Teague, Texas

Before it had its name, this was a small farm settlement called Brewer. That changed in 1906, when the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway laid its line through western Freestone County and chose the spot for its machine…

You're driving past Teague's oldest home, built back in 1906. The builder, born in 1848, was the son of a Methodist preacher and a Confederate Army surgeon. He arrived in Texas in 1866 and became a true civic leader in…

You're driving past Antioch Cemetery. ANTIOCH CEMETERY THE BEGINNING OF ANTIOCH CEMETERY IS VERY CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE TURLINGTON COMMUNITY, THE ANTIOCH AND MT. ZION CHURCHES, AND THE SURROUNDING RURAL AREA. THE…

(January 7, 1885 - November 6, 1959) Licensed to practice law at age 19; became Teague's first mayor at 21. Regional manager of U. S. Chamber of Commerce during World War I. Joined the American Petroleum Institute in…

You're driving through Teague, Freestone County, past the life of Llewellyn Notley. Born in Paris, Texas, in 1888, Notley dedicated his life to education and history. After earning his degrees from the University of…

You're driving past the site of a vital community hub for African American children in western Freestone County. In 1933, the Busby and Grove Island schools merged, creating a new district. This campus, named for its…

You're passing the spot where Captain Richard B. Haley lived out his long life. Born in Tennessee, Haley came to Texas in 1824, way before it was even a republic. He fought in the Texas Revolution, taking part in the…

You're driving past the site of the Salem Predestinarian Baptist Church, one of Freestone County's oldest. <break time="400ms"/> It was founded way back on December 3rd, 1853, by the Lee families, with Elders Thomas…

You're driving past the Driver Cemetery, a resting place with roots stretching back to 1852. That's when Julius Driver arrived from Georgia, buying land and eventually donating over four acres for this very cemetery.…

You're driving past the Cotton Gin Cemetery, a place with roots stretching back to 1845. That's when Margarette Wills and her family, along with their enslaved people, arrived here. Her son, Dr. James S. Wills,…

You're driving past the site of a remarkable life in Teague, the story of Harvey Means. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1868</say-as>, Means started as a shoe-shine boy, but found his calling when he…

You're driving past the site of Cotton Gin, a town that bloomed and faded before the railroad even arrived. Settled before 1848, it got its start with Dr. J. S. Wills and his mule-drawn cotton gin. By 1851, it had a…

You're driving through Freestone County, near Teague. Look to your right, and you'll see the Oak Island Presbyterian Church and Cemetery. This spot marks the very first church organized in what would become Freestone…

You're driving past Union Cemetery, a place that's been serving this community for over a century and a half. It started way back in 1860, when Jacob Tacker gave this land for both a school and a graveyard. For a while,…

You're driving through Freestone County, past the site of what was once the Luna community. After the Civil War, Edward and Frankie Ezell gave land for this Antioch Cemetery. The railroad bypassed Luna in 1906, and the…

You're driving past what used to be the heart of a small farming community called Shanks. It all started back in 1859 when the Matthew and Robert Shanks families settled here from Alabama. By 1870, a schoolhouse went up…

You're driving past the Compton Cemetery, a quiet resting place that began with a family tragedy. In 1855, Elizabeth Blackmon Compton Johnson, the eldest daughter of William Scott and Angelina Compton, was laid to rest…

Dew, Texas, got its name from a mistake. When the town applied for a post office in eighteen eighty five, folks asked to be called Drew, after a local resident. Postal officials misread the application, and Drew became…

You're driving past Dew Cemetery, a resting place with roots stretching back to the 1850s. Originally called Avant Prairie, this community grew around the Sunshine Methodist Church. In 1869, local merchant D.A. Self and…

You're driving past the site of Personville, a town that started with a bang in 1854. Benjamin Person laid out the streets, and by 1855, a post office was up and running. The town grew to include a bank, hotel, a dozen…

You're driving past the Chancellor Union Cemetery, a place that started with a family's gift. In the 1850s, Reuben and Mary Chancellor arrived from Alabama, bringing their family and enslaved people. They donated land…

Dew, Texas, was not named for the soda. It got its name in eighteen eighty five, when postal officials misread the name Drew. But the soda's name has its own story. In nineteen thirty two, two brothers, Barney and Ally…

Dew, Texas, got its name by accident. But in the nineteen fifties, another DEW was built on purpose, across the top of the world. It stood for Distant Early Warning, a chain of radar stations meant to spot Soviet…

In April nineteen twenty eight, three special Texas Rangers crept up on a whiskey still about seven miles west of Fairfield, and only two of them walked away. On April nineteenth, Rangers Boone Anderson, W. J. Hancock,…

Ten miles northeast of Fairfield is a place called Young, and during Prohibition it was known as a bootleg capital. When farming collapsed in the early nineteen twenties, Freestone County lost hundreds of farms in just…

On a Saturday morning in March eighteen seventy two, Freestone County Sheriff James Rogers walked up to three strangers sitting in front of the Planter's Hotel in Fairfield. He suspected they were horse thieves. That,…

In the fall of eighteen seventy one, Fairfield was placed under martial law. It was Reconstruction, and Texas held an election from October third through the sixth. Reports came out of Fairfield, the Freestone County…

On the afternoon of May eighteenth, nineteen oh two, a tornado traveled about forty miles across Limestone and Freestone counties, and it ended its run in Fairfield. It started near Ben Hur, passed near Horn Hill and…

In August nineteen eighteen, a Freestone County constable chased two burglars by car, and when he told them to stop, they shot him. Constable Brag Dunbar was forty-eight. After a house was broken into, he and the…

You're driving through Fairfield, Texas, the birthplace of McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham. Born in 1924, Dorham became one of the finest trumpet players of his era, a true innovator in the bebop jazz scene. He played…

You're driving through Freestone County, Texas, and right here is where John Gregg made his home before becoming a Confederate general. Born in Alabama, Gregg moved to Fairfield in 1852, practiced law, and even started…

You're driving through Fairfield, Texas, a town born from a need for a county seat. Originally called Mound Prairie, the name changed to Fairfield in 1850 when this spot was chosen to govern Freestone County. Settlers…

One of the most honored quilters in America began quilting for herself only after an accident ended her first career. Laverne Brackens grew up in Fairfield, the oldest girl of eight children, and learned quilting as a…

For more than forty years, Fairfield's Black students went to Dogan High School, and its basketball team kept reaching the state finals. The first public school for African American children in Fairfield opened in…

The Big Brown power plant near Fairfield burned Freestone County lignite, a soft coal the Germans call brown coal. And in Germany's brown-coal pits work some of the biggest machines ever built. The most famous is Bagger…

You're driving through Freestone County, and right here is Fairfield, the Texas home of L.D. Bradley. Bradley was a lawyer and judge, but during the Civil War, he raised troops for the Confederacy. He served with Waul's…

You're driving through Freestone County, right in the heart of East Texas. This land was once home to Caddoan tribes, and later, a place where ambitious empresarios like David G. Burnet tried to settle families. But for…

You're driving through Freestone County, right where Joseph Burton Johnson built his life after fighting in the Indian Wars and the Mexican-American War. He came to Texas in 1848, settling first in Tyler County, then…

In February eighteen sixty one, in the same week that the Secession Convention voted to take Texas out of the Union, Fairfield's college for women was sold at public auction. Fairfield Female College had opened in…

One of the great financial empires of Texas started with a sickly baby born in Fairfield. William Lewis Moody Jr. was born here on January twenty-fifth, eighteen sixty five. He was one of only three of the six Moody…

A sprinter born in Fairfield won an Olympic medal, lost it, and got it back. Nanceen Perry was born here in nineteen seventy seven. At the two thousand Olympics in Sydney, she ran for the United States in the women's…

You're driving through Freestone County, heading towards Fairfield. Right here, Benjamin Allen Philpott served as a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. After eighteen months of service, he…

Fairfield Lake State Park is on Farm Road 3285 on the southern and southwestern shores of Fairfield Lake, six miles northeast of Fairfield in northeastern Freestone County. On November 2, 1971, the State of Texas signed…

You're driving through Texas, a state that's a bedrock of American music. Long before Buddy Holly or Janis Joplin, Texas was brewing the sounds that would become rock and roll. Right here, in what is now Freestone…

You're driving through Freestone County, near where Bill Slaughter was born back in 1852. He grew up on the frontier, learning the cattle business from his famous father and brothers. In 1867, he made his first trail…

You're driving through Freestone County, Texas, where Andrew Barry Hanna made his final home. Hanna was a lieutenant on the Somervell Expedition and a survivor of the ill-fated Mier Expedition into Mexico in 1842. He…

You're driving through Freestone County, Texas, and right here is the area where a unique gospel musician, George Washington Phillips, made his mark. Born in 1880, Phillips was a farmer and preacher before Columbia…

Donie is on State Highway 164 eleven miles south of Teague in southwest Freestone County. The site was probably settled in the 1880s. The Dewey Prairie Baptist Church was organized in 1886, and in 1898 the residents…

Fairfield Lake is on Big Brown Creek about eight miles northeast of Fairfield in northeastern Freestone County. In 1967 Texas Power and Light Company, Texas Electric Service Company, and Dallas Power and Light Company…

Stewards Mill is at the intersection of Farm roads 833 and 2547, seven miles north of Fairfield in north central Freestone County. It was established in 1849 and named after Washington Steward of South Carolina, who…

Young is just off Farm Road 1124 ten miles northeast of Fairfield in northeastern Freestone County. It was named for an early settler of the area, Dr. Tolbert Fannin Young, who moved to Texas from Memphis, Tennessee, in…

You're driving through Freestone County, the heart of what was once William Bonner's vast plantation. Bonner arrived here in the early 1850s, already a wealthy man from Alabama. By 1860, he was reportedly the wealthiest…

Avant Prairie is off State Highway 179 four miles southeast of Teague in southwestern Freestone County. By 1848 a few settlers, including Charles Kilgore, had moved to the area. In 1852 more families from Alabama,…

Butler is on U.S. Highway 84 fourteen miles southeast of Fairfield in southeast Freestone County. In 1852, at a nearby location known as West Point Hill, John T. Gill built a store and warehouse, which he moved a few…

Cade Chapel, formerly known as Cade, is a tiny rural community located on Farm Road 246 about seventeen miles south of Corsicana and two miles west of Streetman. The town straddles the borderline of southern Navarro and…

Luna was at the intersection of Farm roads 489 and 1451 in Freestone County. On December 22, 1826, empresario David G. Burnet received a contract to colonize this area; he later sold his interest in this land venture to…

Woodland is on Farm Road 1449 two miles northwest of Kirvin in northwest Freestone County. The area was settled in the late 1840s and early 1850s by pioneer families. A church was organized in 1854 and a school before…

For nearly half a century the biggest thing in Freestone County wasn't in Fairfield at all but a few miles northeast of it: the Big Brown Steam Electric Station, a 1,150-megawatt coal plant whose two units came online…

Some of the most famous guitar on records cut in Detroit started with a kid from Fairfield, Texas. Cornelius Grant was born here on April 27, 1943, and went on to become the longtime guitarist, bandleader, and live…

Fairfield is a place where the past feels close, maybe because it's always been a crossroads. You can almost hear the rumble of stagecoaches pulling up near the courthouse square, imagining the dust kicked up by those…

The little county seat you're rolling into took a while to settle on what to call itself. When the Texas legislature split Freestone County off from Limestone in 1850 and picked this rise on the prairie as its seat, the…

Drive the back roads east of Fairfield and you keep meeting one surname carved into a cemetery gate, a creek bottom, and a vanished community: Bonner. Two brothers from South Carolina, William Bonner and the physician…

Stand on the Fairfield square and it's hard to picture, but this town took a brutal beating around the turn of the last century. It started in 1890, when a meningitis outbreak swept through and killed thirty-two people,…

Here's a fact that trips up almost every visitor: Freestone County, the place you're driving through, was not named after the freestone peach, even though some of Texas's finest peaches grow nearby. The name is older…

If you only stop once in Fairfield, make it Sam's Original Restaurant at 390 East Interstate 45, because it's been feeding travelers off this highway for over seventy years. The story starts around 1952, when Sammy and…

The engineering trick behind Big Brown wasn't the size of the plant, it was where they put it. This was a mine-mouth power station, meaning the generators sat almost directly on top of the coal they burned. Lignite is…

You're driving through Freestone County, and right here is the Hopson Burleson Memorial Cemetery. Burleson himself moved his family to this area in 1835, right after getting a land grant from the Mexican government. He…

You're driving past the resting place of Reverend George Washington Baines, a giant of Texas religious history. Born in North Carolina, he was largely self-educated, rafting timber to pay for his schooling before…

You're driving past the Manahan House in Fairfield, a beautiful example of Greek Revival architecture. Built starting in 1855 by Dr. W. D. Strain, this home faced an early tragedy. Dr. Strain died just a year later, in…

You're driving past Oakes Cemetery, a final resting place that began with two burials back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as>. Later, John Collins Oakes and his wife Winnie, who came from Alabama…

Right off the square at 302 East Main Street, the Freestone County Historical Museum isn't one building but a whole little village of them, eight historic structures gathered onto one campus. You can walk through 1850s…

You're driving through Fairfield, and right here is the story of Captain L. D. Bradley. He arrived in Texas from Alabama back in 1855. During the Civil War, he commanded Company B of Waul's Texas Legion. In 1863, at the…

You're driving past the site of the Val Verde Battery, C.S.A. Imagine this: six brass field guns, captured in a fierce battle in New Mexico in 1862, are brought back to Texas. These aren't just any guns; they're armed…

You're driving past Fairfield, where back in 1858, students at the Female College pooled their money and jewelry, and citizens added silver, all to give 'tone' to a special bell. It was cast in England, shipped all the…

You're driving through Freestone County right now, formed from Limestone County way back in eighteen fifty. It was officially organized in eighteen fifty-one. The name? It comes from the stone found here. The county…

In 1922, Kirvin was the site of a tragic event that deeply affected the community. Three local African-American men, Snap Curry, Mose Jones, and Johnny Cornish, were lynched by a mob of around 500 townsfolk, including…

Kirvin owes its existence to a railroad with a funny nickname: the 'Boll Weevil Line.' Officially it was the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway, chartered in 1902 to run from North Texas southeastward toward the coast,…

While Kirvin's history is tied to oil, the biggest engineering story this county ever told was about a different fossil fuel: lignite. Look around Freestone County and you can still read the shape of the Big Brown Power…

You're passing through Fairfield, the town where General John Gregg made his mark. From 1854 to 1861, he was a civic leader, started the first newspaper, and served as a district judge. But when Texas seceded, Gregg…

You're driving past the site where David Hall Love lived out his days. He was a veteran of the Texas War for Independence, and a hero at the Battle of San Jacinto. On April 21, 1836, Love and eleven comrades captured…

You're driving through Freestone County, just past where Sheriff James Bonner Rogers met his end. It was 1872, a truly lawless time. Rogers was known for his bravery, once pursuing horse thieves alone after his deputy…

You're driving past the third Freestone County Jail, built in 1881. Look for those thick, 18-inch brick walls, likely made from recycled bricks from the older jail. This building originally held two cells and the…

You're driving past the site of the Carter Log House, a prime example of pioneer Texas living. Built in 1845 by David L. Carter, this home was constructed with remarkable skill. Imagine hauling lumber 70 miles by…

You're driving past the Fridolin Fischer home in Fairfield. Fischer, a German native, arrived in Freestone County in 1876. In 1893, the same year he opened a hardware store, he had this distinctive Eastlake-style house…

You're driving past the site of the Potter-Watson Log Cabin, built around 1852 by Daniel Potter, a farmer who tamed wild horses. Look at the craftsmanship: cedar floor, split board roof held by pegs, and securely…

You're driving past the site of Butler Church in Fairfield. Its bell, rumored to have come from the riverboat 'S. A. Ruthven' sunk in 1873, served the congregation for years. After the church was torn down, the bell…

You're driving through Fairfield, Texas, and right here is the site of the Fairfield Female College. Founded by the Freestone School Association, this place opened its doors in 1859, with Dr. Henry Lee Graves at the…

You're driving past the site of Shiloh Baptist Church. On this day in 1881, fifteen neighbors gathered to start their own Baptist congregation. For years, they met in the local schoolhouse, even sharing a Sunday School…

The football field at Fairfield High School turned out one of the best defensive ends the state ever produced. Tony Brackens, born in Fairfield on December 26, 1974, grew up here and starred for the Class 3A Fairfield…

You're driving past the W. L. Moody Confederate Reunion Grounds, a place that's been a gathering spot since 1891. Organized by ex-Confederates and named for Colonel William Lewis Moody, these grounds hosted thousands…

You're driving through Fairfield, Freestone County, where Colonel William L. Moody made his mark. He arrived in Texas from Virginia back in 1852. When the Civil War broke out, Moody organized the first Freestone County…

You're driving past what's left of the largest of three slave graveyards in this area, founded back in the early 1850s. Local tradition says this place holds the graves of many notable former slaves and their…

You're driving through Limestone County, and right here is Lost Prairie. Legend says a man got lost in the woods, stumbled onto this prairie, and named it. This spot became a community hub. Volunteers established this…

For nearly fifty years, Fairfield Lake State Park was a Texas treasure. Texas Power and Light dammed a creek here in 1969 to make a cooling reservoir for its Big Brown generating plant, and in 1976 the state opened a…

As you travel around Fairfield, you're moving through a landscape that was, for half a century, an energy-producing powerhouse. In 1971, the Big Brown Steam Electric Station fired up its generators for the first time,…

The existence of Fairfield Lake is a massive feat of industrial engineering. In 1967, when Texas Utilities and its partners announced the Big Brown power plant, they faced a critical problem: how to cool a facility of…

You're driving through Lost Prairie, and right here is the marker for Allan Jefferson Rogers. He was a Sergeant in Company K of Bass' Regiment, part of the 20th Texas Cavalry. Rogers saw action across Arkansas, Indian…

You're driving past the site of Azariah G. Moore's Texas service. He fought in the Texas War for Independence, serving with Captain Billingsley's Mina Volunteers in 1836. This was a pivotal year in Texas history, and…

You're driving past the site of Martha Rogers' final home in Lost Prairie. Born around 1795, Martha was the daughter of General James Wilkinson, a big name in the early United States Army. But when she married Benjamin…

You're driving past the site of a Texas pioneer woman who lived a long and impactful life. Mary Ellephan Hawkins was born way back in Georgia in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1828</say-as>. She married William…

Garfield is a place where the land whispers stories, if you know how to listen. Situated just a touch above the surrounding plains, a rise of maybe a hundred feet, it's a subtle shift, easy to miss. That slight…

You're driving past the site of Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church and School, a vital center for the Black community in Freestone County. It all started in the early 1850s, with slaves holding informal services under a…

You're driving past what was once Grange Hall, a community born in the 1850s alongside Freestone County itself. Early farming families, like the Smiths and the Johnsons, settled here. Many became active in the Texas…

You're driving past the site of a 10,550-acre plantation, home to General Joseph Burton Johnson. Born in Georgia in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1816</say-as>, Johnson served in the U.S. Army before coming to…

You're driving through Freestone County, past the Wilson Chapel Cemetery. It began as a burial site in 1867 when Frederich Wilson's daughter, Martha, was laid to rest here. Frederich himself is buried here, along with…

You're driving past the site of the Worthy Store in Donie. Back in 1906, Dillard Monroe Worthy opened this general merchandise store. It wasn't just dry goods, though; it offered farming supplies, a butcher shop,…

You're driving through Freestone County, near the site of Woodland College for Boys. Established way back in 1863, this school aimed to educate young men, quickly enrolling over 300 students. Colonel L. R. Wortham was a…

You're driving past Woodland Cemetery. In a community founded 1848 by pioneers mostly from Alabama, this cemetery was opened with burial of Capt. John L. Wortham (1841-62), who died in Galveston while in Confederate…

You're driving through Dew, and right here is Harrison Chapel, a cornerstone of this community since the 1850s. Organized with just twelve members, it grew thanks to land donated by pioneer George Harrison and hosted…

US Highway Eighty Four through Freestone and Limestone counties is named for Trooper Damon Allen. On Thanksgiving Day, two thousand seventeen, Allen pulled over a speeding car on Interstate Forty Five south of…

Honors Trooper Damon Charles Allen, Texas DPS Groesbeck, killed Thanksgiving Day November 23, 2017, during a traffic stop on US-84 in Freestone County by Dabrett Black. Case produced the Damon Allen Act (SB 6, 2021),…

You're driving past the Plummer Cemetery, a final resting place with a dramatic beginning. In 1834, Luther Thomas Martin Plummer and his wife Rachel arrived here, soon earning a massive Mexican land grant. But in 1836,…

You're driving past the site of Caney Baptist Church, a fellowship with roots stretching back to the 1830s. Early settlers like Hopson Burleson organized here before 1858, meeting in homes and schoolhouses. For years,…

The quiet farm town around you exploded almost overnight. After the Mexia Gas and Oil Company drilled ten dry holes and finally struck gas on its eleventh try, the real transformation came on November 25, 1920, when…

At the bend where Jack's Creek meets the Navasota River sits the Confederate Reunion Grounds, where Limestone County veterans began gathering every year in 1888. Families came by buggy and special train from Dallas and…

During World War II, the federal government opened Camp Mexia in 1942 to hold German prisoners of war. Under wartime labor shortages, prisoners were allowed out in supervised work parties to help local farmers,…

On a quiet street in this small town stood one of country music's most unlikely engines. Songwriter Cindy Walker came home to Mexia in the 1950s and lived here for more than half a century, far from Nashville or…

Mexia was laid out in 1870-71 as the Houston and Texas Central Railway pushed toward it, and the rails made it almost instantly. The town soon had a post office, newspapers, banks, mills, an opera house, and businesses…

First, the local password: it's pronounced muh-HAY-uh, not MEX-ee-uh, and saying it right marks you as someone who belongs. The town takes its name from the Mexía family, recipients of an eleven-league Mexican land…

In the heart of old Mexia, the opera house was one of the proudest buildings of the railroad-era town, the kind of place where a small farming community showed off its ambitions. Then, on February 16, 1916, disaster…

The chaos above ground started with quiet geology far below your feet. The Mexia field taught petroleum geologists how oil collects along a fault line. The Mexia Fault Zone crosses several East-Central Texas counties,…

Every summer, Mexia throws a party for its quiet musical giant. Cindy Walker Days is an annual music and songwriter festival held near Walker's July birthday, spread across Mexia and the nearby town of Wortham,…

Mexia keeps a deep Western streak, and nothing shows it like the Mexia Area Chamber of Commerce Rodeo, a tradition that reaches back to roughly 1930. Late each June the town fills up for an event that has run for the…

You're driving past the L.P. Smith house, built in 1876 by a Mexia merchant and banker. He bought this site back in 1868 for $400 in gold. Take a look at the classic details: cedar shingle roof, cedar post foundations,…

You may not know the name Cindy Walker, but you know her songs — and Mexia, Texas, sure knows her. She's the hometown songwriter, and now the town throws her a party. Cindy Walker Days: two days, kicking off the day…

Down on South Brooks Street in Mexia, there's a house that was still holding songs nobody had ever heard. When the Cindy Walker Foundation bought the songwriter's old home and studio, they found close to seventy-five…

You know her songs even if you've never heard her name. Cindy Walker was born near Mart in 1917 and wrote her first tune, "Dusty Skies," at about twelve years old. As a young woman she talked her way into recording…

Mexia sits on a bit of high ground, a subtle rise breaking up the long, flat stretch of the Blackland Prairie. That little bit of elevation makes a difference. You can feel it in the air, a slight breeze that might miss…

Mexia's oil boom made some people rich, and one of them used his money to buy an entire town. Lee Wilder Thomas was a Black preacher, and a trustee of St. Paul Industrial College here in Mexia. In nineteen nineteen he…

Comanche Crossing, on the Navasota River southwest of Mexia, became home to one of the biggest Juneteenth celebrations in Texas. Limestone County had more than forty-five freedmen's settlements after emancipation, and…

In January nineteen twenty two, the Mexia oil boom had a nightlife problem, and the State of Texas decided to deal with it in one night. On Saturday, January seventh, the state's adjutant general, Thomas Barton, came…

In September eighteen ninety six, some young men in Mexia decided to play a joke on the town marshal, and it ended at the railroad depot with the marshal dead. The marshal was Tom Nowlin. A group that included a…

When oil was struck near Mexia in November 1920, the town went from four thousand people to thirty thousand in months. The Mexia oil field was a gusher, and every roughneck, gambler, bootlegger, and grifter in Texas…

You're driving through Limestone County, and right here is where a determined geologist named Bill Reiter struck black gold. He was so convinced there was oil in this area, even when his boss told him to pack it up,…

You're driving through Mexia, a town that boomed overnight thanks to Black Gold. In 1920, this quiet community struck it rich with a massive oil discovery. Suddenly, the population exploded from around 3,500 to a…

In nineteen oh five, a young man from Mexia lost both of his hands in a railroad accident, and seven years later he was a county judge who drove his own car. Quentin Corley was born in the old town of Mexia in January…

Before he coached in the NFL, Ray Rhodes had a choice to make in Mexia. In the late nineteen sixties, Mexia still had two high schools: Mexia High, and the all-Black Dunbar High. In nineteen sixty seven, students were…

You're driving through Dallas, but our story starts a bit east, in Mexia. Right here, in 1876, Thomas Hord became the town marshal. He wasn't just any lawman; he was a terror to outlaws. Hord survived multiple shootouts…

You're driving through Limestone County, Texas, the place that inspired a town name and a legendary career. Right here, in what is now Mexia, Ynés Mexía de Reygades spent her childhood on her family's eleven-league…

You're driving through Limestone County, heading towards the town of Mexia. Right here, this community owes its very existence to Enrique Guillermo Antonio Mexía. Born in Mexico City, Mexía was a brigadier general in…

You're driving through Central Texas, maybe near Mexia. Back in January of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1922</say-as>, Governor Pat Neff declared martial law right here. Why? Because the oil boomtown was…

You're driving through Central Texas, near Mexia, where Joseph Stubenrauch settled in 1877. He came to America to avoid military service, but found his true calling right here, experimenting with peaches. The peaches…

You're driving through Mexia, a town named for a fascinating figure in Texas history: General Jose Antonio Mexia. <break time="400ms"/> He was a Mexican military officer and a big promoter of Texas colonization. <break…

Before Clyde Barrow was a famous outlaw, he was an eleven-year-old kid with a night job in the Mexia oil field. That comes from Fugitives, a nineteen thirty four book put together by Bonnie Parker's mother and Clyde's…

During Mexia's weeks under martial law in nineteen twenty two, a fire broke out downtown, and the general in charge had to clear thousands of people off the streets with a handful of soldiers. The commander was General…

Where Jack's Creek meets the Navasota River, Confederate veterans built a reunion ground, and an oil man gave it a second life. Starting in eighteen ninety two, veterans and their families paid five dollars a lot to…

One of the big names in nineteen fifties lounge music was born in Mexia. Les Baxter was born here in March nineteen twenty two. When he was six, his family moved to Detroit looking for a better living, and in nineteen…

Mexia is named for General José Antonio Mexía, and around here, people say it muh-HAY-uh. That sound is a clue to a bigger puzzle. Why does Mexico have an X? According to the Royal Spanish Academy, the correct way to…

Mexia is named for General José Antonio Mexía. His granddaughter, Ynés Mexía, became one of the great plant collectors of her time, and she didn't start until she was past fifty. She was born in eighteen seventy in…

You're driving past the First Baptist Church of Mexia. Its story begins way back on January 14th, 1872, when Reverend W. Henry Parks organized this congregation. Some of the original members actually came from…

You're driving through what is now Limestone County, a place that was shaped by men like Davis M. Prendergast. He came to Texas in 1845, read law, and quickly became a prominent figure. By 1860, he was a wealthy lawyer…

You're driving past the site where Alfonso Steel, the very last survivor of the Battle of San Jacinto, lived. Steel fought bravely in that pivotal battle, the one that won Texas its independence. But he didn't leave…

If you want a meal wired straight into Mexia's stranger history, pull up to Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken at 312 E. Milam Street, a town staple since December 1974. Locals come for fried chicken, catfish, and hot rolls,…

You're driving past the Mexia area, home to Albert R. Mace, a lawman who served Texas for 45 years. Mace joined the Texas Rangers at just 21, then moved into county sheriff roles, leading Limestone County for 12 years.…

You're driving past the Mexia area, where John Karner arrived in Texas back in 1835. The very next year, he fought for Texas independence at the Battle of San Jacinto. Imagine that – arriving in a new land one year, and…

You're driving past the site of Miss Rogers' Music Room in Mexia. Imagine this: Laura T. Rogers taught piano and choral music here, six days a week, from seven in the morning to seven at night, for eight months of the…

You're driving past Ward Prairie, a place named for an early pioneer family. As early as the 1860s, a Methodist chapel stood here, serving as a meeting place for various denominations. Then, in 1869, the Ward Prairie…

You're driving past the site of Dunbar High School in Mexia. Public education for African Americans here started way back in 1883. After their first school burned down, trustees chose this spot for a new two-story brick…

You're driving through Mexia, and right here is where St. John's A.M.E. Church began. Services for the African American community started way back in the 1870s, and this building even served as a schoolhouse during…

Imagine the streets you’re on now, but made of thick, inescapable mud. Imagine the population, normally a few thousand, swelling to 30,000 people in just a few months. That was Mexia in 1921. After the discovery of the…

The reason Mexia became an oil capital isn't just that there was oil nearby; it's the shape of the rock. Imagine the layers beneath you like a stacked cake. Millions of years ago the earth here cracked and shifted along…

Anna Nicole Smith told the world she came from Mexia, and Mexia has never been quite sure what to do with that. She was born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Houston in 1967, and she came here as a teenager, around 1984, to live…

Not all of Mexia’s famous stories involve oil booms or scandal. For over 50 years, one of America’s greatest songwriters quietly worked from her home right here in town. Her name was Cindy Walker. You might not know her…

You're driving past Mexia, Texas, the site of one of America's wildest oil booms! Back in 1912, local men found gas. Believing oil could be found here too, they brought in a famous wildcatter, A.E. Humphreys, and in…

As you pass the sprawling campus of the Mexia State Supported Living Center, you’re seeing a place with a surprising history. This land’s modern story begins during World War II, when it was chosen as the site for a…

You're driving past the site of a massive Confederate reunion! Established in 1889, this was Camp No. 94 for the United Confederate Veterans. Imagine, thousands of Texans gathering every August for week-long…

You're driving past the site of St. Paul Industrial College, a beacon of higher education for African Americans founded in 1924. African American members of the Primitive Baptist Church wanted this institute, purchasing…

You're driving through Mexia, and right here, in this very spot, the Texas State Teachers Association was born. Back in 1877, two regional groups were already meeting, but it was here, in 1880, that about 40 educators…

You're driving past the First Presbyterian Church of Mexia. This congregation started way back in 1817, not here, but twelve miles southwest in Old Springfield. When the Houston & Texas Central Railroad laid tracks and…

For a small town, Wortham has an outsized claim to fame. It's the final resting place of Blind Lemon Jefferson, the 'Father of the Texas Blues.' Born near here in 1893, his innovative guitar playing and high, mournful…

Just a short drive from here is the final resting place of a musical giant: Blind Lemon Jefferson. Born in 1893 near Couchman, he spent his formative years in this area. As a blind street musician, he played for tips in…

Imagine the streets you're driving on now, but packed shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of people, mud up to the axles of Model T's, and the air thick with the smell of crude oil. That was Wortham in late 1924. After…

The 1924 Wortham oil boom wasn't just luck; it was a feat of petroleum geology and rapid-fire engineering. The prize lay thousands of feet down, in a trap made by the Mexia-Talco fault zone -- a great crack in the…

State Highway One Sixty Four in Limestone County, between Farm to Market Road Nineteen Fifty Three and County Road Seven Eighty Nine, is the Trooper Chad M. Walker Memorial Highway. Chad Walker had eighteen years in law…

You're driving past the site of Stewards Mill Store, a business that started way back in 1849. It began as Washington Steward's grist mill, the only one around for miles. Over the years, this spot grew to include a post…

You're driving past the site of Mt. Zion Methodist Church and Cemetery, a community hub for over a century. The first log building went up in 1854, founded by Reverends G. W. Walker and Timothy Green. By 1860, the…

You're driving past Harmony Church, one of the oldest church buildings in Freestone County. Back in 1876, folks from the Stewards Mill community decided they needed a proper place for worship. On October 7th, several…

You're driving past the Lake Chapel Cemetery, established around 1856 on land set aside by the Lake family. It began as a community burial ground near the Lake Chapel Methodist Church and schoolhouse. The earliest…

You're cruising through Limestone County, past the site of Old Springfield. This town was named for a big spring, and in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1838</say-as>, Moses Herrin donated land to anyone willing…

You're driving past Fort Parker State Park, a place built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Back in August of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1935</say-as>, an African American CCC company, Company 3807(C), was…

You're driving past the resting place of Joseph Penn Lynch, a soldier who fought for Texas's independence. Born in Kentucky in 1810, Lynch served as both a private and a captain in the Army of the Republic of Texas. He…

You're driving past Springfield Cemetery, a final resting place for folks who lived through some wild times on the Texas frontier. This burial ground started as a 10-acre plot in <say-as interpret-as="date"…

You're driving past the site where Sanders Walker, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence, once lived. He fought for Texas' freedom between 1835 and 1836. Walker's service is remembered here, a quiet nod to the men…

You're driving past the land where Joseph Stubenrauch, a German immigrant with a genius for agriculture, transformed Texas soil. Born into a family of horticulturists in Bavaria, he came to Texas in 1876 and bought 100…

You're driving past the home of Judge Warren Allegre, built around 1895. Allegre arrived in town back in 1869, running a drugstore. But he also gave music lessons and dispensed legal advice, eventually becoming justice…

You're driving through Freestone County, not far from where the legendary Blind Lemon Jefferson was born. Born on a farm near Couchman in the mid-1890s, Jefferson became one of the most influential blues guitarists and…

You're driving through Wortham, Texas, a town with a name that changed as quickly as its population! It started in 1839 as a settlement by English colonist Robert Longbotham. Fast forward to 1871, and he sold land for a…

You're rolling through Freestone County, and right here is Wortham. This town was just a sleepy little market center until 1924. That's when the Roy Simmons Number One oil well blew in, and suddenly, Wortham was…