by Missouri Brown, this church has served the community for over a century.…

You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in what is now Wise County, you might be passing near Paradise. That's where Mansell Walter Matthews, a preacher, doctor, and legislator, spent the last years of his…

Cottondale sits nestled in the rolling hills of Wise County, where the Eastern Cross Timbers transitions into prairie. This North Texas region is characterized by its mix of post oak and blackjack oak forests,…

You're driving past the First Christian Church of Paradise. Members held services in 'Old Town' in the late 1800s, but moved here when the railroad arrived. Merchant M. D. Cansler, school superintendent S. L. Atkins,…

You're driving past Preskitt Cemetery, established in 1886 on land originally deeded for the Lee School Community. The earliest marked grave is for infant Pearl Hobbs, who died in June 1890. The cemetery is the final…

You are driving through the heart of one of the most ambitious development projects in American history. In the late 1980s, this entire area north of Fort Worth was mostly open ranch land. Then, a group of visionaries,…

Look around at the rivers of trucks and the endless stacks of shipping containers. You're witnessing a marvel of modern engineering and logistics: the intermodal facility. The BNSF terminal here in Haslet is a city unto…

Somewhere in Row 11 of the Cottondale Cemetery, under a small headstone that reads George B. Kelley, 1954, lies George Machine Gun Kelly, one of the most notorious gangsters of the Prohibition era. The misspelled name…

You're driving past "Machine Gun" Kelley. During the Prohibition Era, organized crime increased. Big-name gangsters like Al Capone ruled the streets while public enemies such as Bonnie and Clyde swept across the…

Paradise put 6 players on the statewide leaderboards of the 2026 Texas high school baseball playoffs. Camden Walker had 20 stolen bases (1st in the state), 18 hits (6th in the state), and 17 runs (4th in the state).…

The history of Haslet, Texas, began around 1880 when the area was first settled. However, it wasn't until 1883 that a distinct community likely formed, following the extension of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway…

Paradise, TX placed on the Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF HITS leaderboard for the 2026 postseason: Carter Mara (19 hits, #3 in TX); Camden Walker (18 hits, #6 in TX); Madden Taylor (17 hits, #8 in TX); Cash Watson…

You're driving past Cottondale. Area's oldest settlement. Platted by landowner B. F. Banks, who also gave lots for public use named, 1875, for lush growth of cotton planted by John Bridges, blacksmith, to finance a trip…

In the summer of nineteen thirty-three, a five-hundred-acre farm outside Paradise, Texas, became the center of one of the most famous kidnapping cases in American history. On July twenty-second, George Machine Gun Kelly…

Reno does not have a documented century-old restaurant, but it does have a solid present-day favorite in Pop Pop Burgers, a family-run roadside spot out on Highway 199. The menu is exactly what you want from a Texas…

You're driving past the site of Old Town Paradise, a community that literally moved! Settled in 1858 and initially called Eldorado, this town grew around a central square and a community well. It even got a post office…

You're driving through Decatur, folks, and right here is where a legendary piece of American history blazed a trail. Imagine, if you can, semi-weekly stagecoach service connecting St. Louis all the way to San Francisco!…

There are two places in Texas called La Junta. This one is a quiet Parker County crossroads. The other one has a far older story. Way out west, where the Rio Conchos meets the Rio Grande at Presidio and Ojinaga, lies La…

You're driving through Paradise, Texas, and you're passing the site of a man who saw some of the most pivotal moments in Texas history. Dr. M. W. Matthews was a pioneer physician and preacher, but he also served as an…

You're driving through Wise County, passing the spot where George Lafayette Ramsdale lived out his days. Born in England in 1820, Ramsdale came to Texas as a teenager, enlisting in the army by 1836 to fight for Texas…

Out by the eighteenth green at Cross Timbers Golf Course, a state marker remembers one of the most unlikely lives in Texas. John Jeremiah Smith was born in Pennsylvania in eighteen twenty six, and as a young man he…

For a stretch of weeks late in 2013, the ground under Azle would not hold still. Starting in early November, residents felt the floor jolt, dishes rattle, and pictures tilt as a swarm of small earthquakes rolled through…

When Azle started shaking in 2013, scientists turned the town into a natural laboratory for induced seismicity, earthquakes triggered by human activity. A team led by Southern Methodist University geophysicists Matthew…

In early November nineteen fifty two, police dug into the woods near Azle and pulled up a one gallon thermos jug, sealed with paraffin wax. Inside was one hundred twenty eight thousand dollars. That money had a wild…

On the western edge of town lies the oldest piece of organized Azle there is. In 1871 two early settlers, town namesake Dr. James Azle Steward and John Giles Reynolds, each donated an acre of land to create Ash Creek…

Before it was a lake town or a bedroom suburb, Azle was farm country, and the soil between these creeks decided what people grew. Through its first decades the community lived on wheat, corn, peanuts, sorghum, and…

You're driving through Azle, Texas, the birthplace of William Hoyle Nix. Born in 1918, Nix became a legendary West Texas fiddler, a true exponent of the Bob Wills sound. His parents were musicians, and he learned his…

You're driving past Decatur, and just ahead, you're crossing a ghost highway of the Old West. This area was a vital feeder branch of the famous Chisholm Trail, the superhighway of cattle drives! Blazed in 1865 by Jesse…

Southwest of Azle, in what was once the Slover community, stands a one room log cabin with a long resume. Samuel Slover and his family came to Parker County from Arkansas in the middle of the eighteen fifties, a little…

Azle grew up along Ash Creek, and the ash trees out here have a modern story. A ten year old nature fan snapped a picture of a shiny green beetle in his own driveway near Eagle Mountain Lake. A Texas Parks and Wildlife…

You're driving near Azle, Texas, and this town owes its name to a young doctor. In 1846, Dr. James Azle Steward moved into a cabin here. When the post office was established in 1881, the town was first named O'Bar. But…

Azle's golf course is called Cross Timbers, and that name is older than any town around here. The Cross Timbers are long strips of scrubby oak forest that run from Oklahoma down into Central Texas, right through this…

A family went out hunting arrowheads along Walnut Creek in 2017 and found something about 110 million years older than they expected. Pressed into the creekbed…

In 1846 a doctor from Tennessee named James Azle Steward rode into a clearing and found a log cabin built by a Dutchman named Rumsfeldt. He liked what he saw…

This town could not make up its mind what to call itself. First it was Elizabeth Town and that did not stick. Then the store owner got it renamed Mooresville…

For nearly a century the people of Azle lived by candlelight and kerosene lamps while Fort Worth glowed with electric light just 23 miles down the road. Think…

On May 24 2011 the sky above Eagle Mountain Lake started spinning. An EF0 tornado formed directly over the water — a waterspout in the middle of North Texas —…