Long before the world knew Jamie Foxx, a kid named Eric Marlon Bishop was growing up in Terrell, born here on December 13, 1967, and raised by his grandmother Estelle Talley, who he later called his first acting teacher. He took up the piano at five and grew into a part-time pianist and choir leader at New Hope Baptist Church here in town, the room where a future Oscar winner first learned to command an audience. At Terrell High School he was the quarterback, dreaming of the Dallas Cowboys before comedy and music pulled him another way. He took the stage name Jamie Foxx, broke through on television, and in 2004 won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Ray Charles in Ray. The music never left him either; he landed number-one Billboard singles guesting on Slow Jamz and Gold Digger, and won a Grammy for his own hit Blame It. From a church piano bench in Terrell to an Oscar stage, it started right here. (Source: Wikipedia; Jamie Foxx 2005 Oscar acceptance.)

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Twenty British Boys Beneath the Texas Sod RoadyGoat

In Oakland Memorial Park, along West Moore Avenue, there is a plot that belongs, in a sense, to Britain. Twenty young men of the Royal Air Force who died while training at Terrell's flying school during World War II are buried here together, most killed in flying accidents, one from illness. During the war, Terrell residents quietly tended the graves of the foreign boys who had died far from home; afterward the Commonwealth War Graves Commission took over their care, and the plot is kept under the British flag. The bond never faded. On the Sunday nearest November 11, Remembrance Day, the British Flying Training School Museum still holds a ceremony at these graves, followed by tea, honoring cadets who have now lain in Kaufman County soil for more than eighty years. The same cemetery holds Terrell's own, including the painter Frank Reaugh, but it's this small square of Royal Air Force headstones that turns a North Texas burial ground into a piece of England. (Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission; No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum.)

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The Richest Heir in America Drove Texas's First Car From Here RoadyGoat

In 1893 a young man named Edward H.R. Green, son of Hetty Green, the famously miserly Witch of Wall Street and the richest woman in America, was sent to Terrell to run the ailing Texas Midland Railroad his mother had taken in foreclosure. Colonel Green, as he liked to be called, made Terrell his bachelor home and turned the little line into a showpiece, reportedly the first railroad in the state to light its passenger coaches and its locomotive headlights electrically. But his most famous Terrell stunt was on wheels, not rails. In 1899 he bought one of two motor cars built in St. Louis, had it shipped here, and hired its maker, George Preston Dorris, to teach him to drive. On October 5, 1899, Green motored his horseless carriage from Terrell to the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, widely remembered as the first automobile trip in Texas. A downtown mural at Moore Avenue and Rockwall Street marks the moment. (Source: Handbook of Texas; Discover Terrell mural project.)

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Marrs, S. M. N.

1862

On January 2, 1862, Starlin Marion Newberry Marrs was born in Gauley Bridge, Fayette County, Virginia (now West Virginia). At 16, he began teaching in rural schools, working in coal mines to make ends meet. He moved to Texas in 1881, teaching in Erath County, Hico and Cleburne. He also earned a degree from Ohio's National Normal University, and wed Anna Hesup, also of West Virginia. In 1893, Terrell's school board chose Marrs as superintendent. In 1897, the board was involved in a political fight with the city aldermen and mayor. During two years of turmoil, Marrs was fired and re-hired, and he resigned to work at the Department of Education in Austin for a year. He returned as Terrell superintendent in 1899. After his first wife died in 1904, Marrs cared for their four children and, in 1909, wed Ina Cadell. In addition to school and family responsibilities, he was an active citizen, playing a role in building Terrell's Carnegie library and also in changing the local government utilizing a city commission model. He also served as president of the Texas State Teachers Association and on the State Board of Examiners. In 1918, Marrs left to become State Supervisor of High Schools. He worked under State Superintendent Annie Webb Blanton, becoming Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1921. He became State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1922. In that job, he initiated compulsory school attendance and worked for better rural schools, stronger high school funding and higher certification standards. Marrs died in 1932 and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, He was honored at the 1954 Texas State Fair as one of 100 heroes of Texas education. His contributions to Terrell, and to the state, remain significant. (2004)

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Green, Edward Howland Robinson

1892

Edward Green, railroad capitalist, was born in London, England, on August 22, 1868, the son of Edward Henry and Hetty Howland (Robinson) Green . Edward's parents were extraordinarily wealthy and at the time of his birth were living in London primarily because of his father's activity in international banking. He shared a close, if at times tumultuous, relationship with his eccentric mother, a parsimonious heiress with extensive business interests throughout the United States. Green attended school in New York City and Vermont, graduated from Fordham College in 1888, and then was admitted to the bar after studying law in Chicago. He became involved in various aspects of his mother's real estate and railroad interests in the Midwest, and in 1892 he moved to Texas at his mother's request to represent her in several developing railroad deals. Green began his business career in Texas as president and general manager of the Texas-Midland Railroad, which was developed from a section of the Houston and Texas Central he purchased on his mother's behalf in 1892. He set up his headquarters in Terrell and quickly moved to improve the railroad through both better equipment and expansion. Much to his mother's dismay, he took a deep liking to Texas and became active in numerous business, social, and political activities there. The massive transplanted Texan-he stood 6'4" and weighed between 250 and 300 pounds-pursued real estate investments, served as the director of several banks, and was a leader in the state Republican party . He also was credited with establishing an experimental diversified farm in Kaufman County, bringing the first automobile to Texas, and giving jobs on the railroad to members of a traveling semiprofessional baseball team he organized in Terrell. Green was a close friend of President William McKinley and chaired the state Republican executive committee for three terms, from 1896 to 1902. One of his closest friends and political partners was black politician William M. (Gooseneck Bill) McDonald . Firmly aligned with the "Black and Tan" faction of the Republicans in Texas, Green was less appreciated by the party's "Lily White" members. Nevertheless, he was selected several times as a delegate to the Republican national conventions. There also was speculation that Green might become the Republican candidate for governor in the early 1900s, although he did not. His relationship with Democratic politicians in the state, such as Oscar B. Colquitt of Terrell, was also strong. After supporting Colquitt for governor in 1910, Green was appointed an honorary colonel on the new governor's staff and was subsequently known as Colonel Green. Although his mother encouraged him not to marry, Green was known for enjoying the company of women. He had a longtime relationship with Mabel E. Harlow, a native of Illinois, whom he married on July 10, 1917, after his mother's death. Before their marriage, Green arranged for Mabel to live in Dallas, where he visited her on weekends, in an effort to appease the citizens of Terrell, who disapproved of her past employment as a prostitute. Green's marriage lasted until his death, but it apparently had little effect on his activities with other women. He ran the Texas-Midland until 1928, when he sold it to Southern Pacific. He spent much time in New York after 1910, helping his mother with her estate. It has been suggested that she called him back to New York to get him out of Texas politics, but the request for his help as her health declined indicated that Hetty Green trusted her son; he was in fact one of the few people close to her. Still, theirs was not a simple relationship. It was often suggested that the amputation of his leg in 1887 resulted from her neglect of an injury to his knee as a teenager, although Colonel Green attributed his artificial limb to a handcar accident. Upon the death of Hetty Green in 1916, he inherited half of her wealth, while the other half went to his sister. Green

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Hunt, Archie Albert [Prince Albert]

1896

Prince Albert Hunt, fiddle player and singer, was born Archie Albert Hunt in Terrell, Texas, on December 20, 1896. He was the son of Archibald Hunt and Manasa Emma Lee Skates. In the late 1920s Hunt and his Texas Ramblers recorded several sides for the OKeh label, and, in addition to the East Texas Serenaders , Hunt was one of the few musicians playing “old-time country numbers with melodic variations that presaged western swing.” Hunt also performed with fellow musicians Oscar Harper and his nephew Doc Harper. Oscar Harper developed a notable reputation in East Texas and was later recorded by John A. Lomax in 1942 for the Library of Congress. Hunt also recorded with a more obscure violinist by the name of Harmon Clem on his two known recording sessions, one of which occurred on March 28, 1928, in San Antonio and the other in late June 1929, in Dallas. Hunt’s complete discography includes the songs “Canada Waltz,” “Houston Slide,” “Oklahoma Rag,” “Traveling Man,” “Katy on Time,” “Waltz of the Rose,” and “Blues in the Bottle,” but he is perhaps best remembered for his song “Wake Up Jacob,” which is included on the renowned Anthology of American Folk Music CD series. Hunt made numerous lasting contributions to the early development of western swing in Texas and to country music in general. In addition to his work as a recording artist, he also frequently performed over local radio stations and at local dance halls in the Dallas area. Hunt and a number of his musician friends frequented the Dallas neighborhood known as Deep Ellum and Central Track which included a notorious red-light district that was home to many theaters, cheap hotels, saloons, dance halls, and pawnshops. In fact some of the best blues and country artists spent time in Deep Ellum in the 1920s and 1930s listening to and jamming with other musicians. It was in Dallas on March 21, 1931, at 11:45 P.M. that Prince Albert Hunt was fatally shot outside of the Confederate Hall at 421 North Harwood Street. The Dallas Morning News reported that his assailant, William M. Douglas, was a former city fireman and the husband of a woman that Hunt had accompanied to a dance. Douglas later told police that “he [Hunt] broke up my home….He took my wife clear away from me. He had her at the dance with him and I followed them downstairs,” in front of the hall. There at close-range Douglas shot Hunt in the chest under the left arm with a .25 caliber automatic pistol. Hunt was rushed to Emergency Hospital and then to Parkland Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. He left behind his wife, Mary Cook, their four children, and his parents. Houston Public Television produced a documentary, Memories of Prince Albert Hunt , in 1974.

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Knapp, Seaman Asahel

1903

Seaman Asahel Knapp, agriculturist, college administrator, and entrepreneur, the son of Dr. Bradford and Rhoda (Seaman) Knapp, was born on December 16, 1833, at Schroon Lake, Essex County, New York. At Union College at Schenectady, New York, he received a classical education, became a Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated with a B.A. in 1856. Immediately following graduation Knapp married Maria Elizabeth Hotchkins, a native of Hampton, New York; the couple had five children. They were employed as college teachers for ten years. They moved to Benton County, Iowa, after Knapp suffered an illness resulting from a severe knee injury. They purchased a small sheep farm at Big Grove, and Knapp also served as pastor of the Methodist church at nearby Vinton. In 1869 Knapp became superintendent of the Iowa State School for the Blind at Vinton. He is credited with the modernization of the institution. He farmed at the same time he was overseeing the school. In 1873 he organized and became the first president of the Iowa Improved Stock Breeders Association. During the next twenty years Knapp concentrated his efforts on the improvement of farming techniques. In 1876 he began publishing the Western Stock Journal and Farmer out of offices at Cedar Rapids. The journal became a vehicle for his suggestions on modern methods of farming and a public diary on the experiments he performed on his farm. His publications, speeches, and reputation resulted in his selection as professor of agriculture at Iowa State College of Agriculture at Ames, Iowa, in 1879. He served as president of the college from 1883 to 1884. On the campus of Iowa State, Knapp established the forerunner of the demonstration farm. The campus farm became the site of experimental farming. In 1882 he drafted a bill providing federal aid to establish experimental farming stations at agricultural colleges. Ultimately, this bill became the Hatch Act of 1887. From 1886 to 1898 Knapp resided in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he conducted a variety of experiments for the North American Land and Timber Company of Great Britain and promoted immigration to Louisiana. He also developed the rice industry there. He was subsequently appointed agricultural explorer for the United States, Asia, Latin America, and the West Indies and studied farming practices in those lands. The boll weevil arrived in Texas in 1903. Panic set in, farms were abandoned, whole counties depopulated. The Department of Agriculture commissioned Knapp to demonstrate how cotton could still be raised. At roughly the same time the citizens of Terrell, Texas, asked the department to send an expert to assist them in their efforts. Knapp arrived in Terrell in 1903. His reputation, convincing speech, and promise to demonstrate that cotton could be grown persuaded the city to assist him in setting up a demonstration farm. The land of Walter C. Porter was chosen. Knapp visited the Porter farm every month and oversaw the implementation of the methods that had worked in Iowa and Louisiana. The demonstration was successful, and soon neighboring farmers and farmers throughout East Texas adopted Knapp's approach. From his headquarters in Houston, Knapp sent out a series of "lecture trains" to reach the farmers. During the first year 7,000 farmers agreed to set up demonstration farms. In 1906 Knapp initiated the county-agent plan, and in order to promote the plan he organized boys' cotton and corn growing clubs. In 1910 a girls' corn and poultry club was added. These organizations were the forerunners of the modern 4-H Clubs. The success of Knapp's work and the attention the South received from northern philanthropists and expatriate writers like Walter Hines Page resulted in a drive for federal aid to extend demonstration work to every southern state. Knapp spent the last years of his life in this effort. Because of the amount of time spent communicating with officials in Washington D.C., he left Lake Charles for the capital in 1907. He died th

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Major W.F. Long

1917

MISSOURI NATIVE WILLIAM FRANCIS “BILL” LONG WAS 17 WHEN HIS FAMILY MOVED TO TEXAS. DURING WORLD WAR I, HE WAS AN AERIAL OBSERVER AND PILOT IN THE 24TH AERO SQUADRON, FIRST ARMY OBSERVATION GROUP. AFTER THE WAR, HE ESTABLISHED SAN ANTONIO AVIATION AND MOTOR SCHOOL AT STINSON FIELD. IN 1925, HE BOUGHT 251 SURPLUS CURTISS AIRPLANES AND A HANGAR AT LOVE FIELD AND MOVED HIS FLIGHT TRAINING SCHOOL THERE AS DALLAS AVIATION SCHOOL AND AIR COLLEGE. NEVER IDLE, LONG, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS “MR. LOVE FIELD,” BUILT A NEW AIRFIELD, CURTISS-WRIGHT FIELD, WITH PARTNERS IN 1929 AT GRAND PRAIRIE. IN 1939, LONG ATTENDED GEN. “HAP” ARNOLD’S WASHINGTON, D. C. BRIEFING ON THE USE OF CIVILIAN CONTRACT SCHOOLS TO TRAIN U. S. ARMY PILOT CADETS IN ANTICIPATION OF WORLD WAR II. LONG RECEIVED A CONTRACT AND THE PROGRAM’S SUCCESS LED TO A SECOND CONTRACT, FOR A SCHOOL AT THE REACTIVATED HICKS FIELD IN FORT WORTH AND FOR AN AIRPLANE MECHANICS TRAINING SCHOOL AT LOVE FIELD. LONG OPENED ANOTHER SCHOOL AT CURTIS FIELD IN BRADY IN MARCH 1941. ENGLAND ALSO SENT ITS ROYAL AIR FORCE (RAF) CADETS TO TRAIN IN THE U. S., CONTRACTING WITH LONG TO OPEN THE NO. 1 BRITISH FLYING TRAINING SCHOOL AT TERRELL. DURING THE WAR, LONG AND ASSOCIATES ACQUIRED ESSAIR AIRLINES WHICH PROVIDED AIRMAIL SERVICE FROM HOUSTON TO AMARILLO, WITH STOPS ACROSS TEXAS. RENAMED PIONEER AIRLINES IN 1946, THE CARRIER ATTESTED LONG’S BELIEF THAT SUCH FEEDER AIRLINES WOULD PROMOTE PASSENGER FLIGHTS WHEN IT EXPANDED TO DOZENS OF CITIES IN TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. UNDER SIGNIFICANT PRESSURES OF TIME AND WARTIME SHORTAGES, LONG OPERATED FOUR SCHOOLS, TRAINING ABOUT ONE-TENTH OF U. S. ARMY AVIATORS AND ONE-THIRD OF RAF CADETS IN THE U. S. HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS GARNERED HIM HONORS FROM PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN AND KING GEORGE VI, AS WELL AS A PLACE IN TEXAS AVIATION HISTORY.

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Colquitt, Oscar Branch, Gov., Homesite of

1861

(1861-1940) (This block is the former homesite of) Twenty-fourth Governor of Texas (1911-1915). Known as "The Napoleon of Texas Politics" and "Little Oscar" because of his short stature, Colquitt was a strong and independent chief executive. His stump speeches were among the most effective of his times. A descendant of American Revolution and Civil War fighters, Colquitt was born in Georgia. He worked as a tenant farmer and newspaperman before serving as a Texas Senator. He was railroad commissioner, 1903-1911, and his efforts in office for Galveston gained him the title "Daddy of the Causeway". In his second race for the office, he was elected Governor on an anti-Prohibition ticket. His legal residence was in Terrell during both terms and he had owned the Terrell "Times-Star" in the 1890s. While in office, Colquitt achieved prison reforms. (He campaigned with a bullwhip in hand to publicize prison brutality.) He helped preserve the Alamo as a Texas shrine. Homes for the insane and retarded were improved under him, and he also spearheaded advancements in education and backed labor bills. In 1885 he had married Alice F. Murrell, by whom he had five children. After 1915 he entered private business and worked as a U.S. government official.

Historical Marker →

Everything Near Terrell

416 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Before Hollywood, He Played Piano at New Hope Baptist
Long before the world knew Jamie Foxx, a kid named Eric Marlon Bishop was growing up in Terrell, born here on December 13, 1967, and raised by his grandmother Estelle Talley, who he later called his first acting…
Twenty British Boys Beneath the Texas Sod
In Oakland Memorial Park, along West Moore Avenue, there is a plot that belongs, in a sense, to Britain. Twenty young men of the Royal Air Force who died while training at Terrell's flying school during World War II are…
The Richest Heir in America Drove Texas's First Car From Here
In 1893 a young man named Edward H.R. Green, son of Hetty Green, the famously miserly Witch of Wall Street and the richest woman in America, was sent to Terrell to run the ailing Texas Midland Railroad his mother had…
The Town the Railroad Drew on a Cotton Prairie
You're rolling into a town that exists because of where a rail line crossed a cotton prairie. When the Texas and Pacific Railway pushed across North Texas in 1873, two Kaufman County men, C.C. Nash and John G. Moore,…
The Wildwood Graves Almost No One Has a Name For
Not long after the asylum opened in July 1885, the state set aside a piece of its grounds to bury patients who died while hospitalized, far from families who in many cases never came. The first burial in what became…
The Dean of Texas Painters Grew Up Among These Longhorns
When the Reaugh family moved from Illinois to the prairie near Terrell in 1876, fifteen-year-old Charles Franklin Reaugh, known to everyone as Frank, was surrounded by the very subject that would define his life: Texas…
The Governor Who Ran Texas From a Terrell Newspaper Town
Terrell can claim a Texas governor among its own. Oscar Branch Colquitt built his political base here as a newspaperman, owning and publishing the Terrell Times-Star in the 1890s when this was a thriving cotton and…
Texas & Pacific Railroad Freight Depot · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the old Texas & Pacific Railroad Freight Depot in Terrell. Founded in 1873, this town owes its very existence to the railroad. Land was donated by the Terrell family and others, with the promise that…
American National Bank of Terrell · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Terrell, a town that got its start in 1873. Just two years later, in 1875, a private bank opened its doors, laying the foundation for what would become the American National Bank. It saw a lot of…
The 1925 Movie House That Became a Bookstore · 0.2 mi
At 209 West Moore Avenue, in the heart of Terrell's historic downtown, stands the old Iris Theatre, built in 1925 when this brick-paved stretch of Moore Avenue was the town's bright-lights district. Back in the 1920s,…
Colquitt, Oscar Branch, Gov., Homesite of · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
(1861-1940) (This block is the former homesite of) Twenty-fourth Governor of Texas (1911-1915). Known as "The Napoleon of Texas Politics" and "Little Oscar" because of his short stature, Colquitt was a strong and…
Carnegie Library Building · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Carnegie Library Building in Terrell, a testament to community spirit and a touch of philanthropy. Built in 1904, this beautiful structure stands on land once owned by O. B. Colquitt, who would…

Show all 200 nearby places

Carnegie Public Library · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Terrell, and right here is a testament to the power of community and knowledge. This building, opened in 1904, stands as the first and only library in Kaufman County. It was the dream of local…
Church of the Good Shepherd · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Church of the Good Shepherd in Terrell, a place that's been a spiritual anchor since 1877. It started as a mission, with services held in a local academy. By 1878, this very site saw its first…
Bethlehem Baptist Church · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Terrell's oldest black Baptist congregation, Bethlehem Baptist Church. It all started back in 1877, with worshippers gathering under a simple brush arbor. Led by missionary A. R. Griggs…
First Baptist Church of terrell · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Terrell, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church. It all started back in 1876 when Reverend J.B. Daniel organized this congregation with just thirteen members. They met once a…
First Christian Church of Terrell · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the First Christian Church of Terrell, a congregation that started way back in 1876 with just 18 members. They met in borrowed rooms until their first building went up in 1881. Imagine that – growing…
The Marine Who Went On to Wear a Badge · 0.4 mi
The Officer Jacob Candanoza Memorial Highway follows State Highway Thirty Four in Kaufman County, between Kings Creek Drive and North Frances Street, and the legislature created it in two thousand twenty five. Jacob…
First United Methodist Church of Terrell · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Terrell, and right here, you're passing the site of the First United Methodist Church. Organized way back in 1873 by the Rev. J. W. Fields, this church was founded the very same year the Texas &…
Rockwall and Brin Church of Christ · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Terrell, and right here is the history of the Rockwall and Brin Church of Christ. This congregation got its start back in 1896, meeting in members' homes. Services moved to the Odd-Fellows Hall…
Saint John Catholic Church · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Terrell, a town that sprang up when the railroad arrived in 1873. Look around, and you might spot the site of the oldest church here, Saint John Catholic Church. The land was acquired back in…
Marrs, S. M. N. · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
On January 2, 1862, Starlin Marion Newberry Marrs was born in Gauley Bridge, Fayette County, Virginia (now West Virginia). At 16, he began teaching in rural schools, working in coal mines to make ends meet. He moved to…
Terrell, Robert A. · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a truly unique Texas home! This octagon-shaped house you see replaced an 1845 log cabin. It was built in 1864 for Robert A. Terrell, the very pioneer settler the town of Terrell is named…
Terrell Elemtary School · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Terrell Elementary School, a place that's been educating local kids since 1901. The original North Primary School, a two-story building with six classrooms, opened right here in September…
The Asylum on the Hill Northeast of Town · 0.7 mi
A mile northeast of downtown stands one of the oldest psychiatric institutions in Texas. After the state asylum in Austin filled past capacity, the Texas Legislature in 1883 ordered a new hospital built north of the…
Griffith House · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Griffith House in Terrell, built in 1909. This home was designed by architect James E. Flanders for L.E. Griffith, Jr., a prominent businessman who led the local drug company and bank. The…
Terrell State Hospital · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of what was once the largest hospital of its kind west of the Mississippi River. Authorized by the Texas Legislature in 1883, this facility opened its doors in 1885 as the Terrell State…
Burnett, William Henry · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a Terrell landmark, named for William Henry Burnett. Born into slavery around 1872, Burnett was a farm boy who found his path through education. A Presbyterian missionary recognized his…
Oakland Memorial Park · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Oakland Memorial Park, a final resting place for Terrell's citizens since 1878. It started with seven acres sold by James R. Terrell for a community burial ground. The first souls laid to rest here…
Cartwright House · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Cartwright House in Terrell, built in 1883. Matthew Cartwright, a third-generation Texan, built this home. He was a rancher, a banker, and a civic leader who even entertained artists and…
Robert A. Terrell · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Terrell, a town named for the man whose land you're currently surveying! Robert Adams Terrell arrived in Texas around 1840. He was a farmer and surveyor who helped map out headright land grants…
Graveyard, Old, Pioneer cemetery, The · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what's known as the Old Graveyard, or the Irvine Family Cemetery. This little plot of land holds stories from before Terrell was even a town. The first person laid to rest here was Robert Alexander,…
Frank Reaugh · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of Frank Reaugh, the graphic historian of the American West. Born in Illinois in 1860, Reaugh moved to Kaufman County as a teen in 1876. It was here, beside his family's cotton farm,…
Walter P. and Meck Allen House · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Walter P. and Meck Allen House, a beautiful example of Tudor Revival architecture built in 1928. Walter Allen was a prominent banker and city leader in Terrell, instrumental in developing the…
Warren, R. L. · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Terrell, and right here is the R. L. Warren mansion, built in 1904. This wasn't just any house; it was a statement. Imagine 18 rooms, a formal reception hall, two drawing rooms, even a…
Corley, John H., Home · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the John H. Corley Home, built in 1896 by John Neilson, a former shipbuilder. Imagine this: many of the materials for this elaborate Victorian house were shipped by boat to Jefferson, then sent on by…
The Museum the Cadets Built for Their Lost Friends · 1.3 mi
At 119 Silent Wings Blvd, a small museum keeps the No. 1 British Flying Training School alive. It was started by the cadets themselves, the men who came back across the Atlantic for reunions, partly to celebrate the…
Texas Midland Railroad · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where the Texas Midland Railroad once ran, a line that started as part of the Houston and Texas Central in 1882. But things got interesting in 1892 when it was bought by Mrs. Hetty Green, the famous…
No. 1 British Flying Training School · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Terrell's No. 1 British Flying Training School, established in August 1941, before the U.S. even entered World War II. This Royal Air Force facility trained over 2,200 British and 138…
Green, Edward Howland Robinson · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Edward Green, railroad capitalist, was born in London, England, on August 22, 1868, the son of Edward Henry and Hetty Howland (Robinson) Green . Edward's parents were extraordinarily wealthy and at the time of his birth…
Hunt, Archie Albert [Prince Albert] · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Prince Albert Hunt, fiddle player and singer, was born Archie Albert Hunt in Terrell, Texas, on December 20, 1896. He was the son of Archibald Hunt and Manasa Emma Lee Skates. In the late 1920s Hunt and his Texas…
Knapp, Seaman Asahel · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Seaman Asahel Knapp, agriculturist, college administrator, and entrepreneur, the son of Dr. Bradford and Rhoda (Seaman) Knapp, was born on December 16, 1833, at Schroon Lake, Essex County, New York. At Union College at…
Burnett, William Henry · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Terrell, Texas, a town that owes a lot to William Henry Burnett. Born in 1872, Burnett dedicated his life to educating African American children in this region. In 1900, he became the principal of…
Porter Farm · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman County, just north of Terrell, and you're passing a place that changed how Texas farmers grow food. Right here, in 1903, Seaman Knapp, a USDA agent, convinced Walter Porter to try new…
Boggess, Lynton Ross [Dusty] · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, maybe near Terrell, where Lynton Ross Boggess was born. He picked up the nickname "Dusty" on the football field, kicking up dust with his long runs. But Boggess traded the gridiron for the…
Terrell State Hospital Cemetery · 1.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Terrell State Hospital Cemetery. Soon after this hospital opened its doors in July of 1885, a section of the grounds was designated for patients who passed away during their treatment. The very…
Roberts, Annie Lee Warren · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Terrell, Texas, the birthplace of Annie Lee Warren Roberts. Born in 1895, she became a passionate philanthropist and preservationist. Her biggest legacy might be the Summerfield G. Roberts Award,…
Terrell, TX · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Terrell, Texas, a town that owes its existence to the railroad and a bit of entrepreneurial spirit. Back in 1873, as the Texas and Pacific Railway pushed across North Texas, two local businessmen…
Terrell, Chester H. · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Chester H. Terrell, speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, was born in Terrell, Texas, on December 2, 1882, the son of Mattie (Simpson) and J. O. Terrell , who represented Kaufman County in the Texas Senate…
Dashiell, Wickliffe Bond · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman County, and right here is where Dr. Wickliffe Bond Dashiell made his mark. He arrived in Texas in 1857, practicing medicine and farming near East Fork. But when the Civil War broke out, he…
Gill, Bennett Lloyd · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Terrell, a town that owes a lot to a young man named Bennett L. Gill. Born in Alabama, Gill moved to Dallas as a boy, working odd jobs for next to nothing. But at sixteen, a Terrell grocer offered…
Home Rule Charters · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Terrell, Texas, and right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1911</say-as>, citizens were still being handed special charters by the state legislature. Imagine that! Your town's…
First Presbyterian Church of Terrell · 1.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Terrell, and right here is the First Presbyterian Church. This congregation has deep roots, stretching back to two separate Presbyterian churches founded way back in the 1870s. Imagine that! In…
Major W.F. Long · 1.8 mi · Historical Marker
MISSOURI NATIVE WILLIAM FRANCIS “BILL” LONG WAS 17 WHEN HIS FAMILY MOVED TO TEXAS. DURING WORLD WAR I, HE WAS AN AERIAL OBSERVER AND PILOT IN THE 24TH AERO SQUADRON, FIRST ARMY OBSERVATION GROUP. AFTER THE…
Where Britain Sent Its Pilots to Learn to Fly · 1.9 mi
In the darkest stretch of World War II, Britain's skies were too crowded and too dangerous to train new pilots, so the RAF sent its cadets here. The No. 1 British Flying Training School opened at Terrell in 1941, the…
Three Airplanes, One Pilot: The Trainer Pyramid Over Terrell · 1.9 mi
The pilots who learned over these fields didn't just fly one airplane, they climbed an engineering ladder built into three machines. Primary flying started in the Stearman PT-17, an open-cockpit biplane with two wings,…
Public Education in Terrell · 1.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Terrell, where a big decision was made back in 1883. The citizens voted overwhelmingly to create their own public school system. The first classes started that September, using buildings from old…
When the Royal Air Force Came to Texas · 2.0 mi
During the darkest days of World War II, long before Pearl Harbor, a unique alliance formed in the skies over Terrell. The town was chosen as the site for the Number 1 British Flying Training School, the first and…
The City on the Hill · 2.0 mi
For over a century, the largest and most defining landmark in Terrell wasn't a courthouse or a factory, but a hospital. Opened in 1885 as the North Texas Lunatic Asylum, the institution we now know as Terrell State…
A Machine for Healing · 2.0 mi
The original main building of the Terrell State Hospital, opened in 1885, wasn't just a building; it was a piece of medical technology. Designed by J. N. Preston and Sons of Austin, it followed the Kirkbride Plan, a…
The Quarterback Named Eric Bishop · 2.0 mi
Long before the world knew him as Jamie Foxx, Terrell knew him as Eric Bishop. Abandoned seven months after he was born, he was adopted and raised right here by his mother's adoptive parents, Estelle and Mark Talley - a…
Terrell, TX · 2.0 mi
Terrell's history began in 1873 with the construction of the Texas and Pacific Railroad line, which played a pivotal role in the town's development. The city was named after Robert A. Terrell, a European-American…
Hay Capital of the World · 2.0 mi
Today it's hard to imagine, but for a few decades Terrell's global reputation was built on a crop. Thanks to the incredibly fertile Blackland Prairie soil, farmers here grew cotton in astonishing quantity, and the town…
Porter Farms · 2.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of a revolution in farming! Right here, on February 26th, 1903, Walter and Mrs. Porter’s farm was chosen for the very first "farm demonstration." This project, led by Dr. Seaman A.…
Lawrence Cemetery · 3.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of what used to be the town of Lawrence. Back in 1873, the Texas and Pacific Railroad pushed a line through here, and investors saw opportunity. They formed the Texas Colony Association, and…
Reagan's Name Across East Texas · 5.3 mi
Interstate Twenty, from the Dallas and Kaufman county line all the way east to the Louisiana border, is the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway. The Legislature extended the name across East Texas in two thousand seven. An…
When the Creek Became a River · 5.5 mi
The southern edge of Oak Ridge North is bordered by a beautiful, meandering waterway called Spring Creek. For most of its life, it's a peaceful ribbon of nature. But in August 2017, during Hurricane Harvey, it became a…
Rose Hill Cemetery · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Rose Hill Cemetery, a place named for the wild roses that once covered this hillside. When settlers from Tennessee camped here in 1866, this land became a burial site after the son of W. R. Dickey…
Henderson, W. E., Home · 6.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the home of William Ebenezer Henderson, built in 1898. Henderson arrived in Texas in 1862, drawn by the promise of the frontier. He started working for a cattleman at just 19 and eventually became a…
Poetry Methodist church · 6.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Poetry, Texas, a community that started life as Turners Point back in 1845. Its first settlers were Methodists, who in 1855 bought their original church site for just twenty bucks. Imagine that! The…
Caney Cemetery · 6.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Caney Cemetery, established in 1904 when M. J. Fox and the Amis family donated land for burials. The earliest marked grave here is Elizabeth Neusum, who died in 1895. Today, it remains a record of…
Elmo, TX · 6.5 mi
Elmo's history began in 1870 when the Texas and Pacific Railway laid track through the area, leading to the emergence of a community at the railhead. Named in honor of Elmo Scott, a T&P Railroad surveyor, Elmo received…
Poetry Baptist Church · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Poetry Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist church in Kaufman County. It was organized way back in 1855, originally called Salem Baptist Church, when this community was known as Turner's…
Methodist Church, 1844 · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past College Mound, where the story of Methodism in this area began way back in 1844. That year, settlers like A. J. Beck and Henry Beck arrived. Just a year later, in 1845, they organized a Methodist…
The Wartime Highway Name That Waited Sixty Years · 7.0 mi
The World War Two Veterans Memorial Highway is a name with an odd history. On August first, nineteen forty four, a Texas highway minute order named U S Highway Eighty the Veterans of World War Two Highway, all the way…
White, Lulu Belle Madison · 7.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
Lulu (or Lula) Belle Madison White, teacher and civil rights activist, was born on August 31, 1899, in Elmo, Texas, to Samuel Henry and Easter Madison. She attended elementary and high schools in Elmo and enrolled in…
Poetry, TX · 7.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman County, heading north of Terrell, and you're passing through a place called Poetry. Now, this community wasn't always named Poetry. It started out as Turner's Point, settled by Elisha…
Dry Creek Cemetery · 7.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Dry Creek Cemetery, named for the ravine nearby. This burial ground originally served the community of Turner's Point, established in 1845 along the stage road between Shreveport and Dallas. The…
Franklin, Ione Ruth · 7.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Ione Ruth Franklin, sculptor and teacher, was born in Poetry, Texas, on January 16, 1893, the eldest of three daughters of Nathaniel Timothy and Bertha Melora (Smith) Franklin. She exhibited artistic ability from an…
St. Martin's: The Heart of Talty · 7.4 mi
If you want to find the heart of Talty, look for St. Martin of Tours. It's more than a building; it's why this community holds together. Irish Catholic pioneers—the Laydens, the Vaughans, the O'Connors—settled this…
The Town That Voted Itself into Existence · 7.4 mi
For most of its history, Talty wasn't officially a city. It was just a place on the map, an unincorporated community in Kaufman County. But in the 1990s, a threat appeared on the horizon: the rapid expansion of Dallas.…
Talty, TX · 7.4 mi
You know, almost every town has a story about a famous outlaw, a politician, or a movie star who came from there. Talty is a little different. When you search for famous people from Talty, you won't find a long list of…
From Irish Ridge to Talty · 7.6 mi
This bedroom town east of Dallas grew out of Irish grit. When the Texas and Pacific railway crossed northern Kaufman County in 1873, many of its laborers were Irish Catholic immigrants. Several stayed, settling the high…
The Church, the Convent, and the Fire · 7.6 mi
For a tiny farming settlement, the Irish Ridge community reached high. In 1891 its Catholic families built St. Martin's Church on a tract of land donated by founder Martin Layden. A school started around the same time.…
Talty, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman County, heading northwest of Kaufman. Right here is Talty, a community that owes its existence to a wave of Irish Catholic pioneers. Originally known as Layden's Ridge, then Irish Ridge,…
First Presbyterian Church of Forney · 9.2 mi · Historical Marker
Hey road trippers! You're driving past the site of Forney's First Presbyterian Church. Believe it or not, this congregation formed from a merger of two older churches. Back in 1872, the Brooklyn Church of the Cumberland…
Second Texas Partisan Rangers · 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in counties around Dallas, the Second Texas Partisan Rangers were formed back in 1862. Led by Colonel Barton Warren Stone, Jr., these Confederate soldiers were…
Trinity River · 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving along the Trinity River, the longest river entirely within Texas. Its story starts way back in 1690, when Alonso De León is thought to have first called it the Trinity. But this river has seen more than…
College Mound, TX · 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
College Mound is on Farm Road 429 five miles southeast of Terrell in eastern Kaufman County. A small group of settlers from Indiana and Tennessee moved into the area in the mid-1840s to establish one of the first…
Prairieville, TX · 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Prairieville is on Farm roads 1836 and 90, near the Van Zandt county line eight miles north of Mabank and fourteen miles southeast of Kaufman in southeastern Kaufman County. In 1848 part of the Texas colony of…
Broughton, Dempsey W. · 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman County, where Dempsey W. Broughton, a man of many talents, answered the call to arms during the Civil War. Born in Alabama in 1824, Broughton made his way to Texas and eventually enlisted…
Cedar Grove, TX (Kaufman and Van Zandt Counties) · 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Terrell or Wills Point. Right here, in what's now Kaufman and Van Zandt Counties, was once Cedar Grove. It started in the mid-1840s when families, including future county…
Bois D'arc and Southern Railway · 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman County, and right here is the former stomping ground of a little railroad with a big fight on its hands. The Bois d'Arc and Southern Railway was built in the mid-1920s, not for passengers,…
Parsons, Sylvester Gould · 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman County, near the site of Warsaw Prairie. Right here, Sylvester Gould Parsons, a man who'd already served as sheriff in Louisiana, settled in Texas in 1844. He wasn't just a farmer and…
Peede, TX · 9.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Peede is on Farm Road 1388 six miles southwest of Kaufman in south central Kaufman County. Throughout its history the names Peede's, Peede, and Peede's Mill appear to have been used interchangeably. The surrounding area…
The Town That Was Born to Be Left Alone · 9.6 mi
McLendon-Chisholm exists today because two old farming communities wanted to be left alone. McLendon's went back to about 1870, when P. A. McLendon put up a store, a cotton gin and a blacksmith shop. Chisholm took its…
The Engineering of Rural Character · 9.6 mi
The peaceful, spread-out feel of McLendon-Chisholm isn't an accident of history; it's the product of a deliberate choice. On October 18, 1969, two neighboring communities incorporated as a single city, and the reason…
McLendon-Chisholm, TX · 9.6 mi
Once two separate settlements, McLendon-Chisholm has a rich history that began around 1870 with the founding of McLendon by landowner P.A. McLendon. He established a store, cotton gin, and blacksmith shop, which…
A Whiff of the Old Chisholm Trail · 9.6 mi
The Chisholm in this town's name is not the cattle trail. It is a family. Enoch Parson Chisholm settled 200 acres here in 1856, a farmer and a licensed preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, who started the…
Chisholm Cemetery · 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of what was once the town of Chisholm, named for Enoch P. Chisholm. He was a circuit-riding Methodist minister who settled here in the 1860s. In 1871, he donated land for this graveyard.…
King's Fort · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kaufman, Texas, the site of a frontier outpost called King's Fort. Back in 1840, William P. King led forty pioneers from Mississippi to this very spot, then part of the Republic of Texas. They…
McLendon-Chisholm, TX · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through McLendon-Chisholm, a community that started as two separate settlements back in the 1850s. One was McLendon's, named for P. A. McLendon, who built a general store, cotton gin, and blacksmith shop…
A Famous Claim, and What the Records Say · 10.3 mi
Here is a piece of local lore worth handling carefully, because it is more tangled than it first appears. For generations, David Kaufman has often been described as the first Jewish person to represent Texas in…
Wounded at the Neches · 10.3 mi
The politician this town is named for did not spend all his time behind a desk. In the summer of eighteen thirty-nine, David Kaufman rode out as a militia officer into one of the hardest chapters of early Texas history,…
How a Nation Became a State · 10.3 mi
The name on the town connects to one of the strangest transitions in American history, the moment Texas stopped being its own country and became a state. Here is how that machinery actually worked, and where David…
Thirty-Seven and Gone · 10.3 mi
For all the towns, counties, and streets that carry his name across Texas, David Kaufman himself barely made it to middle age. He served in the United States House of Representatives starting in eighteen forty-six, but…
Kaufman, TX · 10.3 mi
Once known as 'Kings Fort,' the city was established by Dr. William P. King in 1840. After five years, it was renamed 'Kingsboro,' and eventually 'Kaufman' in 1852, honoring David S. Kaufman. The city holds a unique…
Named for the First Texan Seated in Congress · 10.3 mi
The town you're rolling through carries the name of a man who never lived here, but who put Texas on the floor of the U.S. House. David Spangler Kaufman was born in Pennsylvania in 1813, graduated from Princeton with…
The Man Behind the Name · 10.3 mi
The town you are rolling through really is named for a person, and here is the whole honest story. Back in eighteen forty-eight, the Texas legislature carved out a brand new county in this rolling blackland country and…
From Princeton to the Piney Woods · 10.3 mi
The man this town is named for packed a remarkable amount of living into a short life. David Spangler Kaufman was born in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, in eighteen thirteen, and he was sharp. He graduated from the…
Why the Sign Says Kaufman · 10.3 mi
So the next time you pass the sign that says Kaufman, you will know it is not just a random word. This town started as a rough little stockade called King's Fort, built by Mississippi settlers around eighteen forty. It…
Chisum, Colonel Isham · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Colonel Isham Chisum's home, a leading citizen of Kaufman County. Chisum was a delegate to the Texas Secession Convention in 1861. Later that year, he fought with Confederate cavalry in…
King, Mrs. William P. · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Kaufman, Texas, and right here is the story of Frances A. King, a pioneer woman who shaped this county. She arrived in 1840 with her husband, founding King's Fort. After his death in 1846, Frances,…
Dozier, Otis Marion · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here near Forney, you're passing through the hometown of Otis Dozier. He was a prominent painter and printmaker, a key member of the Dallas Nine group of artists. During the…
Spellman, Coreen Mary · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Forney, Texas, the birthplace of Coreen Mary Spellman, a remarkable artist who made her mark on the Texas art scene. Born in 1905, Spellman developed a passion for art early on, nurtured by her…
Forney, TX · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Forney, Texas, a town that owes its very name to a bit of bureaucratic confusion and a railroad. Originally called Brooklyn, the settlers applied for a post office in 1873. But there was already a…
A Steakhouse and Butcher Facing the Courthouse · 10.3 mi
Right across from the courthouse, at 112 North Washington Street on the Kaufman square, B&B Steakhouse and Meat Market does the rare double act of being both a butcher counter and a sit-down steakhouse under one roof.…
One Name, Written All Over Texas · 10.3 mi
One thing worth appreciating as you drive is just how far a single Texas statesman's name can travel. David Spangler Kaufman only lived thirty-seven years and served just a handful of years in Congress before his death…
Huff-Park House · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kaufman, and right here is the Huff-Park House, built in 1889 by W. L. Huff. But it's more famously known as the home of Dr. J. W. Park. Born right here in Texas, Dr. Park studied medicine in…
Covenant United Presbyterian Church · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kaufman, and right here stands Covenant United Presbyterian Church. It began way back in July of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1854</say-as> as the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, with…
Kaufman County · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kaufman County, created way back in 1848. It's named for David Spangler Kaufman, who arrived here in 1837. He was a busy man, serving in the Texas Congress for years before heading to the U.S.…
Breakfast All Day on the Kaufman Square · 10.4 mi
If you want to eat where the town actually eats, point yourself at My Love's Diner at 215 West Mulberry Street, sitting right on the historic Kaufman square in the shadow of the courthouse. It's the small-town cafe…
Greenslade Drug Store · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Kaufman, and right here is the old Greenslade Drug Store, built way back in 1891. Look at that architecture – a bit of modified Spanish style, but what's really interesting is how it was built.…
First Baptist Church of Kaufman · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the First Baptist Church of Kaufman, a congregation that started with just nine members way back on November 5th, 1871. For over a decade, they met wherever they could before finally building their…
The Three Stooges Were Born of a Kaufman Boy · 10.5 mi
Every slap, poke, and eye-jab in a Three Stooges short traces back to a man born right here in Kaufman. Ted Healy, christened Ernest Lea Nash, was born in Kaufman on October 1, 1896, into a family with deep local roots:…
Bonnie Parker's First Jail Cell · 10.5 mi
Before Bonnie and Clyde were front-page outlaws, Bonnie Parker did her first real stretch behind bars right here in Kaufman. On April 19, 1932, Parker and a Barrow-gang associate named Ralph Fults tried to burglarize a…
King's Fort and the Widow Who Gave the Town Its Land · 10.5 mi
Before there was a Kaufman, there was King's Fort, and the family behind it is the reason the county seat sits where it does. In 1840, Dr. William P. King, a physician and land speculator from Holly Springs,…
The Railroad That Reached Town and Went Broke · 10.5 mi
Kaufman spent its first four decades as an inland farm town with no rail, hauling cotton overland to distant markets. That changed in August 1881, when the Texas Trunk Railroad pushed in from Dallas, about 36 miles…
The Voice of Krillin Grew Up Here · 10.5 mi
If you grew up watching late-night anime, a voice from Kaufman has probably been in your ears for years without you knowing it. Sonny Strait was born in Kaufman on June 28, 1965, and went on to become one of the most…
Turning a Worthless Seed Into Salad Oil · 10.5 mi
Kaufman grew up on cotton, and one of its mills did something that sounds like alchemy: it turned trash into food. For most of the 1800s, the seed left after ginning cotton was considered worthless. It piled up by the…
When Groceries Meant a Yearly Trip to San Antonio · 10.5 mi
It's hard to imagine standing on the Kaufman square today, but in the town's first years the nearest store was effectively a different world away. When Dr. William P. King's settlers hunkered down in King's Fort around…
Church of Our Merciful Saviour · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Church of Our Merciful Saviour in Kaufman. This rural Gothic beauty was built in 1909, a testament to the vision of Mr. and Mrs. Woodson Nash. It was consecrated on May 2nd, 1909, by Bishop A. C.…
First United Methodist Church · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kaufman, and right here you're passing the site of the First United Methodist Church. It all started way back in February of 1845, when it was organized as the Kingsborough Methodist Episcopal…
Forney High School — State Softball 2026 · 10.6 mi
Forney High School in Forney, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class six A, Division Two.
The High School That Sent Players to the Pros · 10.6 mi
For a town its size, Forney has thrown a surprising number of people onto big stages, and a lot of them passed through Forney High School first. Caleb Hanie quarterbacked the Forney team to back-to-back top-three…
Where the Cotton Gin Became an Antique Mall · 10.6 mi
At 210 East Broad Street stands the most literal monument to Forney's two great industries stacked on top of each other. The metal-clad building was once the heart of a cotton-gin complex, machinery built by the Murray…
Ables Springs · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the quiet countryside near Terrell, and you're passing through Ables Springs. This community owes its name to a pioneer family, James and Eliza Ables, who settled here back in 1853. They were…
First Christian Church of Kaufman · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Kaufman's first Christian Church. It all started back in 1861, the same year R. A. Hindman, who also founded Kaufman's first newspaper, arrived in the area. Services met in homes for…
Two Texas Towns Named Brooklyn · 10.8 mi
Imagine this: the year is eighteen seventy-three, and you live in a promising little town called Brooklyn, Texas. You have a store, a church, a blacksmith shop. Then you get the news. The Texas and Pacific Railway, the…
Engineering a Town's Fate · 10.8 mi
The existence of Forney in its current location is a story of 19th-century engineering and economics. When the Texas and Pacific Railway planned this stretch, its people did the cold arithmetic of grade and…
The 100-Year Wait to Become a Town · 10.8 mi
Imagine a town waiting more than a century to make itself official. That's the story of Bonney. It began in 1873 as a station on the International and Great Northern Railroad, on land granted to Warren D. C. Hall and…
Engineering a Life on the Floodplain · 10.8 mi
The existence of Bonney is a lesson in hydrology and engineering. You're driving on the floodplain of the Brazos River, a powerful and dynamic system. For millennia, the river has meandered across this coastal plain,…
The Hay Capital of the World · 10.8 mi
In the late 19th century America ran on horsepower, and all those horses needed to eat. Forney stepped up to become their kitchen. Everybody remembers the cotton, but the town's first real fame came from hay. The deep…
Forney, TX · 10.8 mi
On April 3, 2012, Forney experienced a significant event when an EF-3 tornado struck the city as part of a larger tornado outbreak. The tornado caused severe damage, destroying several homes and causing significant roof…
Bonney, TX · 10.8 mi
Bonney, Texas, has a rich history that began in 1873 when it was founded as a station on the International-Great Northern Railroad. The village was named after a conductor who worked on the Houston Tap and Brazoria…
Nash, Ernest Lea [Ted Healy] · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman, Texas, the birthplace of Ted Healy, the man who created the Three Stooges. Born Ernest Lea Nash in 1896, he grew up in Houston and New York, eventually meeting brothers Moe and Shemp…
How a Roadside Junk Trade Became the Antique Capital of Texas · 11.2 mi
Forney's official claim to fame isn't a battle or a boom: it's old furniture. In the late 1960s a man named Glenn "Red" Whaley opened the town's first antique business on the east edge of Forney, and the idea caught.…
Cuellar, Adelaida · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman, and right here is where a Texas food empire got its start. In 1926, Adelaida Cuellar needed to support her twelve children. So, she set up a tamale stand at the Kaufman County Fair. It…
Green, William · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman, Texas, a town that was home to Dr. William Green. He graduated from medical school in 1914 and returned to Texas to practice. Dr. Green was known for his incredible dedication, especially…
King, William P. · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to a speculative doctor named William P. King. Back in 1839, King dreamed of a new city called Warwick, hiring a surveyor to lay out massive…
Kaufman County · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman County, a place settled by pioneers seeking opportunity. Back in 1840, a group from Mississippi, led by William P. King, arrived and built a fort they called King's Fort. This early…
Kaufman Pioneer Cemetery (Love Family Cemetery) · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Kaufman Pioneer Cemetery, the final resting place for some of the very first families to settle this part of Texas. William and Nancy Love were among the earliest, arriving in January of <say-as…
Kaufman, TX · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Kaufman, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to a fort built by Dr. William P. King in 1840. He brought forty families to this area, purchased land, and built Kings Fort on a hilltop. This…
Adams, Jed Cobb · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Jed Cobb Adams, lawyer and politician, the son of Z. T. and Elizabeth (Ratliff) Adams, was born on January 14, 1876, in Kaufman, Texas. He attended Southwestern University in Georgetown from 1889 to 1891 and Bingham…
Young, James · 11.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Kaufman, you're passing through the hometown of James Young. He wasn't your typical politician. Young was a staunch prohibitionist, so dedicated that he refused to…
Brooklyn Lodge No. 386, A.F. & A.M. · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Forney, Texas, a town that got its name from a railroad director. Back in 1873, the Texas and Pacific Railroad rolled in, and the village of Brooklyn was renamed Forney. The same year, the…
William Madison McDonald · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of William Madison McDonald, a man known as 'Gooseneck Bill'. Born in 1866 near Johnson Point, his parents were former slaves. McDonald was a standout student, even working for a…
McKellar House · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the McKellar House in Forney, a home that's seen over a century of Texas history. It started as a landowner and merchant's home, built way back in 1873 by John Alexander McKellar. But its most…
Adams, Walter Dickson · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a business that served this town for nearly a century. Walter Dickson Adams arrived in Forney in 1887, and by 1893, he bought the local drugstore. He ran that business for an incredible…
Forney · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Forney, Texas. Before the railroad, this area was just a Native American trail and early roads. Pioneer families started settling here in the mid-1840s. By 1871, a village called Brooklyn…
Duncan and Emma McKellar House · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Duncan and Emma McKellar House, built back in 1886. This two-story home was one of the first high-style residences in Forney, showcasing Queen Anne and Eastlake architectural details. The…
Forney Messenger · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Forney, and right here, you're passing the home of its oldest continuously operating newspaper: The Forney Messenger. It first hit the streets back on April 16, 1896, thanks to M. J. Cox. Inside…
The Town Named Brooklyn That Had to Become Forney · 11.5 mi
The streets around you started out as a place called Brooklyn. By 1870 settlers were drifting onto this stretch of blackland prairie, and one of them, John C. McKellar, opened the first general store. They called the…
The Day an EF3 Spared the Schoolchildren · 11.5 mi
On the afternoon of April 3, 2012, a violent storm dropped an EF3 tornado just southwest of Forney, on the far side of Highway 80, and drove it north-northeast through town. With estimated winds up to 150 miles an hour,…
Two Old Storefronts That Hold the Whole Town's Memory · 11.5 mi
At 200 South Bois d'Arc Street, two restored downtown buildings hold the Spellman Museum of Forney History, the place to understand everything else you're driving past. The Forney Historic Preservation League founded it…
The Printmaker Born on a Forney Farm · 11.5 mi
Forney's most accomplished artist was born here on March 17, 1905. Coreen Mary Spellman, second of six children of an Irish farmer and banker, grew up on this Kaufman County land before leaving to chase a life in art…
Gilbert Grape's Mother Lived and Died in Forney · 11.5 mi
One of the most quietly powerful screen performances of the 1990s came from a woman who spent her last years in a Forney home. Darlene Cates played the housebound mother of Johnny Depp's and Leonardo DiCaprio's…
1899 Automobile Trip · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Forney, Texas, right where a piece of automotive history happened back in 1899. Look around – imagine this scene over a century ago! On October 5th of that year, a man named Edward Green, along…
Dixie Overland Highway (U. S. Highway 80) · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
Hey road trippers! You're cruising past a piece of Texas history right here. Back in the early 1900s, before we had interstates, folks dreamed of paved roads connecting the country. The Dixie Overland Highway was one of…
Moore, Dick P. · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Dick P. Moore home, built in 1910, right in the middle of Forney's economic boom. Moore, a merchant and cotton farmer, built this house for his family. His wife, Nancy, lived here until 1958.…
William and Blanche Brooks House · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the William and Blanche Brooks House in Forney. Built in 1898, this home was designed by Dallas architect Charles Alexander Gill. It was a wedding gift to the Brooks from Yancy McKellar. Notice the…
Hillcrest Cemetery · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Hillcrest Cemetery in Forney. The earliest marked grave here belongs to M. Elizabeth Collins, who died in 1867, even before Forney was settled. By 1880, this site was formally set aside as a public…
Locust Grove · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be Locust Grove, a bustling Texas community founded in the 1800s. It had a saw mill, a doctor, a grocery store, and even three churches! In 1891, local leaders bought land for a…
The Yellow Wood Hard as Iron That Named a Forney Street · 11.7 mi
One of downtown's oldest streets isn't called Bois d'Arc by accident. The bois d'arc tree, Maclura pomifera, also known as Osage orange or horse-apple, grows thick across the Kaufman County blackland, and its wood is…
The Spanish-Roofed Schoolhouse the Depression Built · 11.7 mi
At 600 South Bois d'Arc Street sits a building that looks more like a mission than a prairie schoolhouse, and that's the point. Forney's high school was erected in 1938 and 1939 with a grant from the federal Works…
Forney High School Building · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the old Forney High School building, a Spanish Colonial revival gem. It went up between 1938 and 1939, thanks to the Works Progress Administration, or WPA. Look for the tile roof, the buff brick,…
Forney Independent School Dist. · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of early education in Forney, which began around 1868 with a small room serving as both school and church. The Forney Independent School District was formed in 1899, and this site saw…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Kaufman (Kaufman) · 12.0 mi
Kaufman (Kaufman, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Braxton Deville (0.453 avg, 2 HR).
Kaufman County Poor Farm · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kaufman, Texas, where for nearly a century, this county had a unique solution for its less fortunate residents. Back in 1883, Kaufman County opened a poor farm. It wasn't just a place to live; it…
Kaufman County Indigent Cemetery · 12.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Kaufman County Indigent Cemetery. This quiet place holds the stories of those often forgotten by history. It started as part of a 600-acre poor farm purchased by the county in 1883. It became the…
Travis Ranch, TX · 12.4 mi
Nestled in the northwestern corner of Kaufman County, Travis Ranch is approximately 10 miles northeast of Mesquite and 15 miles northwest of Terrell. It shares its northern border with the city of Heath and is uniquely…
Morrow Chapel Cemetery · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Morrow Chapel Cemetery, a place that started as a family burial ground. The first person laid to rest here was Alexander Morrow, an infant, back in 1853. Fast forward to 1892, and Alexander's mother,…
The Ground That Cracks Open Every Summer · 12.9 mi
The dark ground under Crandall is famous among soil scientists. This is the Blackland Prairie, and the classic soil here is Houston Black, the official Texas state soil. It is a vertisol, forty to sixty percent clay,…
The Preacher Who Named Two Towns · 12.9 mi
Crandall carries the name of Reverend Cornelius F. Crandall, a Methodist minister who had already put his name on a town once before. Born in 1827, he laid out Crandall, Indiana, then moved to Kaufman County in 1877 and…
The End of the Line for the Texas Trunk · 12.9 mi
The town exists because of a railroad that barely made it. The Texas Trunk Railroad was chartered in 1879 with a grand plan: run from Dallas all the way southeast to the Gulf at Sabine Pass. By August 1881 the crew had…
Crandall, City of · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crandall, a town named for a Methodist minister who arrived here in 1877. Reverend C. F. Crandall bought 1800 acres and became the town's first postmaster when the post office opened in 1881. He…
Bonnie Parker's Poetry · 13.1 mi
In 1932, before she was a national celebrity, Bonnie Parker spent two months in the Kaufman County Jail. She and a small-time crook named Ralph Fults were arrested that April after a botched hardware store robbery over…
The Kaufman County Murders · 13.1 mi
The Kaufman County Courthouse is usually a symbol of order, but in 2013, it was at the center of a story that shocked the nation. It began when Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was assassinated just a block from…
The Man Who Made the Stooges · 13.1 mi
Imagine walking through downtown Kaufman in 1896. Somewhere in this town, on the first of October, a baby was born and named Ernest Lea Nash. The world would come to know him as Ted Healy, the creator and original…
The Millionaire's Model Railroad · 13.1 mi
The railroad that transformed Kaufman in the 1890s wasn't just any railroad; it was an engineering marvel for its time. It was called the Texas Midland, and it was the pet project of Edward H.R. Green, the son of Hetty…
Kaufman, TX · 13.1 mi
Kaufman, Texas, holds a unique place in American history as the first town where Bonnie Parker, of the infamous duo Bonnie and Clyde, was incarcerated. This event adds a layer of intrigue to the city's past, making it a…
The Reservoir That Was Forney's Before It Was Dallas's · 13.1 mi
Four miles north of downtown, the wide water of Lake Ray Hubbard spreads across the East Fork of the Trinity River, and most people boating on it have no idea it was first named for this town. The reservoir was built in…
Blackland Cemetery · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Blackland Cemetery near Fate. In 1882, land was donated here for a school, church, and cemetery, combining with the older George V. Bost family burial ground. The oldest marked grave dates back to…
The Town That Fought Dallas and Won · 13.5 mi
The city of Heath exists today because a handful of farmers got out ahead of the annexation maps. In the 1950s this was an unincorporated farming community out on the blackland east of the Trinity — a place that once…
The Lake That Made a City · 13.5 mi
The beautiful lake that defines Heath is not a natural feature; it’s a massive feat of civil engineering. By the 1960s, the growing city of Dallas desperately needed more water. The solution was to build a dam across…
Heath, TX · 13.5 mi
Heath's growth resumed after mid-century due to suburban expansion from nearby Rockwall and the Dallas area, as well as the development of Lake Ray Hubbard in 1969-1970. Its strategic location along Farm Road 740,…
Heath, Ephraim Charles · 13.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Heath, Texas, a town named for the family that settled here back in 1846. Right here, Ephraim Charles Heath, born in this very town in 1850, became a passionate prohibition leader. He was…
Heath, TX · 13.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Heath, Texas, a community with roots stretching back to 1846. It started as Black Hill, named for the rich soil, and was home to the very first post office in what is now Rockwall County,…
Heath Methodist Church · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Heath Methodist Church. It all started back in 1890 as Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church, South, just south of here. The congregation packed up their building and moved to Heath between…
Barnes, Sterling Rex · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Heath, Rockwall County, where Sterling Rex Barnes settled in 1846 after migrating from Mississippi. A true pioneer, he helped establish the Black Hill community, now Heath. Barnes was a charter…

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Before Hollywood, He Played Piano at New Hope Baptist RoadyGoat

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