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Whitney, Texas

Everything Whitney is known for

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Music in Whitney

Songs About Whitney

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Artists From Whitney

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Lincoln Durham
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Rivers & Roads in Song near Whitney

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Whitney.

Brazos River 43 songs Interstate 35 45 songs Chisholm Trail 8 songs

Musical Heritage

The Name the Ironworkers Gave Him RoadyGoat

1934

The most quoted list of Texas towns in country music was written by a man who grew up in this one. Sanger Shafer was born just outside Whitney in 1934, into a gospel-singing house. Both his parents sang with the Stamps Blue Jackets, a quartet out of the Stamps School of Music in Dallas, and his mother played piano and taught him. An uncle handed him his first guitar in junior high, and he played in the school bands here. The name everybody knows him by came off a job. In high school he worked for a local ironworking crew, and those men never bothered to learn he was called Sanger. They took one look and called him Whitey, and that is the name on his Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame plaque. Getting to that plaque took a while. He did a stretch in the Army, dug ditches, ran a turkey farm over toward Waco, and played the Circle R Club seven nights a week for close to nothing. He did not write his first song until he was about thirty. Then he got a demo to his hero Lefty Frizzell, who cut one of the songs right away and turned into his closest writing partner. Whitey Shafer wrote Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind, and he wrote All My Ex's Live in Texas with his fourth wife. Both went to number one for George Strait. He said the ex's song was a true story, kind of, that he changed the names to protect the guilty and changed the towns too. Whitney is not one of the four towns it names. And the last line, the joke about hanging his hat in Tennessee, turned out to be the plan. He lived out the rest of his life there and died in Tennessee in 2019.

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The Fire That Saved Texas Courthouses RoadyGoat

1993

The fire that nearly destroyed Hillsboro's courthouse ended up saving historic courthouses across Texas. On New Year's Day in 1993, an electrical short set the 1890 Hill County Courthouse ablaze. The roof and the seventy-foot clock tower collapsed, and the courthouse bell, cast in Baltimore and weighing more than fifteen hundred pounds, crashed down into the district courtroom. When the smoke cleared, only the limestone exterior walls were still standing. Instead of replacing it with a modern box, Hill County chose to rebuild the courthouse exactly as architect W. C. Dodson had drawn it, finishing the restoration in 1999. Hillsboro native Bob Bullock, then the lieutenant governor, championed the effort, and the most famous musician from a tiny town just down the road in Hill County played benefit concerts to help pay for it. The disaster helped inspire what became the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program, which has since rescued courthouses all over the state. (Sources: Texas Highways; Texas Historical Commission; Architexas.)

11.9 mi away

The Hillsboro Drummer Who Helped Invent Rock RoadyGoat

1939

Hillsboro's best music story might be a drummer. Jerry Allison was born here in 1939, and he became the drummer for Buddy Holly and the Crickets, one of the bands that essentially invented rock and roll. Allison co-wrote two of the songs that started it all, Peggy Sue and That'll Be the Day. He always told the story that the second title came straight off the movie screen: he and Holly had just watched John Wayne repeat the line over and over in the 1956 western The Searchers, and as Allison remembered it, within about thirty minutes they had written the song. It is a remarkable thing to stand on the Hillsboro square and realize this small Central Texas town has a direct line to the birth of modern rock. (Sources: Wikipedia, with cited sources; Vintage Rock, 2022 interview.)

11.9 mi away

Hillsboro's Hand in a Famous Prison Album RoadyGoat

1932

Coming out of Huntsville's prison-music history, there is a perfect Hillsboro footnote. Record producer Bob Johnston was born here in 1932. He went on to produce some of the most important records of his era, working with Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Simon and Garfunkel. And he produced the man in black's landmark live album recorded inside Folsom Prison, which means this Hill County town has an indirect hand in one of the most famous prison recordings ever made. Johnston summed up his whole production philosophy in one rough, honest line that fit a room full of inmates as well as any studio: don't ever quit, don't stop playing, and if you do, don't come back. (Sources: Wikipedia, with cited sources; UNCUT; Briscoe Center.)

11.9 mi away

History of Whitney

Taming the Brazos: The Whitney Dam RoadyGoat

The lake that defines Whitney is no accident of nature; it’s a massive feat of civil engineering. For the first half of the 20th century, the Brazos River was a menace, prone to devastating floods that wiped out farms and cities downstream. To solve this, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designed the Whitney Dam. Construction began in 1947. It’s a gravity and earthfill dam, a hybrid design. The concrete section you can see from the park below uses its immense weight—over a million tons of concrete—to hold back the water. This section also houses the powerhouse, where turbines convert the water's flow into hydroelectricity. The rest of the dam is a massive earthen embankment stretching over two miles long. When it was finished in 1951, this carefully engineered structure transformed the Brazos from a threat into a resource, providing flood control, power, and the recreational lake that gave the town of Whitney its modern identity.

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The Ghost of Towash RoadyGoat

A few miles from here there is a town you cannot visit, because it is under the lake. It is called Towash, and it started in 1835, when a band of Ioni Indians moved from Louisiana to the east bank of the Brazos. The settlement took the name of their leader. A grist mill and carding machine went up in 1850 and made the place a trading center, and by 1879 Towash had fifteen business enterprises. That same year the Houston and Texas Central laid track across the prairie and established Whitney, the first railroad town in Hill County. The merchants of Towash did the math. They moved their businesses, and in some cases the buildings themselves, over to the new town on the tracks, and Towash emptied out. The deserted place stood there for another seventy years. Then in 1951 the Whitney Dam was finished, and the lake rose over the site. When people fish that water, they are floating above a town that was already a ghost before it ever drowned.

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The House on the Cliff RoadyGoat

Imagine watching your backyard crack open above a seventy-five-foot drop. That is what happened at the White Bluff community on Lake Whitney. For years, a luxury home sat on a scenic bluff with a spectacular view of the water, and the geology that made the view was also what undid it. Water had been working into the soft rock at the base of the limestone, and a long fissure opened in the cliff behind the house. The home was condemned as it began to slide with the cliff face, and the ending was not the one you would expect. On June 13, 2014, fire crews deliberately burned the house to the ground, because letting it fall on its own would have dumped a mansion's worth of debris into the lake. Then in May 2015, during a severe storm, a huge section of that cracked bluff let go and crashed into the water. The fissure kept widening afterward and began to threaten a neighbor's home. It was a very public lesson in geology: on Lake Whitney, the view and the risk are the same rock.

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Whitney - Battle of the Benches

1949

In 1949 the women of Whitney, Texas, tried to have the cedar benches on Main Street moved to an alley because of the spitting, whittling, and cussing of the men who sat on them. The dispute went to an election. The men won. Life magazine covered the story. The refurbished benches now sit on the porch of the Lake Whitney Museum at 303 North Brazos Street.

Duncan, Thomas Elmer [Tommy]

1932

Thomas (Tommy) Elmer Duncan, singer and songwriter, was born on January 11, 1911, in Whitney, Texas, into a large and impoverished family of truck farmers. He was the son of Jackson Limuel Byrd Duncan and Edna Nash (Powers) Duncan. On the farm he worked with African Americans who indelibly marked his singing style and repertoire. He was influenced, according to his sister Corrine Andrews, "by the records of colored people and by the recordings of Jimmie Rodgers" ( James Charles Rodgers ). When he was seventeen he left home and moved in with a cousin near Hedley, where residents remembered that Duncan sang Jimmie Rodgers songs as he drove along in an "old stripped-down car." He evidently went broke on a farm he had leased in Hedley and in the early 1930s was still broke, out of work, and living in Fort Worth. But the show-business bug had bitten him, and he was determined to have a career as a singer. Clifton "Sleepy" Johnson, an early member of the Light Crust Doughboys , recalled first seeing Duncan playing a little cheap guitar "about a foot and a half long" and singing at the Ace High root beer stand for tips. In 1932 Duncan won an audition against sixty-six other singers to join bandleader James Robert (Bob) Wills as the vocalist for the Light Crust Doughboys. He was versatile in his singing style and repertoire, had a fine voice and range, and was ideal for the kind of dance music Wills performed. In his earliest recording sessions for Wills, he sang everything from ballads and folk to pop, Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and cowboy songs. Even in songs with sad lyrics he maintained a touch of fun. Duncan had "soul" in his singing like black blues singers, not the sentimentality of some country singers. His versatility was well-suited to the western swing music that he and Wills pioneered. When Wills left the Light Crust Doughboys in August 1933 to form the Texas Playboys, Duncan went with him. Alton Stricklin , a member of the group, observed that Duncan remembered the lyrics to more than 4,000 songs and could learn the words to a new song within fifteen minutes. The song that made the Texas Playboys famous was a folk-rooted pop song that Irving Berlin heard Wills play as a fiddle instrumental and published in 1940. Since Berlin wanted lyrics for the selection, Wills asked Duncan and several other band members to help him write words for the fiddle tune. Wills called it "New San Antonio Rose." In 1940 Wills recorded it in Dallas. That recording, with the brilliant Duncan vocals, sold three million copies for Columbia Records (now CBS Records). Bing Crosby then recorded it and won his second gold record. Tommy Duncan was the first member of Wills's band to volunteer for the armed services after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He rejoined Wills in 1944 as the war neared its end and as Bob Wills was becoming even more famous in music and the movies. Duncan appeared with Wills in several movies, including Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (1944), Rhythm Roundup (1945), Blazing the Western Trail (1945), Lawless Empire (1945), and Frontier Frolic (1946). He became not only a movie star but the most famous singer in all of western swing. His voice matured in the middle to late 1940s, and he became a star in his own right, second only to Wills himself in the Texas Playboy band. Duncan, who could also play piano and guitar, joined Wills in writing several numbers, including "New Spanish Two Step" (1945), "Stay a Little Longer" (1945), "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (1946), and "Sally Goodin" (1947). For various reasons, including Wills's periodic drinking and Duncan's own ego and ambition to strike out on his own, Duncan left the Texas Playboys in 1948. He organized one of the best western swing bands ever assembled, Tommy Duncan and His Western All Stars. Although the band was technically perfect, and Duncan's singing was excellent, the band lacked the spark that had made Wills's group exciting. The band had only minor success with such recordings as "

Tsha Handbook →

Whitney

1879

Whitney, the first railroad town in Hill County, was established in 1879 on the route of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad and was named for railroad investor Charles A. Whitney. Lots in the new town were sold at a "Grand Picnic" on November 25, 1879. An eager crowd bid on the lots which sold at prices ranging between $100 and $750. Several merchants who purchased lots established "tent stores" while carpenters worked night and day to complete wooden frame stores. Soon a central business district was in operation. The new town included a post office, bank, school, several churches, civic organizations, a newspaper, and many businesses. The opera house was the cultural center for entertainment, offering theatrical and musical productions and, later, movies. Several devastating fires burned much of the downtown area over the years, but the citizens rebuilt each time. The building of nearby Whitney Dam caused the town's population to expand in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and brought increased tourism from those visiting the newly created Lake Whitney. The town of Whitney observed its 100th birthday on November 25, 1979. A centennial celebration included a parade, musical entertainment, and fireworks.

Historical Marker →

Whitney, TX

1876

Whitney is at the intersection of State Highway 22 and Farm roads 933 and 1244, two miles southeast of Lake Whitney and twelve miles southwest of Hillsboro in western Hill County. It was established in 1876 when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad built a line through Hill County to Cleburne. On November 25, 1879, the town lots were auctioned from a wagon on the site of the future depot. The land, which was originally part of the Sterling Robertson grant, was purchased by the railroad from I. E. Griffith, C. C. Hicks, and Lewis Raborn for fifteen dollars an acre. The sale, which served as entertainment for Hill County residents, netted $32,000 for the lots that sold for $100 to $750 each. The town was named for Charles A. Whitney, the son-in-law of Charles Morgan , and a principal stock holder in the H&TC. Whitney became a boom town with merchants setting up tents to serve as temporary stores. Merchants from nearby communities, such as Towash, moved their businesses and buildings to Whitney because of the growth expected from the railroad. The postmasters of Towash and Hamilton Springs, two nearby communities, moved their post offices to Whitney. Several months later John Napier was appointed the first official postmaster, and Whitney officially had a post office in 1880. Hill County crops in 1880 were a failure, and the railroad promised that the first train to town would bring a bushel of corn for each person in the area. Many residents had not had bread for months, and the trains carried carloads of corn for months. In 1882 a good crop sent 22,000 bales of cotton from Whitney. In 1880 Whitney was incorporated, and the first bank opened. By 1883 the population was estimated at 1,200. School was held in a store and then in the Presbyterian church before enough money was raised through donations to build a schoolhouse in 1884. In 1885 Whitney was incorporated as a school district and levied a school tax. That same year a black school was built. By then the town had a newspaper named the Whitney Messenger , the Boesche Lumber Company, and four churches, Methodist Episcopal, Cumberland Presbyterian, First Baptist, and Church of Christ. After 1883 the population of Whitney began a decline. A fire in 1885 destroyed thirty of the community's frame buildings. By the end of the decade most of the frame buildings had been replaced by brick. In 1890 the population was 400, and businesses included two gristmills and cotton gins, grocery stores, millinery shops, saloons, and shoemakers. The railroad shipped cotton, grain, livestock, and wool. Because of the declining population the citizens of Whitney decided to promote their town with a picnic in 1891. The community barbecued 3,500 pounds of meat, and special excursion trains ran from as far as Brenham to bring people to Whitney. There were political speakers, tournaments, races, and dancing. The picnic was a success. Six thousand people attended, and by 1895 the population was once again over 1,000. The town was incorporated and unincorporated several times and finally incorporated permanently in 1912. The city government was established in 1915. At that time they purchased the water and electric company, founded in 1896, which supplied water with very low pressure and electricity only at night. After the decline of the cotton market in 1915 the population began to decline. By 1930 Whitney had 750 residents and thirty businesses. During the Great Depression Texas relief funds provided some jobs on roads and opened a cannery by 1934. The Work Projects Administration provided funds to build a concrete bridge to replace a wooden one, a lighted athletic field, and a sewer system in 1935. When the Whitney Dam and Reservoir Project was authorized in 1944 a bond election was held to raise taxes to improve city services. The reservoir project began in 1946, and Highway 22, relocated over the dam, was opened in 1951. The power plant was in operation by 1953. In 1950 Whitney had a population

Tsha Handbook →

Walling, Jesse

1836

Star and Wreath Participated in the Battle of San Jacinto. Erected by the State of Texas 1957

Historical Marker →

Whitney Messenger

1883

The Whitney Messenger , the community newspaper of Whitney, Texas, was founded on November 2, 1883, by H. P. and J. O. Jones. Throughout its history the paper was owned and edited by a variety of people expressing different political views, but its most important duty from its founding in 1883 to the present was in reporting community events and carrying advertising for local merchants. The Mayes family's long relationship with the paper began in 1890, when it was sold to J. T. and D. S. Mayes. Several different members of the Mayes family controlled the paper until 1916. From 1916 to 1933 it was owned by J. L. Yarbro. From 1933 to 1951 it was once again run by the Mayes family. Leonard Webb bought the paper in 1951 and served as its editor for the next twenty-three years; he was also serving twenty-eight years as justice of the peace. After 1951 the newspaper had several different owners. The Whitney Messenger was published continuously from its founding in 1883 to the 1990s, except for a year and a half during World War II when its editor, L. B. Mayes, went to California to work in a defense plant. In 1991 the weekly newspaper was edited by Nelson Bryan and had a circulation of 450.

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in Whitney

food 16.7 mi away
The Czech Stop

In 1983 Bill Polk opened a little convenience store off I-35 in West Texas and started selling kolaches he bought from a nearby bakery. The pastries moved so…
historical 19.0 mi away
Murder of the Disk Plow Inventor

Young Ole Ringness grew up on a Norse farm near Clifton watching mud cup inside a wagon wheel. That observation inspired the disk plow and disk harrow. In 1872…
historical 19.0 mi away
The 11000-Year-Old Shaman Burial

In 1970 archaeologists excavated a limestone overhang along the Bosque River near Clifton and found something extraordinary. The 11000-year-old remains of a…
quirky 19.0 mi away
The Day Clifton Out-Snowed the Panhandle

On December 21 1929 a weather station near Clifton recorded 24 inches of snowfall in a single day. That is the all-time daily snowfall record for the entire…
historical 19.0 mi away
Norwegian Capital of Texas

In 1854 a band of eighteen Norwegian immigrants led by Cleng Peerson settled in the hills west of Clifton. They built homes from native limestone because rock…
historical 19.1 mi away
The Father of Norwegian Immigration

Cleng Peerson is buried near Clifton in the tiny Norse community he helped found. Known as the Father of Norwegian Immigration to America he first scouted New…
food 16.5 mi away
Slovacek's West

I-35 exit 353 in West, Texas — the rival Czech bakery to the Czech Stop across the highway. Over 35 kolache varieties, in-house smoked meats, and a full deli…
quirky 18.9 mi away
The Limestone Homesteads of Norse

The Norwegian settlers near Clifton built everything from native limestone because trees were scarce on the Bosque County prairie. About 40 of these hand-cut…

Everything Near Whitney

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

  • The Name the Ironworkers Gave Him

    The most quoted list of Texas towns in country music was written by a man who grew up in this one. Sanger Shafer was born just outside Whitney in 1934, into a gospel-singing house. Both his parents sang with the Stamps…

  • Whitney - Battle of the Benches · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    In 1949 the women of Whitney, Texas, tried to have the cedar benches on Main Street moved to an alley because of the spitting, whittling, and cussing of the men who sat on them. The dispute went to an election. The men…

  • Duncan, Thomas Elmer [Tommy] · 0.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Thomas (Tommy) Elmer Duncan, singer and songwriter, was born on January 11, 1911, in Whitney, Texas, into a large and impoverished family of truck farmers. He was the son of Jackson Limuel Byrd Duncan and Edna Nash…

  • Whitney · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    Whitney, the first railroad town in Hill County, was established in 1879 on the route of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad and was named for railroad investor Charles A. Whitney. Lots in the new town were sold at a…

  • Whitney, TX · 0.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Whitney is at the intersection of State Highway 22 and Farm roads 933 and 1244, two miles southeast of Lake Whitney and twelve miles southwest of Hillsboro in western Hill County. It was established in 1876 when the…

  • Boesch House · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Boesch House in Whitney. Edouard Boesch arrived in 1879, shipping the very first load of lumber to this brand new town. He bought the local lumberyard and soon became a leading…

  • Whitney Messenger · 0.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    The Whitney Messenger , the community newspaper of Whitney, Texas, was founded on November 2, 1883, by H. P. and J. O. Jones. Throughout its history the paper was owned and edited by a variety of people expressing…

  • Nearly 1,700 readers by 1903 · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Whitney Messenger, a newspaper that started publication in 1883, just four years after this railroad town was founded. Under Dan Mayes' leadership, it grew from a small four-page…

  • Whitney Messenger · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    This newspaper began publication in 1883, four years after the railroad town of Whitney was founded. Established by H. P. and J. O. Jones, the "Messenger" was purchased by J. T. and Dan S. Mayes in 1890. Dan Mayes, who…

  • King Memorial United Methodist Church · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Whitney, and right here is the King Memorial United Methodist Church. It all started back in 1875, west of town, in a place called Pecan Grove. A circuit rider named I. M. Reeve helped the folks…

  • Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hill County, near Whitney. Back in 1869, the first African-American Baptist congregations began forming right here. Three of those early churches, at Towash, Lofer's Bend, and near Aquilla, joined…

  • Whitney Memorial Park · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Whitney Memorial Park, a resting place created by necessity. In 1950, the construction of Whitney Dam meant a massive undertaking: moving over twelve hundred graves from six historic cemeteries.…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • Taming the Brazos: The Whitney Dam · 0.9 mi

    The lake that defines Whitney is no accident of nature; it’s a massive feat of civil engineering. For the first half of the 20th century, the Brazos River was a menace, prone to devastating floods that wiped out farms…

  • The Ghost of Towash · 0.9 mi

    A few miles from here there is a town you cannot visit, because it is under the lake. It is called Towash, and it started in 1835, when a band of Ioni Indians moved from Louisiana to the east bank of the Brazos. The…

  • The House on the Cliff · 0.9 mi

    Imagine watching your backyard crack open above a seventy-five-foot drop. That is what happened at the White Bluff community on Lake Whitney. For years, a luxury home sat on a scenic bluff with a spectacular view of the…

  • Whitney, TX · 0.9 mi

    In 1922, a local druggist named D. Scarborough, also known as 'Doctor Dee,' installed a bench outside his store in Whitney. This bench quickly became a gathering spot for the town's old men, who would sit there to…

  • Walling, Jesse · 0.9 mi

    You're driving past the site of the Battle of San Jacinto, where Texas won its independence. But this marker? It's not about Sam Houston or Santa Anna. It's about Jesse Walling — a private soldier who picked up a rifle…

  • Walling, John C. · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Whitney, Texas, where a man named John C. Walling made his mark. In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1836</say-as>, Walling served in the Texas Army. That's the same year Texas won its…

  • Carver Homestead · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Carver Homestead, a place with a story stretching back to 1838. That's when Mary Beacham received a massive land grant, setting in motion a line of notable women connected to this…

  • Bethlehem Cemetery · 1.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hill County, near Whitney. In 1879, local farmers and businessmen established the Bethlehem community, complete with a Baptist church and this cemetery. Families moved here to be closer to the…

  • Towash · 3.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past what used to be Towash, named for a Hainai Indian chief and one of the very first settlements in Hill County. In 1850, S. C. Dyer built a grist mill and carding machine here, turning Towash into a…

  • Bass Fishing in Texas · 3.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hill County, and the waters of Lake Whitney hold a special place in Texas history. Back in the 1950s, bass fishing was just starting to catch on, boosted by new reservoirs built to combat a major…

  • Prairie Valley Community · 5.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Prairie Valley, a place that started life in the shadow of the Waco Indians. Look around – this area saw some of the very first land grants in the region, including one to Dr. Levi Jones,…

  • Fort Graham · 5.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of old Fort Graham, a frontier military post established way back on March 27, 1849. <break time="400ms"/> It was built by the Second United States Dragoons, right on top of a Waco Indian…

  • Fort Graham Cemetery · 5.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving near Whitney, and just a few miles northwest lies Fort Graham Cemetery. This place is a direct descendant of a frontier military post, Fort Graham, established right here in 1849. The fort only lasted…

  • Peoria Cemetery · 5.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving by Peoria Cemetery, established in the 1830s as this community began to grow. The very first burial here wasn't a pioneer elder, but a child who fatally bit by a rattlesnake. Over generations, the William…

  • Ivy-Atchison Pioneer Home · 6.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Ivy-Atchison Pioneer Home, originally built as a log structure in the 1840s. It was one of the first homes in the settlement that became Peoria. The home was once owned by Colonel…

  • The Graves the Lake Moved · 6.4 mi

    Highway twenty-two runs right across the top of Whitney Dam. It did not always go this way. Before the dam, the highway went through a river community called Walling Bend, where King Creek met the Brazos. The bend took…

  • Huron · 6.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the rolling hills of Hill County, near Whitney. This area, once home to Fort Graham in the late 1840s, saw settlers like the Neal family establish communities. But the town you're passing through,…

  • What the Drought Gave Up · 7.1 mi

    In twenty eleven, Texas came off the driest twelve months it had ever recorded, and Lake Whitney dropped far enough to give up some secrets. Five sites full of Native American artifacts were reachable for the first time…

  • Laguna Park, TX · 7.2 mi

    Laguna Park's history is closely tied to the construction of Whitney Dam in the early 1950s. This dam project transformed the area into a recreation destination, drawing visitors to Lake Whitney. To support the growing…

  • Steiner Baptist Church · 7.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Steiner Baptist Church, a testament to resilience! It started in 1891 as Fowler Baptist Church. After a fire in 1907 destroyed their first building, they rebuilt, only to be renamed…

  • Cedron Cemetery and School · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be Cedron, a once-thriving community in northeastern Bosque County. Settlers arrived in the 1850s, drawn by the fertile land along Cedron Creek. Their first project? A schoolhouse,…

  • Smith Bend-Coon Creek Cemetery · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the area near Meridian, where John Jackson Smith and his wife Margaret settled in the 1850s. They founded the Smith Bend community and gave land for this cemetery after their son Burton died in…

  • From Mudtown to the tracks · 8.5 mi

    The Aquilla you see today isn't where it started. The original village, settled in the 1850s, sat a few miles north of here, and the neighbors called it Mudtown. Then around 1880 the Texas Central Railroad came building…

  • Taming Aquilla Creek · 8.5 mi

    Just north of here lies a massive piece of engineering that reshaped this entire region: the Aquilla Dam. The town's namesake, Aquilla Creek, was prone to the same flash flooding that plagues many Texas waterways. To…

  • Aquilla, TX · 8.5 mi

    Aquilla was settled in the 1840s due to its location as the nearest point to Hillsboro where timber could be found. The availability of this natural resource attracted settlers to the area.

  • Woodbury Missionary Baptist Church · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Woodbury, Texas, where the Missionary Baptist Church has been a cornerstone for over 150 years. Organized way back on September 28th, 1871, by Elder Samuel Lacy and Elder S. E. Brooks, this…

  • The Bank Texas Was Not Allowed to Have · 9.0 mi

    Here is a strange piece of Texas law. Starting with the state constitution of eighteen seventy six, Texas flatly banned banks chartered by the state. The ban held for almost thirty years. Through the eighteen nineties,…

  • Aquilla, TX · 9.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Aquilla, Texas, a town that started life as Mudtown. Settlers moved here in the 1840s, drawn by the nearby timber, the closest source to Hillsboro. The community, and nearby Aquilla Creek, likely…

  • Eagle or Jones? · 9.0 mi

    Ask where the name Aquilla comes from and you will get two different answers, one about a bird and one about a man. The state historical marker for the town says Aquilla was named for Aquilla Creek, and that the creek's…

  • Aquilla · 9.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Aquilla, Texas, a town named for the Spanish word for 'Eagle'. Look around – this place really took flight when the railroad arrived in 1879. Suddenly, Aquilla became a major shipping point.…

  • Coon Creek · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Coon Creek, a community that grew from the oldest settlement in this part of Bosque County. It started with Temple Spivey in 1853, but John Jackson Smith really got things going when he bought…

  • Spivey Crossing · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the Brazos River Valley, near what used to be Spivey Crossing. This farming community got its name from Temple Spivey, a wealthy planter who settled nearby in the 1850s. The actual wagon trail…

  • Lebanon United Methodist Church · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Lebanon United Methodist Church. Land was deeded for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1872, with Reverend Floyd T. Wiginton serving as the first pastor. The church's name,…

  • Arnotville School · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Arnotville School, named for Albert M. Arnot, on whose land the first schoolhouse went up sometime between 1874 and 1879. This building served as both a classroom and a church for the…

  • McMullan, Francis · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hill County, Texas, and right here is where a remarkable Texan, Francis McMullan, decided to leave it all behind. Rather than live under Reconstruction governments after the Civil War, McMullan, a…

  • Steiner, Josephus Murray · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hill County, Texas, where a dramatic confrontation unfolded back in 1853. Dr. Josephus Murray Steiner, stationed at Fort Graham, found himself in a dispute with his commanding officer, Major…

  • Stansbury Site · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hill County, near the Whitney Dam, and right below the surface of Lake Whitney lies the Stansbury Site. This was the spot where the first aboriginal dwelling was ever excavated in Central Texas.…

  • Vigilantes and Vigilance Committees · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Texas, a land where sometimes the law couldn't quite keep up. Especially in the decades after the Civil War, when courts were scarce and sheriffs overwhelmed, citizens formed vigilance committees.…

  • Scott's Chapel Cemetery · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hill County, near the site of Scott's Chapel. This community was named for the Scott family, who settled here in the 1850s. One son, Palestine Scott, donated land for a school and church, while…

  • Towash, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Towash was on Towash Creek fifteen miles west of Hillsboro in extreme west central Hill County. The area was originally settled by a band of Ioni Indians, who moved from Louisiana to the east bank of the Brazos River in…

  • Vaughan, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Vaughan is at the intersection of Farm roads 1947 and 310, half a mile east of Aquilla Lake and nine miles southwest of Hillsboro in south central Hill County. Archeological excavations before the construction of…

  • Hill County · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Right here in Hill County, you're driving through land that saw its first European visitors over two centuries ago. In December of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1786</say-as>, a Frenchman named Pedro Vial,…

  • Twentieth Texas Cavalry · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once Hill County, the recruitment ground for the Twentieth Texas Cavalry. <break time="400ms"/> Organized in the spring of 1862, this unit spent most of the Civil War fighting in the…

  • Brandon, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Brandon is at the intersection of State Highway 22 and Farm Road 1243, ten miles east of Hillsboro in eastern Hill County. In 1840–41 a road was surveyed on the banks of Pecan Creek several miles from the site of…

  • Irene, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Irene is on Farm roads 308 and 1946 just north of Navarro Mills Reservoir and twelve miles southeast of Hillsboro in southeastern Hill County. Settlers began moving into the area as early as 1848, when Edwin Zollicoffer…

  • Walling, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Walling is off Farm Road 744 twelve miles southeast of Hillsboro in southeastern Hill County. The town developed around the home of Alonzo Dru Walling, who settled on a 480-acre tract in 1883. About 1885 Walling…

  • Blum Rockshelter · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hill County, and right here, near the town of Blum, lies a spot that helped us understand ancient Texas. In 1952, as Lake Whitney was about to flood the area, archaeologists rushed to excavate the…

  • Birome, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Birome is on Farm Road 308 fifteen miles south of Hillsboro in south central Hill County. The town was established in 1910 as a shipping point on the International-Great Northern Railroad, which had recently extended…

  • Files Valley, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Files Valley, or Files, was on Farm Road 66 and Valley Branch fourteen miles northeast of Hillsboro in northeastern Hill County. Originally the community was called Eureka Valley, but it was renamed on November 19,…

  • Hammel's Branch, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Hammel's (Hammel, Himmel) Branch was on what is now Farm Road 1243, twelve miles northeast of Hillsboro in eastern Hill County. In 1883 the Himmel Branch School was built and named in honor of the first teacher, Emma B.…

  • Kyle Rockshelter · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Kyle Rockshelter, a stratified prehistoric archeological site near the Brazos River in Hill County, now under the waters of Lake Whitney, was partially excavated in 1959 and 1960 by E. B. Jelks and the Texas…

  • Mayfield, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Mayfield is on Hackberry Creek and State Highway 171 seven miles north of Hillsboro in north central Hill County. By the 1850s, area land was being sold for ranching. The first permanent settlers who arrived after 1865…

  • Menlow, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Menlow is on Farm Road 1304 four miles west of Interstate Highway 35 and ten miles southwest of Hillsboro in southwestern Hill County. The community was named after a park in the Carolinas by some of its settlers who…

  • Osceola, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Osceola is on State Highway 171 and Farm Road 934, fifteen miles north of Hillsboro in north central Hill County. Anglo-American settlers began moving into the area as early as the 1850s, but the settlement itself was…

  • Peoria, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Peoria, one of the oldest settlements in western Hill County, is at the intersection of State Highway 22 and Farm Road 1947, six miles west of Hillsboro. It began as an area for travelers to rest and let their cattle…

  • Scotts Chapel, TX · 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Scotts Chapel, two miles south of Farm Road 1304 and twelve miles southwest of Hillsboro in southwest Hill County, was named after J. B. Scott, who settled in the area with Mr. and Mrs. P. G. Scott in 1852, when the…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Hillsboro (Hillsboro) · 11.5 mi

    Hillsboro (Hillsboro, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Braxton Borde (0.500 avg).

  • City of Hillsboro · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hillsboro, a town that owes its start to a doctor who served the Republic of Texas. In 1853, this area, named for Dr. George Washington Hill, officially became Hill County. Early on, cotton was…

  • Branded Burger: Home of the Branded Bun · 11.9 mi

    If you stop for one bite in Hillsboro, make it Branded Burger Company, right downtown across from the courthouse square. Its signature is exactly what the name promises: the bun arrives seared with the restaurant's own…

  • The Fire That Saved Texas Courthouses · 11.9 mi

    The fire that nearly destroyed Hillsboro's courthouse ended up saving historic courthouses across Texas. On New Year's Day in 1993, an electrical short set the 1890 Hill County Courthouse ablaze. The roof and the…

  • The Hillsboro Drummer Who Helped Invent Rock · 11.9 mi

    Hillsboro's best music story might be a drummer. Jerry Allison was born here in 1939, and he became the drummer for Buddy Holly and the Crickets, one of the bands that essentially invented rock and roll. Allison…

  • Reverse-Engineering a Lost Courthouse · 11.9 mi

    Rebuilding the courthouse was really a feat of forensic engineering. When the fire left only the limestone shell standing, engineers and preservation architects had to play detective. First they stabilized cracked,…

  • Bonnie and Clyde's Disputed Hillsboro Killing · 11.9 mi

    On the night of April 30th, 1932, members of the Barrow gang robbed a Hillsboro storekeeper and jeweler named J. N. Bucher, and Bucher was shot and killed. For decades the killing was pinned on Clyde Barrow himself, but…

  • Hillsboro's Hand in a Famous Prison Album · 11.9 mi

    Coming out of Huntsville's prison-music history, there is a perfect Hillsboro footnote. Record producer Bob Johnston was born here in 1932. He went on to produce some of the most important records of his era, working…

  • The Olympic Champion Who Confronted an Assassin · 11.9 mi

    Hillsboro is also the birthplace of one of the greatest athletes America ever produced. Rafer Johnson was born here in 1934 and became a legendary decathlete, the man considered the world's greatest all-around athlete…

  • Katy Depot · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hillsboro, and right here is the old Katy Depot. Built in 1902, this station served the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Rail Line, the Katy, which first arrived in town back in 1881. Imagine the hustle and…

  • Bond's Alley · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hillsboro, and right here is Bond's Alley. Picture this: it's 1881, and Bond's Drug Store opens its doors. This alley quickly became the town's unofficial hangout, especially for folks seeking…

  • Hill County Courthouse · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hill County Courthouse in Hillsboro, a landmark built in 1890. This impressive rusticated limestone structure replaced an earlier brick courthouse. Designed by Waco architect W. C. Dodson, it…

  • Hillsboro Post Office Building · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former Hillsboro Post Office, a building that served the community for over fifty years. Construction kicked off in 1912, designed by Architect James Knox Taylor in a striking Spanish Renaissance…

  • Site of Old Lexington Village · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving near the site of Old Lexington Village, which was founded around 1851. This was Hill County's very first settlement! When the county officially organized on May 14, 1853, Lexington served as its only…

  • The Hillsboro Deputy Who Talked · 11.9 mi

    In November nineteen oh nine, a Hillsboro man named R. J. Ritchie sat before a committee of Texas legislators investigating the state prison system. Ritchie had been a Hill County jailer and deputy sheriff. Starting in…

  • Hill County · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hill County, named for Dr. George W. Hill, a key figure in Texas politics. This county was officially created on February 7, 1853, and organized just a few months later. The first village here was…

  • Pioneer Bank Building · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past one of the oldest bank buildings still standing in Hill County. Look to your right – this structure was built way back in 1887 by the Farmers National Bank, originally using sun-dried bricks. Imagine…

  • James L. Harris · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hillsboro area where James Lindell Harris was born in 1916. He served with the 756th tank battalion, fighting his way through North Africa and Europe. In France, though mortally wounded, Harris…

  • The Jail That Looks Like a Mansion · 12.0 mi

    Right beside the courthouse stands a building that fooled people for a century. The old Hill County jail was completed in 1893, and with its towers and ornamental brickwork it looks far more like an elegant Victorian…

  • Gebhardt Bakery · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hillsboro, and right here is the Gebhardt Bakery building, a taste of early 20th-century commerce. German immigrant Charles Gebhardt opened Hillsboro's very first bakery back in 1901. He moved…

  • Hill County Jail · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hill County Jail, built in 1893. This is the third jail for the county, designed by W. C. Dodson, the same architect who designed the Hill County Courthouse. Notice the Victorian and medieval…

  • Lackawanna Ranch · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the historic Lackawanna Ranch, once owned by Dr. John S. Scofield. He bought this 2500-acre spread in 1858, naming it after the Indian word for 'dwelling of the deep valleys.' Dr. Scofield wasn't…

  • Hillsboro City Cemetery · 12.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hillsboro City Cemetery, established back in 1855. It's recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery, with this marker dedicated in 2002.

  • Unarmed Into Pearl Harbor · 12.2 mi

    Richard Carmichael was born in Hillsboro in nineteen thirteen, and on the morning of the seventh of December, nineteen forty one, he was flying into Pearl Harbor. Major Carmichael had left California the day before,…

  • Three Shots on Nob Hill · 12.2 mi

    Margaret Philpott was born in Hillsboro and became the silent movie star Madge Bellamy. She starred in John Ford's western The Iron Horse, and later with Bela Lugosi in White Zombie. Then, in nineteen forty three, she…

  • Willie's Picnic at Carl's Corner · 12.2 mi

    About seven miles northeast of Hillsboro is Carl's Corner, a town that began as a truck stop, with giant dancing frogs on its sign. On the Fourth of July, nineteen eighty seven, Willie Nelson, who was born just down the…

  • John Wesley Hardin's Hill County Christmas · 12.2 mi

    Late in the fall of eighteen sixty nine, a sixteen year old named John Wesley Hardin came to Hill County, stayed a short time in Hillsboro with his Aunt Anne Hardin, and then went out into the county to trade in cotton…

  • The Ambush at the Presbyterian Church · 12.2 mi

    In the early morning hours of the twenty first of June, nineteen eleven, Hillsboro police officer Frank Glasgow was walking home at the end of his shift when two shotgun blasts hit him near the Presbyterian church. A…

  • Don't Shoot That Woman · 12.2 mi

    In the early nineteen twenties, the Wade brothers of Hill County were fighting over a family estate, and Rosie Wade had filed a criminal complaint against her brother in law, Lynn Wade. One day Lynn and another brother…

  • The Bottle Rocket Motel · 12.2 mi

    Wes Anderson's first feature film, Bottle Rocket, which was also the first movie for Owen and Luke Wilson, was shot in Dallas and here in Hillsboro. A big part of it takes place at a motel on Interstate thirty five,…

  • The Lieutenant in the Road · 12.2 mi

    Second Lieutenant James Harris was born in Hillsboro and entered the Army here. On the night of the seventh of October, nineteen forty four, in Vagney, France, an enemy raiding party with a tank attacked his battalion's…

  • The City Clerk Who Stopped the Bank Runs · 12.2 mi

    Melvin Traylor grew up on a Kentucky farm with about a sixth grade education, came to Hillsboro as a young man, read law, and was elected city clerk of Hillsboro, and then assistant county attorney. For a couple of…

  • Martial Law in Hill County · 12.2 mi

    In December of eighteen seventy, a freedman and his wife were murdered in neighboring Bosque County, and a lieutenant of the Texas State Police followed the suspects into Hill County, among them the son of James…

  • The Hillsboro Kid Who Became Red Duke · 12.2 mi

    The famous trauma surgeon Red Duke was born in Ennis, but he grew up here in Hillsboro, where he delivered newspapers, picked cotton, dug ditches, made Eagle Scout and graduated from Hillsboro High. A Texas Parks and…

  • Peabody School · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the former Peabody School in Hillsboro. Back in 1885, a bond was issued to build this school specifically for the African American community in the Freetown neighborhood. Named for George…

  • Hillsboro's Blues Singers · 12.2 mi

    Two early blues singers came out of Hillsboro. Maggie Jones was born here in eighteen ninety four, went to New York, and was billed as the Texas Nightingale. She recorded nearly forty songs, some of them with Louis…

  • The Texans Who Sailed for Brazil · 12.2 mi

    After the Civil War, some Confederates couldn't stand the thought of staying, and one of the men who led them away was Frank McMullan, whose father was an early landowner and lawyer in Hill County. He found land in…

  • The Night of the F Four · 12.2 mi

    Around nine on the night of the thirty first of March, nineteen fifty nine, an F Four tornado touched down near Vaughan, southwest of Hillsboro, and tracked about ten miles northeast to within a couple of miles of town.…

  • The One Mile in Five Myth · 12.2 mi

    Hillsboro is where Interstate thirty five splits in two, east through Dallas and west through Fort Worth, so here are some interstate facts. You may have heard that one mile out of every five on the interstate has to be…

  • The Town That Built a Monument to a Bug · 12.2 mi

    Hillsboro grew up on cotton, and cotton's worst enemy was the boll weevil, which came up out of Mexico into Texas in the eighteen nineties and spread across the South. In Enterprise, Alabama, the weevil wrecked the…

  • The Hill That Became a Mountain · 12.2 mi

    Hillsboro is named for a man, Dr. George W. Hill, not for any hill. But here's a story about a hill anyway. In Britain, a peak has traditionally had to reach two thousand feet to count as a mountain, and for more than a…

  • Ben Franklin's Turkey · 12.2 mi

    The Hillsboro High mascot is the Eagle, so here's the bird that almost wasn't. In January of seventeen eighty four, Benjamin Franklin, writing from France to his daughter, complained that the bald eagle had been chosen…

  • Tarlton, G. D., House · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Tarlton House in Hillsboro, a Victorian gem built in 1895. Noted attorney Greene Duke Tarlton spared no expense. Imagine hand-carved mantels, stained glass windows, and even a speaking tube…

  • Hillsboro Junior College · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of one of the very first public junior colleges in Texas! Hillsboro Junior College opened its doors in 1923, right as part of the local school system. It saw a high of 410 students in the…

  • The Concorde That Hung Over Times Square · 12.2 mi

    Up the interstate in Itasca, a local tool and die shop made national news in nineteen ninety six, according to a wire story that year, for building a half size replica of a British Airways Concorde jet to hang over New…

  • Why the Interstate Splits Here · 12.2 mi

    Just north of Hillsboro, Interstate thirty five splits in two: thirty five E toward Dallas and thirty five W toward Fort Worth. Both were approved in nineteen fifty nine, each running from a junction at or near…

  • Bob Bullock of Hillsboro · 12.2 mi

    Bob Bullock, one of the most powerful figures in Texas government, was born in Hillsboro on the tenth of July, nineteen twenty nine, the son of the city's engineer and manager. He graduated from Hillsboro High School in…

  • The State Police and the Kinch West Gang · 12.2 mi

    Reconstruction Hill County had more than one outlaw band. In September of eighteen seventy, the Texas State Police moved in to break up a gang led by a man named Kinch West and the Cox brothers, and, the Handbook of…

  • Central Christian Church · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hillsboro, and right here is Central Christian Church. It started way back on September 11th, 1881, with just a small worship service. Six years later, the fellowship officially chartered with 35…

  • First Baptist Church of Hillsboro · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hillsboro, the site of the First Baptist Church. Baptist ministry here started way back in the 1840s with Reverend J. M. Samford. But the official congregation, known then as 'The Baptist Church…

  • Brin House · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Brin House in Hillsboro, a beautiful Victorian home built in 1896 for attorney Robert Jones. But the real story starts in 1917, when Louis and Rebecca Brin purchased it. Louis arrived from Poland…

  • Sims-Womack House · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Sims-Womack House in Hillsboro. The first part of this home was built before 1870, just two rooms and a kitchen detached. Later, Dr. William Thomas Sims, a prominent Hillsboro dentist and civic…

  • Lumpkin House · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hillsboro, and right here is the Lumpkin House. Built in 1883 by contractor John Self Robinson, this home was for R. S. Lumpkin and his wife Mary. Lumpkin was a big deal in town – he was the…

  • McKinnon - Anderson House · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the McKinnon-Anderson House, a beautiful example of Victorian architecture built in 1896. It was first erected by A. P. McKinnon, a highly respected local lawyer who came to Hillsboro in 1873. He…

  • St. Mary's Episcopal Church · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Hillsboro, a beautiful building with a dramatic past. The mission started in the 1870s, but the first church building didn't last long. Bishop Alexander C. Garrett laid…

  • Abbott House · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Jo Abbott House in Hillsboro. Jo Abbott himself was a judge, a congressman, and a banker, but this house has a few stories of its own. He and his wife bought this land back in 1883. The house you…

  • Abbott's Grove · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past what used to be Abbott's Grove, a beloved community gathering spot right here in Hillsboro. Back in the late 1800s, folks came to this grove along Hackberry Creek for picnics, concerts, and…

  • Freeland, J. W. · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hill County, and right around here is where J.W. Freeland made his mark. He was the city marshal of Hubbard back in the late 1800s, a tough time with lots of lawlessness. Freeland moved on to…

  • Cox, John P. · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a man who served Hill County for over two decades. John P. Cox was sheriff for sixteen years, but his service started earlier. In 1861, he joined the Confederate Army's Parsons Brigade.…

  • The Courthouse That Burned and Rose Again · 12.6 mi

    Look towards the center of town and you’ll see it: the grand, almost castle-like Hill County Courthouse. It’s the heart of Hillsboro, but it’s also a miracle. On New Year’s Day, 1993, a fire broke out, gutting the…

  • Rebuilding a Landmark: The Engineering of the Hill County Courthouse · 12.6 mi

    When you see the magnificent Hill County Courthouse in the center of Hillsboro, you're looking at a masterpiece of both 19th-century architecture and 20th-century engineering. The original 1890 structure was a marvel,…

  • Hill County Courthouse · 12.6 mi

    New Year's Day, 1993. An electrical short caught somewhere inside the Hill County Courthouse in Hillsboro, and before the day was out, the seventy-foot bell tower came down in flames. When the smoke cleared, this 1890…

  • Willie Nelson's First Paycheck · 12.6 mi

    Just a few miles south of here is the tiny town of Abbott, birthplace of country music legend Willie Nelson — and you are sitting in his home county. Willie's first paying job in music came while he was still in the…

  • The Whistle that Built a Town · 12.6 mi

    As you drive through Hillsboro, listen for the train. Those tracks are the reason this town looks the way it does. Before 1881 Hillsboro was a small, dusty county seat. Then the railroad came through, the Katy set up…

  • The Lost Interurban Railway · 12.6 mi

    Between 1913 and 1948 you could get from Hillsboro to Dallas or Waco without a car. The Southern Traction Company pushed its electric interurban line south from Waxahachie through Hillsboro and on to Waco in 1913, and…

  • Hillsboro, TX · 12.6 mi

    Cotton became the mainstay of Hillsboro's late 19th-century economy, leading to a building boom between 1890 and 1910. The cotton industry's prosperity is evident in the numerous Queen Anne homes and the noted 1890 Hill…

  • George L. and Roxie Brooks Porter Home · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hillsboro, and just ahead is the Queen Anne style home built in 1901 for George L. and Roxie Brooks Porter. Roxie was the daughter of Cincinattus Ney Brooks, an early Hill County official. George…

  • Harris, James L. · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Texas, maybe near Hillsboro, and right here, we remember James L. Harris. Born in Hillsboro in 1916, Harris was a tank commander in World War II. On a brutal night in October 1944, near Vagney,…

  • Philpott, Margaret · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hillsboro, Texas, the birthplace of Madge Bellamy, a silent film star who found herself in a real-life drama. While her career spanned over sixty films, including classics like 'The Iron Horse'…

  • Jones, Maggie [Fae Barnes] · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Hillsboro, the hometown of Maggie Jones, born here in 1894. She was a blues singer, pianist, and lyricist who became known as the 'Texas Nightingale.' After singing in church, she moved to New York…

  • Bullock, Robert Douglas [Bob] · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hillsboro, the hometown of Robert Douglas "Bob" Bullock. Bullock was a powerhouse in Texas politics, serving as state representative, secretary of state, and comptroller. But he really made his…

  • Edens, Roger · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hillsboro, Texas, the hometown of Roger Edens, a man who helped shape some of Hollywood's most iconic musicals. Born right here in 1905, Edens started as a pianist for dancers and Ethel Merman…

  • Glinn, Lillian · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hillsboro, Texas, the birthplace of Lillian Glinn, a blues singer who hit it big in the late 1920s. Discovered by a Dallas musician, Glinn landed a recording contract with Columbia Records and, in…

  • Hill County Rebellion · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hill County, and right here, back in 1871, things got a little wild. Governor E. J. Davis was trying to clean up crime, but the locals weren't having it. When a state police lieutenant came…

  • Knight, Harry Obadiah · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hillsboro, the birthplace of Harry Obadiah Knight, a man renowned as a brilliant anatomist and professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch. While he helped build one of the nation's finest…

  • Martin, Crawford Collins · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hillsboro, the hometown of Crawford Collins Martin. He wasn't just any politician; he was a trailblazer. After serving as mayor and then a state senator, Martin made history as Texas Attorney…

  • Wier, Joseph Patterson · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hill County, and right here in Hillsboro, you're passing through the hometown of Captain Joseph Patterson Wier. Wier was the first lawyer in town and started the county's first newspaper, the…

  • Abbott, Joseph · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hill County, and right here in Hillsboro is where Joseph Abbott made his mark. A Civil War veteran, Abbott returned to Texas and found himself navigating the tricky waters of Reconstruction. He…

  • Hill College · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving past Hillsboro, Texas, where a bit of educational history unfolded. Back in 1923, Hillsboro Junior College opened its doors, but not in a brand new building. The high school had burned down the year…

  • McGee, John Vernon · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hillsboro, Texas, the birthplace of John Vernon McGee. Born in 1904, McGee grew up with a strong religious calling. After earning multiple degrees, he pastored churches in Georgia and Tennessee…

  • Traylor, Melvin Alvah · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hillsboro, Texas, where a young man named Melvin Traylor arrived in 1898 with little more than a fifth-grade education. He worked as a store clerk, but his ambition led him to law and then…

  • Hillsboro, TX · 12.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hillsboro, the county seat of Hill County. This town owes its existence to a land donation in 1853 by Thomas M. Steiner, who gave 220 acres to establish the community. It was named Hillsborough in…

  • Remembering Dr. King on the Road · 12.9 mi

    This road carries a local memorial name, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Highway. King was born Michael Luther King, Jr., in nineteen twenty nine, and later had his name changed to Martin. He graduated from…

  • Forty Minutes in the Wreck Near Milford · 13.2 mi

    Interstate Thirty Five through the Hillsboro city limits is the Trooper Milton Alexander Memorial Highway. Milton Alexander began his career with the Department of Public Safety on February fourteenth, nineteen sixty…

  • Colony of Kent · 13.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Bosque County, near what is now Kopperl, where a grand experiment in British colonization unfolded. In 1850, the Colony of Kent was founded with visions of becoming a manufacturing hub and a…

  • Allison, Alvin Ray · 13.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Kopperl, Texas, a town that's home to Alvin Ray Allison. Born here in 1907, Allison's life took him from West Texas to the halls of power. Despite the Great Depression interrupting his studies, he…

  • Blum Cemetery · 13.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Blum Cemetery, a final resting place for this Hill County community. It was established around 1881, right when the town of Blum was forming as a stop on the new Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe…

  • The Circus Train Wreck of 1882 · 13.9 mi

    As you roll into Blum, you cross the Nolan River on one of the oldest railroad crossings in this part of Texas. The first bridge went up here in eighteen eighty-one, the same year the town was founded, with two long…

  • Gus Bailey · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Blum, and right here is the story of Gus Bailey, a Civil War musician who became a circus impresario. Bailey led the band for Hood's Texas Brigade, and his wife Mollie was a hero in her own right,…

  • Bailey, Mollie Arline Kirkland · 13.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Texas, maybe heading towards Houston, and you're passing right by a piece of living history. Mollie Bailey, known as the "Circus Queen of the Southwest," wasn't just a performer; she was a woman…

  • The Dice in Chihuahua · 13.9 mi

    Six years after the fight near Blum, nine prisoners in a Mexican jail were handed a pair of dice, and told one of them would hang. They were what was left of Philip Nolan's mustang hunters, captured when Spanish troops…

  • A Town Built by a Railroad · 13.9 mi

    Most towns grow up out of something already there — a crossroads, a ferry landing, a spring. Blum is different. In 1881 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway pushed its tracks through Hill County, and the company…

  • Smith, Frances Sutah [Polly] · 13.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once a very different Texas, a state on the cusp of its Centennial celebration. Right here, in the summer of 1935, a woman named Frances "Polly" Smith was given a monumental task: capture…

  • The Doctor's Skeleton · 13.9 mi

    For years, nobody in this part of Hill County could figure out why anyone would dig up an unmarked grave near an old oak. The answer was hanging in a doctor's office. The story starts one night in eighteen seventy nine.…

  • Frazierville Community and School · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be Frazierville, a community named for Richard Cason Frazier. He and his wife Agnes settled on a land grant right here in 1852, drawn by the timber and spring water. Later, in 1883,…

  • Blum, TX · 13.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Blum, Texas, a town born from the railroad. In 1881, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway pushed through Hill County. A station was planned right here, on land owned by W. H. Taylor. He…

  • Lone Star Cafe: The Comfort-Food Highway Stop · 14.1 mi

    For traditional Texas comfort food, the Lone Star Cafe is the Hillsboro stop, sitting right off Interstate 35. The menu is exactly what you want on a long drive: chicken-fried steak, meatloaf, big burgers, and generous…

  • A Star in the Window, a Marker by the Road · 14.1 mi

    This road carries a Blue Star Memorial Highway designation, one of a string of them across Texas. The name comes from a family tradition. When someone in a household was serving in the armed forces, the family displayed…

  • Confederate Veterans and Old Settlers Reunion Grounds · 14.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the old grounds of the Confederate Veterans and Old Settlers Reunion, a place that was the heart of Hill County social life for over two decades. Starting in 1901, this 73-acre spot hosted annual…

  • Hill county, C.S.A. · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hillsboro, the heart of Hill County during the Civil War. This wasn't a battlefield, but a vital supply center for the Confederacy. Imagine wagons loaded with flour, shoes, saddles, and machinery,…

  • Bobbie Nelson · 14.4 mi

    Before Willie Nelson was Willie Nelson, there was his big sister Bobbie at the piano. She came out of Abbott, Texas, same as him, and for decades she was the piano in his band — Sister Bobbie, he called her. Willie…

  • Abbott, TX · 14.4 mi

    Abbott, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to 1871 when it was founded as a stop for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. The city was named in honor of Joseph 'Jo' Abbott, who represented the area in the Texas…

  • The Town With a Misspelled Name · 14.7 mi

    There's a little spot on the map here called Lovelace. And the name is wrong. Not a bad idea kind of wrong. A misspelling kind of wrong. After the Civil War, a man named J. M. Loveless came to Texas with his two…

  • The Walk to Lovelace · 14.7 mi

    On March thirteenth, nineteen seventy two, a man named Jack Smith walked into Lovelace on foot. Then he turned around. By his own signed confession, he had just shot his wife, Norma Jean, at their home, after an…

  • The Railroad that Built and Broke a Town · 14.8 mi

    The highway you're on follows the ghost of Morgan's creator: the railroad. The community started in 1876 as Steele's Creek, when Louis Cole gathered a few rural neighbors under a live oak tree for a religious meeting.…

  • Covington, TX · 14.8 mi

    In the early 1860s, Gathings College was founded by brothers James and Philip Gathings in Covington. It quickly became the largest school in the state with an enrollment that exceeded 200 students. The school offered…

  • The Iron Horse and the Blackland Prairie · 14.8 mi

    Covington's railroad story isn't about the line that came. It's about the one that didn't. James J. Gathings founded this town in the 1850s, long before anybody laid rail out here, naming it for his wife, Martha Wall…

  • Engineering a Town's Lifeline · 14.8 mi

    The existence of Morgan is a direct result of a 19th-century engineering project. Before the rails, this was Steele's Creek, and it got a post office in 1879 as the Texas Central pushed northwest out of Ross Station…

  • The Mill on Steel Creek · 14.8 mi

    For a couple of decades the most impressive thing in Morgan wasn't a courthouse or a church. It was the mill. The Morgan Mill and Elevator Company was chartered up in Austin in May of 1900 — fifteen thousand dollars in…

  • Czech Settlers in Hill County · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hill County, Texas, where Czech immigrants found a new home. Drawn by fertile land and opportunity, they began arriving in the 1870s, leaving behind political and military pressures in…

  • Baker, J. T., House · 15.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the J.T. Baker House in Blum. It started as a simple one-room cabin way back in the late 1800s. Before 1900, it grew with a couple of board-and-batten additions. Then, in 1900, John Thomas Baker…

  • Eureka Cemetery · 15.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Eureka Cemetery, a quiet testament to a farming community that thrived here in the 1870s. Settlers were drawn by the rich blackland soil, perfect for growing cotton. While Eureka…

  • Abbott Schools · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the historic Abbott schools. The town's public education journey kicked off in 1885 with a simple one-room schoolhouse, serving 140 students and three teachers. Fast forward to 1911, and this site…

  • The Shoeshine Franchise · 15.2 mi

    In his nineteen eighty eight autobiography, Willie Nelson wrote that as a boy in Abbott, he got one of his brilliant business ideas. He went to Frank Clements, the town barber, and suggested a shoe shine franchise in…

  • Thoroughbreds or Scrubs · 15.2 mi

    On an April evening in eighteen eighty seven, a young sheepman named Frank Blocker and a friend drove their wagon up to Brigman's store here in Abbott, on their way home from Waco. Blocker said something about his…

  • Willie Nelson - Abbott, Texas (Dolly Parton on Willie) · 15.2 mi · Quote

    Dolly Parton reflecting on her musical chemistry with Willie Nelson.

  • A Million and a Half in the Cave · 15.2 mi

    In March of eighteen ninety nine, a stranger who said he came from Mexico City turned up in Abbott with what the papers called a cabalistic chart. It showed, he said, a million and a half dollars in gold sealed up in a…

  • Fog at Abbott · 15.2 mi

    Before dawn on the seventh of January, nineteen eleven, two northbound Katy passenger trains came through Abbott in heavy fog. One had stopped because a freight train was ahead of it, and a flagman went back with a…

  • The Doctor's House · 15.2 mi

    On an April night in nineteen thirty three, Willie Nelson's cousin Mildred went to fetch the town doctor, Dr. Sims, who tromped across the field to the little frame house here in Abbott where Willie's mother, Myrle, was…

  • Two Birthdays · 15.2 mi

    Willie Nelson was born here in Abbott at the end of April, nineteen thirty three, and he celebrates twice. On a SiriusXM radio show in two thousand eighteen, he said he was born before midnight on the twenty ninth, but…

  • The Abbott Homecoming · 15.2 mi

    In November of nineteen seventy three, the Abbott PTA sponsored a homecoming show to honor its most famous son, and Billboard magazine reported that some ten thousand country music fans turned up in a town of three…

  • He Joined the Church Thirty Times · 15.2 mi

    Willie and Bobbie Nelson sang in the choir at Abbott's Methodist church, built in eighteen ninety nine. In his nineteen eighty eight autobiography, Willie wrote that when the preacher called for converts at the end of…

  • Every Phone in Town · 15.2 mi

    Before he was famous, Willie Nelson worked the Abbott telephone switchboard, sort of. He told Texas Monthly that his sister Bobbie was really the one with the job. Whenever the operators took a vacation, they'd hire her…

  • Songs by Willie Nelson, Waco, Texas · 15.2 mi

    In nineteen forty four, an eleven year old boy from Abbott finished a homemade book of his own songs. The cover says Songs by Willie Nelson, and under that, in cursive, Waco, Texas. There are tiny hand drawn cowboy hats…

  • Shots on the Troop Train · 15.2 mi

    About ten in the morning on the thirteenth of August, nineteen ten, a special Katy train was carrying Texas National Guard troops home to Dallas from maneuvers at Leon Springs. Just as it came through Abbott, two young…

  • Willie Buys Back His Church · 15.2 mi

    The Abbott Methodist church where Willie and Bobbie Nelson grew up eventually lost its congregation, which merged into the Methodist church in Hillsboro, and the white church building went up for sale. It might have…

  • Willie Hugh, Abbott High · 15.2 mi

    In the nineteen forty nine to fifty Abbott High School yearbook, The Panther, he's listed as Willie Hugh. He was five foot nine and a hundred thirty pounds, and he played a little of everything: basketball, football,…

  • The Cadillac in the Cotton Field · 15.2 mi

    Willie Nelson has told a story about how his music career really started, and it happened right along here. When he was a boy, he was picking cotton on a farm by the highway that ran between Abbott and Hillsboro. It was…

  • The Engine That Exploded · 15.2 mi

    At one forty in the morning on the twenty eighth of January, eighteen ninety seven, Katy engine number one seventy three was pulling a southbound freight train about a mile north of Abbott when its boiler exploded. The…

  • The Town That Kept Burning · 15.2 mi

    Abbott has burned and rebuilt more than once. The Handbook of Texas says the town suffered disastrous fires in eighteen ninety seven, nineteen oh three and nineteen oh four, and was rebuilt after each. In December of…

  • Who's on First, and Who Owns It · 15.2 mi

    The town of Abbott is named for Jo Abbott, a Hill County lawyer, judge and congressman. No relation to Bud Abbott, the tall half of Abbott and Costello, but since we're here. On the twenty fourth of March, nineteen…

  • The Monk Who Didn't Invent Champagne · 15.2 mi

    Abbott sounds like abbot, and one of the most famous monks in history ran the wine cellars of a French abbey. Dom Pierre Perignon was the cellar master at the Abbey of Hautvillers in Champagne in the late sixteen…

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