Wichita Falls, Texas

Everything Wichita Falls is known for

32 songs mention this city 17 artists from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Wichita Falls. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

Wichita Falls, Texas, located in North Texas near the Oklahoma border, has a notable musical presence. The city is home to four artists in our collection, including the pop band Bowling for Soup and country artist Jay Burnam. Six songs in our collection mention Wichita Falls, such as "Wichita Falls" by American Aquarium and "Jamie" by Zach Bryan.

Beyond these artists and songs, Wichita Falls has a history of live music, with venues like The Iron Horse Pub hosting local and touring musicians. The city has also been a stop for famous musicians like Elvis Presley, B.B. King, and Little Richard in earlier decades.

Music in Wichita Falls

Songs About Wichita Falls

As Wichita Falls; So Falls Wichita Falls

Mike Ethan Messick

83%

"TITLE: As Wichita Falls; So Falls Wichita Falls"

Wichita Falls

Houston Marchman & The Contraband

81%

"TITLE"

Wichita Falls

Trailor Trash

80%

"TITLE"

Wichita Falls

American Aquarium

80%

"Wichita Falls"

Wichita Falls

Michael Allen Ott

80%

"TITLE"

Wichita Falls Woman

Buddy Jewell

80%

"Song about WichitaFalls"

Wichita Falls

Laurence Guy

80%

"Song about WichitaFalls"

As Wichita Falls, So Falls Wichita Falls

Mike Ethan Messick

79%

"As Wichita Falls, So Falls Wichita Falls"

Wichita Falls

Houston Marchman

78%

"TITLE"

Wichita Falls

Gregory Dwane

78%

"TITLE"

Busted in Baylor County

Shooter Jennings

55%

"To Wichita Falls by show time"

Tornado Time in Texas

Guy Clark

52%

"Dump it on Wichita falls"

A Little West of Wichita Falls

K.R. Wood

25%

My Hometown

Bowling for Soup

25%

Oklahoma

Trout Steak Revival

24%

"And the Texas line we crossed to end the night"

wichita falls

bailey wesberry

21%

Jamie

Zach Bryan

20%

"From here to damn near Wichita County"

940

Race Ricketts

18%

"TITLE: 940"

Texas to Oklahoma

Iron Skillet

"Texas to Oklahoma"

Wichita River

Jess Williamson

"Wichita River"

Showing top 20 of 32 songs · Hear more in the free iPhone app

Artists From Wichita Falls

Rivers & Roads in Song near Wichita Falls

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Wichita Falls.

Wichita River 2 songs Interstate 44 5 songs Red River 88 songs

History of Wichita Falls

The freight-train roar RoadyGoat

1990

Out here in storm country, survivors almost never call it wind. They reach for machines instead. A freight train. A jet on the runway. A waterfall you can feel in your chest. There is a reason that roar sounds so unnatural. It isn't one sound at all. It's turbulent air screaming through the funnel, layered over houses collapsing, layered over debris slamming into whatever is left standing, layered over a deep low rumble underneath it all. Tornadoes also throw off infrasound, sound below 20 Hz, sometimes as low as 0.5 to 10 Hz, too low for your ears but felt as pressure and vibration through the ground. The bigger the storm, the lower the note. Blend it together and you get one continuous roar with no beginning and no end. That's why people remember the sound long after the sky clears.

The Man Who Named the Dance RoadyGoat

1900

The dance has a name because of a careful Japanese scientist named Sakuhei Fujiwhara. Working in the early twentieth century, he was fascinated by how spinning things in motion tend to settle toward order and symmetry. In a 1921 paper with the wonderful title 'the natural tendency toward symmetry of motion,' he laid out the principle that two nearby whirls will drift into orbit around a common center. He was not even thinking mainly about hurricanes; he was describing a deep tendency of any rotating fluid. Decades later, when forecasters needed a word for two cyclones circling each other, they reached back and borrowed his name, which he spelled Fujiwhara himself. So every time a meteorologist points at two storms and says they are Fujiwhara-ing, they are quietly crediting a man who, a century ago, simply watched how things spin.

Why the sky turns green RoadyGoat

1995

Out here in storm country, the sky sometimes goes an eerie green, and people swear it means a tornado. The honest answer: it does not, at least not reliably. Researcher Frank Gallagher of the University of Oklahoma actually chased storms across Texas and Oklahoma with the VORTEX project, pointing a spectrophotometer at the clouds to measure their color. He found that green shows up with deep, towering storms, but it does not single out the ones that drop a twister. The leading idea is simple: a thunderstorm tall enough to hold huge amounts of water and hail, lit by low reddish light near sunset, can scatter that light into a sickly green. His advisor noted these green storms turn up most often in late afternoon and evening. The exact recipe still is not fully settled. Green means deep storm, not guaranteed tornado.

Allred, James V., Texas Governor

1923

From this courthouse, James V. Allred began his career that led to highest state office. As lawyer with firm of O'Neal and Martin, he won elections as district attorney in 1923 and Attorney General of Texas, 1931. Governor from 1935 to 1939, he corrected many social and economic ills, ushering in era of better government for state. In his last years, he was a federal judge. He is remembered for his crusading liberalism and his personal integrity. He married Joe Betsy Miller. They had three sons. (1970)

Historical Marker →

Barwise, Joseph Hudson

1877

A native of Ohio, Joseph Hudson Barwise brought his family to Texas in 1877 and to Wichita County in 1880. An astute businessman and community leader, he earned the nickname "Father of Wichita Falls" after he donated land to the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway as an inducement for the building of a rail line through this area. He was instrumental in much of the city's growth and development, and served as county judge for three terms. Married to the former Lucy Hansell, Barwise was the father of seven children. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery. (1991)

Historical Marker →

Lost Batallion

1942

To the memory of those honored members of the Lost Battalion, native sons, members of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Infantry Division. On March 3, 1942, these gallant men were taken prisoner by the Japanese on Java, held captive for three and one half years. The living members were released September 2, 1945. To these valiant men living and dead we offer our humble gratitude, August 1951.

Historical Marker →

Cline, Walter Dearing

1918

Walter Dearing Cline, wildcatter, city official, and civic leader, was born in a dirt floor shack built by his father on March 26, 1883, in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana. He was the son of Orville Hilton Cline and Mary Cornelia (Dearing) Cline. His father, a carpenter and builder, was constructing a sawmill in the area. The family moved to Jackson, Louisiana, in 1892–93. Walter Cline attended Millwood Institute, a school for girls that also allowed boys until age fourteen. He later attended Centenary College and worked his way through with carpentry and kitchen skills he learned from his parents. He left Centenary College prior to graduation to help with the education of his two younger brothers. Cline worked manual labor on the rice canals near Crowley, Louisiana. Later, he was placed in charge of carpentry and built flumes and bridges. In 1902, when oil was found near Jennings, Louisiana, Cline took a job in the oilfield and earned $1.75 a day, an increase over his previous canal job of $1.50 a day. Cline went from working as a roustabout laying pipelines to pulling sucker rods and later pumping wells. He then secured a job as a roughneck on a drilling rig. Rotary drilling was new, and Cline learned many rough lessons while running the rotary through floor boards and crown blocks. At this time, oil was selling for five cents a barrel. After working in the Evangeline, Batson, and Sour Lake fields, Cline moved to Humble, Texas, where he worked as derrick man, pumper, and finally night driller for several years. He then went out on his own and first drilled wells near Laredo. A true “wildcatter,” Cline followed the oil strikes across Texas and New Mexico. In 1913 he and his family moved to Wichita Falls and then to Burkburnett, where Cline was involved in the oil activity west of that town. Cline, with investors including John G. Hardin , Joe Staley, Bob Moore, and Will Daniel, drilled the Fowler discovery well just north of Burkburnett, which ushered in the area boom of 1918. Over the forty years before he retired, Cline had drilled wells for major and independent operators. He also served as the first president of the Texas-Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. During his residence in Burkburnett, Cline was elected mayor, served on the school board and as director of a bank, and donated land for a high school. In 1917 Cline moved back to Wichita Falls where he was elected mayor in 1920. He inherited a city wholly unprepared for the massive population growth due to the oil boom. During Cline’s term, the city acquired a municipal water system and a new city charter. During the battle over the bond election to provide water and sewer systems to the city, Cline and a partner, Clint Wood, offered to “buy” every piece of land in the city at twice its newly-assessed value. Ultimately, no one took them up on their offer. Cline continued his civic work in Wichita Falls. During World War I , he commanded the city’s war emergency drives and Liberty Loan campaign. He founded the first Community Chest in the South and was a field director of the American Red Cross during the flu epidemic of 1918. He helped organize the West Texas Chamber of Commerce and in 1921 helped organize the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce. During the Great Depression , Cline led distribution of relief funds from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. He was one of the directors of the Texas National Recovery Administration and regional director of the Federal Housing Administration. During this time Cline coordinated the Wichita Falls Golden Jubilee Celebration, held in September 1932. He later helped organize and provide preliminary management for the Texas Centennial celebration in Dallas. Cline was active in the Wichita Falls Rotary Club and served as president. He later became a board of director of Rotary International and coordinated a convention held in Belgium in 1927. Cline was made a Knight Commander of the Order of Leopold II by King Albert

Tsha Handbook →

Fowler, Thomas Weldon

1944

Thomas Weldon Fowler, Medal of Honor recipient, was born on October 31, 1921, in Wichita Falls, Texas. He was the son of Austin H. and Mattie (Wilson) Fowler. As a youngster, Tom played in the school orchestra, belonged to the Latin Club, and to the DeMolay (a Masonic organization for young men). During the summers, Fowler, along with his four brothers, worked on one of the family's two farms-one near Burkburnet and the other near Floydada, Texas. After graduating from Wichita Falls High School, he entered Texas A&M in September 1939. During his time at College Station, Fowler majored in animal husbandry and selected the cavalry branch for his required military science training. During World War II , Texas A&M implemented an accelerated year-round program of study that consisted of three semesters and classes six days a week. As a senior, he served as a cadet captain and executive officer of the cavalry squadron. Fowler also courted his high school school sweetheart, Ann Oakes, and invited her to dances and football games in College Station. He graduated with a degree in animal husbandry in February 1943. After successfully completing the Armor branch of Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in May 1943, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. On May 12, he married Ann Oakes in Wichita Falls; son Thomas W. Fowler, Jr., was born in February 1944. In October 1943 Fowler arrived in North Africa where he remained for a number of months. In February 1944 he was designated to Italy and the 191st Tank Battalion. On May 23, 1944, Lieutenant Fowler found himself in a desperate situation involving both armored and infantry forces near Carano, Italy. Assigned as a liaison officer to an infantry unit, Fowler, moving on foot ahead of his unit, witnessed two infantry platoons that were seriously disorganized in a German minefield. Although a tank officer, Fowler quickly took charge of the situation. On his own, he examined the ground and by his hands removed antipersonnel mines and cleared a seventy-five yard path. In individual squads, Lieutenant Fowler then took the infantrymen through the minefield. As the infantrymen moved forward, Fowler made a quick reconnaissance of enemy territory and searched for a path where tanks could be positioned. He then proceeded to direct tanks to a position where they could support the infantry. Leading the two platoons forward in the front, Fowler surprised a number of dug-in Germans that were then taken prisoner and sent to the rear. For those that resisted, Fowler threw hand grenades toward two dugouts and killed the defenders. After Fowler led the two infantry platoons to their objective, they were attacked by German infantry and tanks, and the attack set fire to one of the American Sherman tanks. Under intense enemy fire, Fowler raced to the burning tank and sought to treat the wounded crew. He withdrew a short distance only after German tanks had overrun his position. Fowler then provided first aid to nine injured infantrymen in the face of hostile fire. For his actions, Lieutenant Fowler was recommended for the Medal of Honor. A few days later on June 3, 1944, Fowler was shot and killed by a German sniper while doing a personal reconnaissance for his tank platoon. Maj. Gen. Ralph McPennel presented the Medal of Honor to Anne Fowler and her son, Thomas Fowler, Jr., in a ceremony at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on November 11, 1944. Thomas Fowler was buried in the American military cemetery at Nettuano in 1944. In 1948 his remains were returned to the United States. Second Lt. Thomas Fowler was buried with military honors at Crestview Memorial Park in Wichita Falls on July 27, 1948. In the years after his death, Thomas Weldon Fowler has been honored in many ways. In his hometown of Wichita Falls, an elementary school and the American Legion Post 169 are named in his honor. At Fort Knox, Kentucky, an Officer Candidate School barracks was named Fowler Hall. At Texas A&M University, a campus dormitor

Tsha Handbook →

Kearby, Neel Earnest

1943

Neel Earnest Kearby, Medal of Honor recipient, was born on June 5, 1911, in Wichita Falls, Texas. He was the son of Dr. John Gallatin Kearby, Jr., and Bessie Lee (Stone) Kearby. He spent part of his childhood in Mineral Wells before the family moved to Arlington in 1924. Kearby graduated from Arlington High School in 1928 and attended North Texas Agricultural College (now the University of Texas at Arlington) in 1930 and 1931. Following three years of employment in Dallas, he enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin during the fall of 1934 to study business administration. He finished his coursework in late 1936 before receiving a diploma in June 1937. By that time he had joined the United States Army Air Corps and was already in flight training at Randolph Field in San Antonio. There he met and married Virginia King Cochran, and they had three children before Kearby was sent overseas during World War II . By July of 1943 Colonel Kearby was the commanding officer of the 348th Fighter Group in the Southwest Pacific Theater. His fighter pilots achieved spectacular success flying their famous P-47 “Thunderbolts” against Japanese forces in the New Guinea area. Described as the “perfect combat leader,” Kearby was a superb pilot and tactician, credited in particular with the development of combat tactics used to maximize the high-altitude capability and extraordinary diving speed of the massive P-47. Often leading missions himself, he emerged as one of America’s greatest fighter pilots, credited with twenty-two aerial victories in only a few months of combat. On October 11, 1943, Colonel Kearby volunteered to lead a flight of four fighters to reconnoiter the strongly held enemy bases at Wewak, New Guinea. After securing important tactical information on four enemy installations, he saw an enemy fighter below. He made an attack and shot it down. His small flight then saw twelve enemy bombers escorted by thirty-six fighter aircraft. With numerical odds of twelve to one and low fuel supplies, he led his flight on a diving attack. He shot down three planes, then observed one of his comrades with two of the enemy fighters in pursuit. He attacked and destroyed both, then escaped into the clouds. After calling his flight back together he led them safely to a friendly base. Kearby had destroyed six enemy aircraft during one mission, the most ever for an American fighter pilot at that time. It was for this mission that he was awarded the Medal of Honor, presented in a special ceremony by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Kearby was promoted to a staff job at the headquarters of the 5th Air Force Fighter Command in November 1943 but received permission to continue flying combat missions. He was leading a three-plane formation and had just claimed his twenty-second victory, when he was shot down on March 5, 1944, over Wewak, New Guinea. It was not until 1949 that his remains were recovered and returned to Dallas, Texas, where he was buried with full military honors at Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery. Survived by his wife and three young sons, he was laid to rest on July 23, 1949, next to the burial site of his older brother, Army Maj. John Gallatin Kearby III, who also died during the war. Colonel Kearby is remembered as one of America’s most acclaimed fighter pilots. In addition to the Medal of Honor, he received five Air Medals, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Silver Stars, and the Purple Heart. Within a few months of his death, the Dallas Morning News hailed Kearby as “one of Texas immortals,” and Time magazine described him as “one of the great U.S. fighter pilots of World War II.” The United States Air Force honored him in 1959 with the dedication of Neel Kearby Hall, a missile training facility at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. An exhibit at the National Museum of the United States Air Force features a display of his medals and a full-sized replica of his legendary P-47 Thunderbolt, Fiery Ginger, named in honor of hi

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in Wichita Falls

day trip

Day Trip to Wichita Falls 🤼‍♂️ (FULL EPISODE) S10 E13

Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.

Sports in Wichita Falls

⭐ HOMETOWN LEGENDS Class 5A · Football

Rider — Rider — a college & pro athletic pipeline

5 alumni who reached major-college or pro sports

Rider High School in Wichita Falls has a history of athletes who have gone on to compete at higher levels. The school's athletic programs have supported students who later pursued professional careers. Former professional football players Khari Long, Markelle Martin, David Nelson, and Dean Prater all once competed as Raiders. Their journeys from Class 5A competition to the professional ranks highlight the pathways available to dedicated student-athletes.

The tradition of Rider High School alumni reaching major-college and professional sports continues to be a point of local interest. Jacob Rodriguez, a professional football linebacker for the Miami Dolphins, represents a more recent example of a Raider making an impact in professional football. These athletes demonstrate the potential that can develop within the local sports community.

Pro/D1 alumni

Class

Founded

1961

Key Players

Khari Long — , former professional football player (NFL, CLF, UFL)
Markelle Martin — , former NFL football player
David Nelson — , former NFL football player
Dean Prater — , former NFL football player
Jacob Rodriguez — , professional football linebacker for the Miami Dolphins

The moment

Jacob Rodriguez is a professional football linebacker for the Miami Dolphins.

Sources: Wikipedia

Everything Near Wichita Falls

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

The freight-train roar
Out here in storm country, survivors almost never call it wind. They reach for machines instead. A freight train. A jet on the runway. A waterfall you can feel in your chest. There is a reason that roar sounds so…
Allred, James V., Texas Governor · Historical Marker
From this courthouse, James V. Allred began his career that led to highest state office. As lawyer with firm of O'Neal and Martin, he won elections as district attorney in 1923 and Attorney General of Texas, 1931.…
Barwise, Joseph Hudson · Historical Marker
A native of Ohio, Joseph Hudson Barwise brought his family to Texas in 1877 and to Wichita County in 1880. An astute businessman and community leader, he earned the nickname "Father of Wichita Falls" after he donated…
Lost Batallion · Historical Marker
To the memory of those honored members of the Lost Battalion, native sons, members of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Infantry Division. On March 3, 1942, these gallant men were taken prisoner by the…
The Man Who Named the Dance
The dance has a name because of a careful Japanese scientist named Sakuhei Fujiwhara. Working in the early twentieth century, he was fascinated by how spinning things in motion tend to settle toward order and symmetry.…
Why the sky turns green
Out here in storm country, the sky sometimes goes an eerie green, and people swear it means a tornado. The honest answer: it does not, at least not reliably. Researcher Frank Gallagher of the University of Oklahoma…
Why roofs fail first
Out here in storm country, the roof is almost always the first thing to go, and there's real physics behind it. As wind speeds up and over a roof, it leaves a zone of low pressure right above the deck, the same suction…
First County Officials · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, the county named for Native Americans. The first Anglo settlers arrived way back in 1856, but it took until 1882 for the county to officially organize, thanks to lingering Indian…
Wichita Falls Bank Robbery of 1896 · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here is where a wild west tale unfolded back in 1896. On the afternoon of February 25th, two cowboys, Foster Crawford and Elmer 'Kid' Lewis, rode into town and robbed the…
First United Methodist Church of Wichita Falls · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here is the site of the very first organized church in town. <break time="400ms"/> It all started back in March of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1881</say-as>,…
Gorsline's Fashion Livery Stable, Site of · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, near where Edgar Gorsline opened his Fashion Livery Stable in 1892. Before cars, this place rented horses and rigs, boarded steeds, and even provided carriages for funerals and…
World's littlest skyscraper · 0.2 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Get ready to chuckle, because right here in Wichita Falls stands a monument to a truly spectacular misunderstanding: the 'World's Littlest Skyscraper.' It all started in 1919. Oil was booming, and a man named J.D.…

Show all 200 nearby places

The Zale Legacy · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, a town that drew immigrants like Morris Zale. He learned the jewelry trade, opened his own store right here in 1924, and built the Zale Jewelry Company. By 1958, it was the world's…
O'Donohoe, John F. · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, the heart of Texas oil country, thanks in large part to pioneers like John F. O'Donohoe. He arrived in 1909, a scout for what would become Gulf Oil. Without a surveyor, he found the…
Soule, George Alonzo · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and just ahead is the site of George Alonzo Soule's stage line and livery stable. Soule was already a veteran of the freight and stage business, running lines out of Jacksboro and…
Luecke, Henry C. Pioneer, Blacksmith and Inventor · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the intersection where Henry C. Luecke opened his blacksmith shop in 1903. A Missouri native who came to Texas around 1890, Luecke invented and manufactured the Wichita Gang Plow right here. Patented…
Wichita Falls Opera House · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Wichita Falls Opera House, a cultural hub that opened its doors in 1908. Funded by the community and built by the Fort Worth firm of Brown and Cramer, it hosted everything from local…
St. James Hotel, Site of · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, nearing the site of the old St. James Hotel. In 1892, local merchant Joseph Kemp partnered with state senator Morris Lasker to build this hotel. Completed in 1893, it was a social…
Antlers Hotel Fire of 1929, Site of: · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here is the site of a tragedy that reshaped the city's fire department. In 1920, this was the Argonne Hotel, later the Antlers. But in the early morning of December 12,…
Anderson House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Anderson House in Wichita Falls, a Victorian beauty completed in 1907. It was designed by local architect Joseph C. Pate for businessman Guy Dewitt Anderson and his wife. Mrs. Anderson was quite…
Kell, Frank Home · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of Frank Kell, a man who helped build Wichita Falls into a regional powerhouse. Kell, born right here in Texas in 1859, partnered with his brother-in-law Joseph Kemp to develop the…
Hodges-Hardy House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hodges-Hardy House in Wichita Falls, a classic late Victorian beauty built between 1893 and 1895. It was first home to Samuel H. Hodges, an attorney and investor who helped shape early Wichita…
First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls. Organized in 1883 with just eight members in a log schoolhouse, this congregation later built this sanctuary, completing it in 1921. It's been a…
Hotter 'N Hell Hundred · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and you might just feel the heat! Look for the signs of the Hotter 'N Hell Hundred, the legendary 100-mile bicycle race held in the scorching Texoma sun. It started in 1982 as part…
Wichita County Water Improvement District No. 2 · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Wichita County Water Improvement District No. 2. Wichita County Water Improvement Districts No. 1 and No. 2 played major roles in the agricultural development of Wichita County. By 1900, Joseph Kemp,…
Kell, Frank · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Kell, Frank. Entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Kell helped build Wichita Falls into a major commercial and manufacturing center. Born in Clifton, he worked there and in Galveston in the milling…
Kemp Public Library · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here is the site of the Kemp Public Library. Imagine the 1890s: books were scarce, so women like Flora Anderson Kemp circulated them among friends. But Flora wanted more.…
Times Publishing Company · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here is the site of the Times Publishing Company. It all started back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1898</say-as>, when Ed Howard bought a local newspaper. His…
Davenport Grocery · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Davenport Grocery in Wichita Falls, a true community staple. In 1926, Rall and Ora Davenport converted the front of their home into a store, right in the middle of the oil boom. Serving oil field…
The World's Littlest Skyscraper · 0.6 mi
If you head downtown to the corner of Seventh and LaSalle, you’ll find one of the greatest con stories in Texas history: the World’s Littlest Skyscraper. Back in the oil boom of 1919, a smooth-talking promoter named…
Terrible Tuesday · 0.6 mi
Ask anyone who was here in 1979 about 'Terrible Tuesday.' On April 10th of that year, a massive F4 tornado, more than a mile wide, tore through the southern part of Wichita Falls. It was late afternoon, and thousands of…
Wichita Falls, TX · 0.6 mi
On April 10, 1979, Wichita Falls experienced a devastating F4 tornado, known as 'Terrible Tuesday', which struck the heavily populated southern sections of the city. This tornado was part of an outbreak that produced 30…
The 'Toilet-to-Tap' Water Solution · 0.6 mi
When a historic drought gripped Texas in the 2010s, Wichita Falls' reservoirs shrank to critical levels — combined lake storage fell under a quarter full. The city faced a water catastrophe and answered with a feat of…
The World's Pilots in a Texas Sky · 0.6 mi
If you hear a jet overhead, it might not be American. For decades, Wichita Falls has been a key crossroads for the world, thanks to Sheppard Air Force Base. Since 1981, Sheppard has been home to the Euro-NATO Joint Jet…
The City Built by an Oil Boom · 0.6 mi
The city you're driving through was forged in the frenzy of an oil boom. In 1918 a massive discovery at Burkburnett, just north of here, set off a stampede, and while the oil was up there, Wichita Falls became the…
The Wichita Falls Racer Who Led Indy but Never Won It · 0.6 mi
The Lloyd Ruby Overpass, the Central Freeway overpasses through Wichita Falls, honors a hometown racer who won at Daytona and Sebring but never at Indianapolis. Lloyd Ruby was a standout in midget car racing in the…
Ohio Street Bridge · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Wichita Falls' first major river crossing. Planning for this vital connection began way back in 1882, when Wichita County was just getting organized. The first bridge, built by the King…
Wichita Falls Junior College · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here is the site of a Texas first! In 1922, Wichita Falls Junior College opened its doors, becoming the very first public junior college in the state, seven years before…
St. Paul Lutheran Church · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving by the site of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Wichita Falls. The congregation was organized back in 1894 by missionary Robert L. Mehlhorn. They built their first church building here in 1904, and later…
Burnside, Samuel Hiatt Dr., Mary Margaret Grice Burnside · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here, you're passing the site of a remarkable medical pioneer. Dr. Samuel Burnside arrived in 1883, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He met Mary Margaret…
Wichita General Hospital · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Wichita General Hospital. WICHITA GENERAL HOSPITAL Wichita Falls was a growing town in 1882 as professionals started to arrive looking for opportunities. Dr. Perrigo arrived in 1881 and is believed…
Site of Booker T. Washington High School · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here, you're passing the site of the original Booker T. Washington High School. This wasn't just a school; it was the heart of the African American community here.…
Riverside Cemetery · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Riverside Cemetery, the final resting place for some of Wichita Falls' most notable citizens. This municipal burial ground started taking shape back in the 1880s. By 1885, a state charter was granted…
Bethania Hospital · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, a city that boomed with oil in the early 1900s. Back in 1926, doctors Hargrave and Walker opened a clinic and hospital to serve the growing population. Just a few years later, it…
Why Is the Dirt Red Here? · 1.0 mi · Local history
You're driving through the Red Rolling Plains of northwest Texas, where the soil runs deep rust-red for hundreds of miles. This color comes from Permian-age redbeds — iron-rich sedimentary rock laid down when this…
Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here is the site of the Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church. This congregation started way back in 1891 with just twelve members, making it the very first Baptist…
Saint John Baptist Church · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, passing the site where Saint John Baptist Church was organized in November 1905. It became the third congregation for the Black community in this growing town. Despite a fire in…
Fuller, Colonel Bertram, (C. B.), Dr. · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Wichita Falls, where Dr. C.B. Fuller established his medical practice in 1948, serving the east side. He was a pioneer, able to admit patients of all ethnicities to Wichita General Hospital, even…
Bridwell, Joseph Sterling · 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bridwell, Joseph Sterling. JOSEPH BRIDWELL WAS BORN MARCH 23, 1885, NEAR NORTHVIEW, MISSOURI. HE MOVED TO WICHITA FALLS IN 1909 AND WENT INTO THE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS. BY 1915, BRIDWELL BEGAN BUYING,…
Wichita Falls Traction Company · 1.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here is where the Wichita Falls Traction Company used to run the show. Founded in 1909 by Frank Kell and J.A. Kemp, this wasn't just about streetcars. They bought up land…
Weeks Mansion · 1.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Weeks Mansion in Wichita Falls, a monument to the oil boom that reshaped North Texas. Built between 1924 and 1926 by Fred Weeks, a lawyer who struck it rich in oil, this wasn't just a…
Wichita Falls High School · 1.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Wichita Falls High School, a place that's been shaping young minds for over a century! It all started in 1879 with three private schools, but the first public school opened its doors in 1880, right…
Cline, Walter Dearing · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Walter Dearing Cline, wildcatter, city official, and civic leader, was born in a dirt floor shack built by his father on March 26, 1883, in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana. He was the son of Orville Hilton Cline and Mary…
Fowler, Thomas Weldon · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Thomas Weldon Fowler, Medal of Honor recipient, was born on October 31, 1921, in Wichita Falls, Texas. He was the son of Austin H. and Mattie (Wilson) Fowler. As a youngster, Tom played in the school orchestra, belonged…
Kearby, Neel Earnest · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Neel Earnest Kearby, Medal of Honor recipient, was born on June 5, 1911, in Wichita Falls, Texas. He was the son of Dr. John Gallatin Kearby, Jr., and Bessie Lee (Stone) Kearby. He spent part of his childhood in Mineral…
Farris, Charlye Ola · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, the hometown of Charlye Ola Farris. On November 12, 1953, she became the first African American woman licensed to practice law in Texas. Imagine the barriers she faced – even the…
Bridwell, Joseph Sterling · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Wichita Falls, and you're passing through the territory of a man who helped shape its oil and ranching landscape: Joseph Sterling Bridwell. He arrived in Wichita Falls back…
Clark, Randolph Lee · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, a city that owes a lot to Randolph Lee Clark. Back in 1922, Clark was the superintendent of schools here. He noticed something important: the children of Hispanic migrant workers…
Farabee, Helen Jane Rehbein · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, a city that owes much of its modern spirit to Helen Jane Rehbein Farabee. Born in Wisconsin, she met her husband, a Wichita Falls native, at the University of Texas. After moving…
Gibbs, Samuel · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, the birthplace of Samuel Gibbs, a pioneer in the country music booking scene. Born in 1918, Gibbs and his brothers formed a popular western swing band, the Miller Brothers, and even…
Kemp, Joseph Alexander · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, a city that owes much of its development to the vision of Joseph Alexander Kemp. Arriving here in 1883, Kemp didn't just start a business; he built an empire that laid the…
Lake Wichita · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Wichita Falls, and right here is Lake Wichita. It wasn't always here, though. Back in the late 1890s, a local merchant named Joseph Kemp wanted to build an irrigation system. After some legal…
Sheppard Air Force Base · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past Sheppard Air Force Base, just north of Wichita Falls. This massive training facility got its start in 1940, when the Army Air Corps needed a place to train pilots and mechanics before World War II. A…
Tower, John Goodwin · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Wichita Falls is where a political earthquake began. John Tower, a former Navy man and radio announcer, took a teaching job at Midwestern University in the early…
Wichita River · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, a city named for a waterfall that's long gone. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1841</say-as>, a large Wichita Indian village stood near this spot. That same…
Zale Jewelry Corporation · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here is the birthplace of a retail revolution. In 1924, Morris Zale opened a single jewelry store in Wichita Falls, aiming to sell to everyone, not just the wealthy. He…
Wichita Falls, TX · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, a city that owes its existence to a bit of land speculation and a waterfall that's now long gone. The story goes that a Mississippi man acquired the land in a poker game back in…
Parmer, Allen · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Allen Parmer, cattleman, farmer, and railroad builder, was born to Isaac and Barbara (Hazard) Parmer in Independence, Missouri, on May 6, 1848. After a common-school education, the fifteen-year-old Parmer joined the…
Howard, Ed · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, a city that owes a lot to the vision of Ed Howard. Born in Tennessee in 1866, Howard landed in Texas in 1887, starting out in Kingston. But it was here, in Wichita Falls, that he…
Huff, Robert E. · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, a town that owes its very existence to a lawyer looking for opportunity. Robert E. Huff arrived in North Texas in 1882, intending to settle in Vernon. But a chance meeting in…
Wichita County · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita County, right on the Oklahoma border. This land was home to the Wichita and Taovayas tribes for centuries, drawing them in with fertile lands perfect for farming. But Anglo settlers faced…
Wright, Leo Nash · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, the birthplace of Leo Nash Wright, a jazz saxophonist and flutist who learned his craft from Texas greats. He played with legends like Charles Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie, calling it…
Glass, Herman A. · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Donley County, where Herman Glass spent his youth. He went on to become a major force in Texas education, pioneering the junior high school system right here in Wichita Falls. After a twelve-year…
Jackson, Charles Emerson · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita Falls, a city that remembers Charles Emerson Jackson. He was born in rural Smith County back in 1902, the youngest of twelve kids. Jackson dedicated his life to education, starting as a…
Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, you're passing through the territory once served by the Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad. Incorporated in 1920, this railroad was built to extend service from New…
Wichita Falls and Southern Railway · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here, you're driving through a bit of Texas railroad history. The Wichita Falls and Southern Railway was chartered in 1907, aiming to stretch 125 miles from Wichita Falls all the way down to Cisco. Its main job?…
Wichita Valley Railway · 1.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, you're passing through the legacy of the Wichita Valley Railway. Chartered way back in eighteen ninety, this ambitious project aimed to stretch over 300 miles from…
Wichita Falls Women's Forum · 2.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're passing the historic Wichita Falls Woman's Forum building. Organized in 1925, this group of women established this beautiful Mediterranean-style building, completed in 1927. Notice the arches, light brick, and…
Lindsey, Felix L. · 2.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and we're passing the site of the former home of Felix L. Lindsey. Born in Kentucky in 1847, Lindsey served with the famed Buffalo Soldiers in the 10th Cavalry. He fought in the…
John Hart Wilson · 3.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Wichita Falls, the heart of an industrial innovator's career. John Hart Wilson, an electrical engineer by training, arrived here in 1926. After designing a revolutionary winch that could be mounted…
Kemp, Joseph Alexander · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Kemp, Joseph Alexander. Joseph Alexander Kemp was a visionary and entrepreneur whose business and civic activities were vital to the development of Wichita Falls. Kemp was born in Clifton (Bosque…
Kemp, J. A., Wholesale Grocery Building · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the J. A. Kemp Wholesale Grocery Building in Wichita Falls. Built in 1892, this brick structure housed Kemp's business for 35 years. Later, during the oil boom, it became home to the Industrial…
Notre Dame High School, Wichita Falls (Mia Hamm) · 3.4 mi
Notre Dame High School in Wichita Falls, Texas (which closed in 2024) is where soccer icon Mia Hamm played her first two years of high school as an Air Force kid before her family moved on. She finished at Lake Braddock…
Sheppard Air Force Base · 3.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Sheppard Air Force Base, a massive military installation with roots stretching back to World War I. Originally called Call Field, the site was eyed for a technical training school in 1940. Just a…
City View School · 3.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of City View School in Wichita Falls. It all started in 1889 as Common School District No. 8. The students themselves renamed it City View because of the amazing panorama from its original…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: City View (Wichita Falls) · 4.0 mi
City View (Wichita Falls, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Austin Graham (5 HR); Colton Barnett (4 HR).
Call Field · 4.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Call Field, a crucial pilot training ground for World War I. When America entered the war in 1917, the U.S. Army had barely over a hundred pilots! To meet the massive aerial demands,…
Call Field Monument · 4.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here is the site of Call Field, one of the first and largest aviation training camps in the country during World War I. Opened in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
Wichita County · 4.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita County, named for the Wichita Indians who once called this land home. The county was officially formed way back on February 1st, <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1858</say-as>, but…
Trimble, Zenobia · 4.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, passing the site of a remarkable woman's life. Zenobia Trimble, born in Alabama in 1881, came to this city and became a pillar of the community. For 38 years, she dedicated herself…
Kell Field Air Terminal · 5.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Kell Field Air Terminal in Wichita Falls, known as "Little Adobe" for its unique pueblo revival style. Built in 1928, it was the first municipal airport for the city. But its most significant…
Wichita Falls Lodge No. 635 A.F. and A.M. · 5.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Wichita Falls Masonic Lodge, chartered in 1885. They first met in a hayloft and later leveled the cornerstones for many city buildings, including the courthouse.
Dean, TX (Smith County) · 5.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Smith County, near where the community of Dean once stood. After the Civil War, Confederate veteran Major John J. Dean returned to his land and built a home. In the 1870s, the Cotton Belt Railroad…
Cego, TX · 6.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Falls County, past the community of Cego. It started out in the early 1880s as Pleasant Valley, founded by German-American farmers. But when they applied for a post office, they found another…
Friberg School · 6.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Friberg School. It started in 1895, serving local families. By 1896, classes were held in a granary. The next year, John Friberg donated land for a two-room schoolhouse. This…
Friberg-Cooper Methodist Church · 6.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Friberg, Wichita County, where this Methodist church started out in 1896. Imagine worshipping in a farmer's granary, with hay bales for seats! Generosity from the Carey, Andree, and Friberg…
Bowman Cemetery · 6.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, past Bowman Cemetery. Land for this graveyard was donated in 1885 by W. A. Bacon, and the first burial, Christina Schmith, happened that same year. Many of the folks buried here…
Cashion School · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Cashion School, which started as a simple one-room schoolhouse back in 1902. Built on land donated by H. F. Knippenberg, it opened with just twelve students and one teacher, Mrs.…
Cooper School and Church, Site of · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Cooper School and Church, a place that served this community for nearly fifty years. It all started around 1900 when Arkansas natives James and Dora Cooper settled here. By 1910, J.D.…
Perkins, Joe and Lois, Estate · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Joe and Lois Perkins Estate, a beautiful example of Tudor Revival architecture. Designed by Fooshee and Cheek, this home features a steep roof, stone walls, and imported shingles. In 1941, the…
Iowa Park Consolidated Independent School District · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Iowa Park's original schoolhouse, built way back in 1888. The district became independent in 1899, growing from a single room to multiple campuses over the decades. By the end of the 20th…
Iowa Park · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Iowa Park, a town with roots stretching back to the railroad boom. Originally called Daggett's Switch in 1885, it was renamed and promoted by General G. M. Dodge, a big name in railroad…
The Boom of 1918 · 10.6 mi
In 1918, Iowa Park was a quiet farming town shipping wheat and cotton off the Fort Worth and Denver City rails. Then oil came in near town before the war was even over, and the whole county tipped into a frenzy. The…
The Men Who Sold a Paradise · 10.6 mi
Iowa Park exists because of two land promoters who knew how to sell a dream. The place started as a railroad stop called Daggett's Switch in 1885, out on the Fort Worth and Denver City line. Then in 1888, D. C. and A.…
Drilling into the Past · 10.6 mi
The oil boom that transformed Iowa Park wasn't dumb luck; it was early petroleum science and heavy-duty engineering. Wildcatters weren't drilling at random — they were reading surface geology for buried structures like…
Iowa Park, TX · 10.6 mi
Founded in 1888 by D. C. and A. J. Kolp, Iowa Park was initially known as Daggett Switch and served as a shipping point for cotton and wheat. The town faced hard times in the early 1890s due to a drought, but by 1900,…
Wichita Valley Refinery and Texas Oklahoma Fair · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Iowa Park, where one of Texas's early oil booms took off! In 1914, the Wichita Valley Refining Company built the county's very first oil refinery right here. It grew fast, soon boasting pipelines and…
Burnett, Tom Lloyd · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site where Tom Lloyd Burnett died in 1938. He wasn't just any cattleman; he was the son of Burk Burnett, the man who gave his name to Burkburnett up the road. Trained on the legendary 6666 Ranch,…
Burnett, Tom Lloyd Home · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of Tom Lloyd Burnett, a prominent cattleman who helped shape Iowa Park. He had this grand colonial revival house built in 1924, designed by the architectural firm Voelcker and Dixon…
Iowa Park Lodge No. 713, A.F. & A.M. · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Iowa Park Lodge No. 713. Organized in 1891, the lodge received its charter that same year. They met in various buildings, including the First National Bank, until building their own hall…
Burnett, Thomas Lloyd · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita County, not far from Iowa Park, the heart of a vast cattle empire. Thomas Lloyd Burnett, born in 1871, inherited his father's passion for the range. He mastered the Comanche language,…
Iowa Park, TX · 11.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving west of Wichita Falls, heading towards Iowa Park. This town got its start in 1888, not as Iowa Park, but as Daggett Switch, a stop on the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway. The real story? The Texas…
Lake Creek Cemetery · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, where the late 1800s saw Texas transform from open range to farmland. As settlers moved in after Native American tribes were relocated, disputes flared between ranchers and farmers.…
Captain John Holliday · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Holliday, Texas, named for a man who survived one of the most brutal events of the Texas Revolution. Captain John Holliday, born in Pennsylvania, came to Texas around 1835. He fought in the Texian…
Iowa Park High School — State Softball 2026 · 11.9 mi
Iowa Park High School in Iowa Park, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class three A, Division One.
Burnett, Samuel Burk · 11.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, the land of legendary ranches. Right here, you're in the territory once dominated by Burk Burnett, a true titan of Texas industry. Starting with his father's small herd in the 1860s,…
Halliburton Company · 11.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Burkburnett, where a revolution in oil extraction began. Right here, back in 1919, Erle P. Halliburton started cementing oil wells. He began with just a borrowed pump and a…
Coe, Charles Lee · 11.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Burkburnett, a North Texas town that boomed with oil in the 1920s. Right here, on February 6th, 1923, a devastating fire broke out in a neighbor's home. Oil driller Charles Lee Coe, hearing the…
Hardin, Mary Catherine Funk [Molly] · 11.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita County, and right here is Burkburnett, a town that owes a lot to Mary Catherine Funk Hardin. She arrived in 1886 as the very first schoolteacher in the tiny community then called…
Burkburnett, TX · 11.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Burkburnett, Texas, a town that exploded overnight thanks to black gold. It was 1918, and the Burkburnett oilfield was roaring. Imagine this: 20,000 people pouring into the area, unpaved streets…
Hardin, John Gresham · 11.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
John Gresham Hardin, farmer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, was born to George W. and Eliza (Bills) Hardin on August 26, 1854, in Tippah County, Mississippi. About 1857 his family moved to Dyer County, Tennessee,…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Iowa Park (Iowa Park) · 11.9 mi
Iowa Park (Iowa Park, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Kane Decker (4 HR); Garrett Loven (3 HR).
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Burkburnett (Burkburnett) · 12.4 mi
Burkburnett (Burkburnett, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Mason Williams (0.561 avg, 2 HR); Talin Webb (4 HR); Brayden Marsh (0.467 avg, 1 HR).
Central Baptist Church · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Central Baptist Church. It began in 1924 as a missionary Baptist church organized by fourteen people. The congregation moved and rebuilt, eventually becoming Central Baptist Church in…
Boom Town, USA: The Frenzy of 1918 · 12.7 mi
Imagine this quiet downtown, and now picture it packed with 15,000 people, the air thick with the smell of crude oil and the noise of steam engines. That was Burkburnett in 1918. It all started when the S.L. Fowler…
Burkburnett, TX · 12.7 mi
Burkburnett is a place where the land and the sky still tell the story of oil. Before 1918, this was ranching country, named after Samuel Burk Burnett, a cattleman who knew these plains well. Then, almost overnight,…
The Engineering of a Boomtown · 12.7 mi
The 1918 oil boom wasn't just luck; it was a frantic feat of early twentieth-century engineering. Picture it: no sensors, no GPS, just a map and a hunch. S. L. Fowler's well came in on July 29th, 1918, at 1,734 feet,…
Burnett, Samuel Burk · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Burkburnett, a town named after a legendary Texas rancher, Samuel Burk Burnett. He partnered with his father-in-law in 1875 to establish the famous Four Sixes Ranch, becoming a major force in the…
Hardin, John Gerham · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what was once the home of John "Soggy" Hardin, a true Texas pioneer and philanthropist. He arrived in Texas in 1876, settling in this area in 1879 and starting out in a simple dugout. Hardin built a…
The Highway Name That Took Seventy Years to Make Legal · 12.9 mi
Every mile of U S Highway Two Eighty One inside Texas is the American Legion Memorial Highway, and the name is much older than the law behind it. On April thirtieth, nineteen thirty five, the Texas Highway Commission…
Burkburnett Masonic Lodge 1027 · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Burkburnett, home of Masonic Lodge 1027. Chartered in 1910, just three years after the city itself was founded, this lodge grew to include 400 members by the 1930s. It continues to serve the…
Red River, The · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Red River, The. Named for the red soil across which it flows, the main stream of the Red River is 1,360 miles long, and for 440 miles the river forms the Texas-Oklahoma boundary. For years, this was…
Near Homesite of Mabel Gilbert · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near where Mabel Gilbert, the first permanent settler in this area, made his home. Born in Tennessee, he was a steamboat captain who came to Texas in 1837. He built mills, navigated the Trinity River, and…
Holliday, John J. · 13.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here, you're driving near the site of present-day Wichita Falls, where a Texas hero carved his name in history. John J. Holliday, a survivor of the brutal Goliad Massacre, escaped by swimming the river and hiding.…
Holliday, TX · 13.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Archer County, and right here is Holliday. This town owes its name to a famous frontiersman, John Holliday, who was part of the ill-fated Texan Santa Fe expedition. Back in 1841, he carved his…
Waggoner Ranch · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, likely near Wichita County, and you're passing through the heart of what was once the Waggoner Ranch. This wasn't just any ranch; it was a Texas empire! It started in the early 1850s…
Gonzaullas, Manuel Trazazas [Lone Wolf] · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, near Wichita Falls, where a legendary Texas Ranger got his start. Manuel Gonzaullas, known as 'Lone Wolf,' enlisted in 1920 and was first assigned to the oilfields right here. The…
Nesters · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the Texas frontier, a land fiercely contested by two very different ways of life. For about twenty years, from the late 1860s to the mid-1880s, cattlemen used the harsh label…
Newtown, TX [#1] (Wichita County) · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita County, and right here, you passed through the ghost of Newtown. This wasn't a town built on dreams, but on oil. In the boom years of the late 1910s and early 1920s, thousands flocked to…
Bridgetown, TX · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Bridgetown is on a rural road off State Highway 240 seventeen miles northwest of Wichita Falls in north central Wichita County. It developed with the northwest extension of the Burkburnett oilfield in 1920 and derived…
Mount Carmel, TX (Wichita County) · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wichita County, heading north of Electra. Right here, you're passing the site of Mount Carmel, a farming community founded in 1906 by German colonizer Emil Flusche. He'd already established…
Hawkins, Simon Peter · 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Hawkins, Simon Peter. (1849 - 1930) A pioneer leader in Wichita County, Simon Peter Hawkins was born in Crockett County, Tenn. He married Sara A. Hardin (1852-1937) in 1869. They had eight children.
Cashion, TX · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Cashion is located off State Highway 240 about eight miles north of Wichita Falls in northeastern Wichita County. Settlement began in the area about 1897, when Hi Willis purchased land. In 1902 a one-room schoolhouse…
Kamay, TX · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Kamay, also known as Kemp City, is on State Highway 258 twelve miles southwest of Wichita Falls in southwestern Wichita County. The settlement developed in 1912, when Joseph A. Kemp of Wichita Falls, W. Munger of…
Fowlkes, TX · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Fowlkes is on State Highway 477 two miles southeast of Electra in western Wichita County. It was established in the early 1880s as a loading station on the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway and was originally called…
Burkburnett · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Burkburnett, a town that exploded thanks to oil. In July of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1918</say-as>, a gusher erupted on the S. L. Fowler farm, about a mile from here. This…
Maggie and Herod "Pap" Simpson · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Holliday, a town officially organized right near here in 1890. That same year, Maggie Holt and H.W. Simpson married. He left to drive cattle in 1894 and was never heard from again. Maggie,…
Site of Early Bowman Church · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Holliday, Archer County. This marker commemorates the early Bowman Church, organized as the 'Wichita Class' by northern settlers in 1888. Services were held in English and German, and a parsonage…
Charley Lee Coe · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Burkburnett, where on February 6th, 1923, oil field driller Charley Lee Coe made a heroic sacrifice. He rushed into a burning neighbor's home to save two trapped children, rescuing one but succumbing…
Dodson, Monroe, Home of · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Burkburnett, and right here is the home of Monroe Dodson. He was a Union soldier who came to Texas in 1867 and became the first permanent settler in this area in 1878. He helped build the first…
First National Bank of Burkburnett · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Burkburnett, and you're passing the site of the First National Bank, the city's oldest business institution. It was organized way back on May 15, 1907, right as the oil boom was kicking off.…
First Methodist Church of Burkburnett · 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Burkburnett's first Methodist church. It started as a combination school and church in the early 1900s, but Lula Majors, known as 'Mother Majors,' led the charge to build a dedicated…
Fowler Discover Well (400 yards north) · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Burkburnett, and just 400 yards north of here, you'll find the site of a discovery that changed this town forever. It's 1918, and cotton farmers Shields and Cassie Fowler are struggling with a…
Camp Stonewall Jackson · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, and just off the road here was Camp Stonewall Jackson. It wasn't a battlefield, but a reunion ground for Confederate veterans, bought in 1898 by the United Confederate Veterans of…
Burnett Horse Ranch · 14.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Burkburnett, a town that owes its name to the legendary S.B. Burnett. Back in the 1870s, Burnett started his famous 6666 ranch right here in Wichita County. Facing drought in the 1880s, he leased…
The Town That Died and Lived Again · 14.9 mi
As you pass through the quiet streets of Henrietta, it's hard to imagine this place as a ghost town. But for roughly eleven years, that's close to what it was. Clay County was organized in 1857 with Henrietta as its…
The Iron Horse That Built the Town · 14.9 mi
For years, Henrietta's lifeblood was the cattle trail, a slow, dusty, and inefficient way to move beef to market. That all changed in 1882 with a massive feat of engineering: the arrival of the Fort Worth and Denver…
Northwest Extension Oilfield · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita County, right past the heart of the old Northwest Extension Oilfield. It might look quiet now, but on April 17th, 1919, the Bob Waggoner Well No. 1 blew in, pumping nearly five thousand…
Thrift · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Thrift, a boomtown that sprang up around the Burkburnett Oil Field about 1919. It was a rough place, mostly tents, and it suffered from frequent fires. One devastating blaze in 1920,…
Henrietta, TX · 14.9 mi
Henrietta was founded in 1857 when Clay and Montague counties were separated from Cooke County to the east. As the only town in Clay County, it was named the county seat, marking the beginning of its journey as a center…
The Pipeline that Powered Dallas · 15.1 mi
The oil under Petrolia was only half the story. The ground here was also saturated with natural gas, which most drillers at the time just burned away. But in 1909, a group of entrepreneurs organized the Lone Star Gas…
Engineering Texas's First Major Gas Pipeline · 15.1 mi
The discovery of oil here also revealed vast reserves of natural gas. In the early 1900s, this was a resource without a market, often just wastefully burned off. The STEM challenge was transportation. In 1909, the newly…
Boomtown Fever: A Town in Overdrive · 15.1 mi
Imagine the streets you're on now, but packed with strangers. That was Petrolia after 1904. A well-digger hunting water on the J.W. Lochridge ranch hit oil at 263 feet in 1901 and opened the first North Texas oilfield.…
Petrolia, TX · 15.1 mi
Petrolia is located in northern Clay County, Texas, with two major highways passing through the town. Texas State Highway 79 runs southwest for 17 miles to Wichita Falls and northeast for 18 miles to Waurika, Oklahoma.…
Van Dorn Trail · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Van Dorn Trail, a crucial piece of Texas history right here in Wichita County. In September 1858, Brevet Major Earl Van Dorn, later a general, blazed this route with 200 men from the 2nd U.S.…
Site of Valley View School · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Valley View School, a hub of education for this North Texas community for over seventy years. It all started back in 1897 with two small schools, Denny and Jones Dale. They merged…
Dad's Corner · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what used to be Dad's Corner, a town that exploded into existence in 1923 thanks to an oil boom. Imagine this crossroads buzzing with activity – twenty-two businesses, a hotel, a cafe, a school, and…
Bridgetown · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita County, and right here is the site of Bridgetown, a boomtown that exploded onto the scene in 1919. Prospectors rushed in when the Burkburnett oil field expanded, and Bridgetown sprang up…
Petrolia Oilfield · 16.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Clay County, and right here is the site of the Petrolia oilfield. Oil was discovered in 1904, and while it never made Texas famous for massive oil booms, its shallow depth made it profitable. The…
Petrolia, TX · 16.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Clay County, and right here is Petrolia. This town owes its existence to a lucky accident in 1901. A farmer named J. W. Lochridge was digging a water well when his hired hand hit oil at 263 feet!…
Receiver Bridge · 16.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Burkburnett, and you're passing the site of the Receiver Bridge. This wasn't just any bridge; it was built in the middle of the Red River in 1920 because of a massive oil boom. The Burkburnett oil…
Trinity Lutheran Church · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Burkburnett, a town that swelled with German immigrants after the Clara townsite was platted in 1886. In 1899, Lutheran services began in the local schoolhouse, and by 1901, this congregation had…
Clara, Ghost Town of · 17.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former site of Clara, a town founded in 1886 by Herman Specht, named for his wife. Specht, a German immigrant, bought over 21,000 acres here and envisioned a thriving community for German…
Clara Cemetery · 17.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Clara Cemetery, established in 1888. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2009.
Meurer, J. H. · 17.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Scotland, Archer County, and just passed the home of John H. Meurer. A German immigrant born in 1850, Meurer came to this area around 1900. He became a land agent, selling over 60,000 acres and…
Drilling for Black Gold · 18.1 mi
In the 1920s a forest of wooden derricks went up across Archer County, and the technology behind it was brute simple. Steam boilers powered cable-tool rigs that lifted and dropped a heavy bit over and over, punching a…
The Ghost of the Iron Horse · 18.1 mi
For about twelve years, the rhythm of life in Scotland was set by a train whistle. Henry J. Scott of Toronto bought the land and laid the town out around 1907, on old O Circle Ikard ranch country, and German Catholic…
Scotland, TX · 18.1 mi
Scotland is nestled in the eastern part of Archer County, with the Little Wichita River flowing nearby. The city's limits stretch east to Lake Arrowhead, a reservoir on the Little Wichita. The total area of Scotland is…
Not The Country, Just Scott's Land · 18.2 mi
Here's a town name that plays a little trick on you. Scotland, Texas, sitting here in eastern Archer County, is not named for the country of kilts and castles, no matter what the road sign suggests. It is named,…
Two Towns, Two Kinds Of Name · 18.2 mi
Standing here in Scotland, Texas, look six miles south and you will find a sister town with a naming story that is the mirror image of this one, and putting them side by side is the fun of it. Scotland got its name…
The Derricks In The Lake · 18.2 mi
Now for the strangest thing you can see near Scotland, and it is a genuine piece of engineering theater. Just north of town the Little Wichita River was dammed in the nineteen sixties to create Lake Arrowhead, a…
How A Small Country Built The World · 18.2 mi
You're rolling through Scotland, Texas, a German Catholic farm town in Archer County that only borrowed its name from the old country across the Atlantic, not the other way around. But that country is worth the detour,…
The Land Agent Who Built It · 18.2 mi
Right here in Scotland, Texas, out in Archer County, the name on the town came from Henry Scott, but the man who actually built the place was John H. Meurer. Meurer was a German immigrant, born around eighteen fifty,…
A German Church Named For England · 18.2 mi
So how does Scotland, Texas, right here in Archer County, end up thoroughly German and Catholic? Follow the farmers. Most of Scotland's first families did not come from overseas directly; they migrated up from the older…
As Permanent As The Tracks · 18.2 mi
Every one of these prairie towns lived or died by the railroad, and Scotland is a short, sharp lesson in that. The first train rolled in on July twenty-first, nineteen oh eight, as the Southwestern Railway pushed its…
The Country Your GPS Invokes · 18.2 mi
You're parked in Scotland, Texas, a farm town in Archer County named for a Canadian landowner called Scott, not the country across the ocean. But that country is the one your GPS keeps quietly invoking, so let's…
A Dozen Doors, One Name · 18.2 mi
So look at everything one small Texas town name can hold. Scotland, out here in Archer County, is not Scotland at all. It is Scott's land, named for a Canadian who bought the deed, built by a German immigrant who met…
Big Pasture · 18.3 mi · Eohc
Right here, in what's now Comanche, Cotton, and Tillman counties, you're driving through the legendary Big Pasture. Back in the late 1800s, this vast grassland was the last frontier for the open-range cattle business.…
Clay County Jail 1890 · 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Clay County's third jail, built in 1890 by the Pauly Jail Company. It's a two-story brick building with a stone foundation, featuring cool details like corbelled brick and pressed metal. It even had…
Randlett · 18.3 mi · Eohc
You're driving through southern Cotton County, right past Randlett. This is the only town left standing from the Big Pasture Opening back in 1907. Imagine this: forty-five hundred people showed up for the town lot…
The Quaker, the Kiowa Chief, and a Battle in the Ruins · 18.4 mi
On this ground, in the abandoned ruins of Henrietta, two waves of settlers tried to rebuild after the Civil War and paid a brutal price. Dr. Elderidge led a group back in 1865 but was driven off after several of his…
The County Seat That Was Abandoned and Burned · 18.4 mi
You're rolling into Henrietta, the seat of Clay County, but in 1860 this was barely a place at all: ten houses, a general store, and a hard edge of the North Texas frontier. The whole county held just 109 people. When…
Henrietta, TX · 18.4 mi
Henrietta's strategic location at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 287, U.S. Highway 82, State Highway 148, and Farm to Market Road 1197 in north-central Clay County played a significant role in its development. The…
Cambridge, Early County Seat · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Cambridge, Early County Seat. (Early County Seat) Founded 1860, but abandoned to marauding Indians, 1863. Settlers returned in 1870 and installed a grist mill. Developers surveyed townsite in 1874;…
Lamar, TX · 18.4 mi
Lamar, Texas, out there on the Aransas Bay, got its name from Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas. Now, Lamar wasn't exactly a founder or anything. The town started as a small port, a place…
Joy, TX (Clay County) · 18.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through southern Clay County, heading towards the community of Joy. It wasn't always called Joy, though. Back around 1880, settlers from Fannin County established it as Fanninton. Early days meant…
Vashti, TX · 18.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Vashti is at the intersection of Farm roads 174 and 1288, eighteen miles southeast of Henrietta in southeastern Clay County. It was established between 1880 and 1891 by Dave Taylor, who established a post office in 1891…
Scotland, TX · 18.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Archer County, not far from the Little Wichita River. Right here is Scotland, a town that sprang up thanks to a Canadian land buyer and a recruiter who sought out German immigrants in Galveston.…
Arthur, Charline · 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe not too far from Henrietta, where a true pioneer of rockabilly music got her start. Charline Arthur was born in a railroad boxcar in 1929, and by the time she was signed to RCA…
Fence Cutting · 18.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through the heart of a fierce conflict from the late 1800s: the Great Texas Fence Cutting. It was the summer of 1883, a brutal drought had everyone desperate…

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