Name: Colbert, Oklahoma
Address: Colbert, OK

Bryan County, OK RoadyGoat

Bryan County, Oklahoma, lies within the East Central Texas Plains, a landscape of rolling grasslands and scattered woodlands that mark the transition from the Great Plains to the South. Lake Texoma, a sprawling reservoir, dominates the southern border, a recreational haven drawing visitors to its shores. While the quiet beauty of this region might seem far removed from the spotlight, Bryan County claims an unlikely connection to Hollywood.

4.2 mi away

The Mountain of Earth That Made the Lake RoadyGoat

1939

The lake that defines Pottsboro exists because engineers stacked a small mountain of dirt across the Red River. Denison Dam, authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1938, was begun in 1939 and completed in 1944. It is not concrete but an earth-fill embankment: roughly 18.8 million cubic yards of rolled, compacted soil, standing about 165 feet high and stretching some 15,200 feet, nearly three miles. At the time it was the largest rolled earth-fill dam in the United States, later named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The design works by sheer mass, a broad wedge too heavy for water to push aside. Behind it rose Lake Texoma. Francis-type turbines in the powerhouse generate hydroelectric power while the reservoir soaks up Red River floods that once tore through the valley downstream.

4.6 mi away

The Red River Bridge War RoadyGoat

1931

In July 1931, Texas and Oklahoma nearly went to war over a bridge. The states had jointly built a free bridge across the Red River near Denison, Texas, to replace a privately owned toll bridge. The toll bridge company got a Texas court to block the free bridge from opening, claiming the state had promised to buy them out for sixty thousand dollars. Texas Governor Ross Sterling sent Rangers to barricade the Texas end of the new bridge. Oklahoma Governor William 'Alfalfa Bill' Murray was not a man who tolerated being told no. He declared martial law, sent five companies of Oklahoma National Guard to the bridge, including a machine gun platoon and a howitzer, and personally showed up armed with a revolver. Then he ordered his highway crews to demolish Oklahoma's approach to the old toll bridge, making it unusable. If Texans wanted to cross the Red River, they would use the free bridge or swim. Murray stood on the Oklahoma side daring Texas to do something about it. The Rangers on the Texas side had no orders to start a shooting war over a bridge. The standoff lasted weeks. Crowds gathered to watch. Newspapers called it the Red River Bridge War. On August 6, the Texas injunction was dissolved. The free bridge opened September 7. Nobody fired a shot, but it came closer than anyone wanted to admit.

5.3 mi away

1931 Free Bridge Controversy

1931

As a result of late 1920s legislation in Texas and Oklahoma, the two states cooperated on a project to build free highway bridges spanning the Red River to accommodate rapidly increasing highway traffic. One of these bridges was near Colbert Bridge, a toll bridge descended from the mid-19th century Colbert's Ferry. When the Free Bridge was ready to open in early July 1931, the Red River Bridge Company, operators of Colbert Bridge, obtained a federal restraining order against the opening of the Free Bridge until contractual payments had been made to compensate the company for their anticipated loss. Texas Governor Ross Sterling complied, but Oklahoma Governor William Murray, who was not a party to the contract between the Texas Highway Commission and the Red River Bridge Company, asked Governor Sterling to join him in protesting the injunction. Sterling refused. Murray ordered the removal of barricades erected by the Texas Highway Commission. For twelve hours, traffic flowed freely across the bridge. By July 17, Texas Rangers guarded the southern side. Oklahoma highway crews rerouted traffic from Colbert Bridge to Preston Bridge several miles away and dismantled the approach to the Colbert Bridge from Oklahoma. As tensions came close to breaking in the summer heat, the injunction was suspended; the Texas Rangers opened the bridge on Labor Day, 1931. It served until 1995, when it was replaced by a new structure. A portion of the Free Bridge was placed in a park in Colbert, Oklahoma, about two miles north. (1998)

Historical Marker → · 3.2 mi away

Colbert's Ferry

1853

Established about 1853 by Benjamin F. Colbert. Across it came thousands of immigrants into Texas in the fifties. The stages of the Southern Overland Mail Line, which provided mail and passenger service between St. Louis and San Francisco, crossed there, 1858 to 1861. Abandoned in 1931 when a highway bridge spanned the Red River.

Historical Marker → · 3.2 mi away

Lake Texoma

1944

Completed 1944, Texoma is today the second largest lake in Texas and the eleventh largest reservoir in capacity in the United States. Its main purposes are flood control, power generation, and recreation. Lake Texoma was promoted largely through the efforts of Sam Rayburn (1882-1961), noted speaker of the house who represented District 4 in Congress for 49 years. In normal operation, lake shoreline covers 550 miles, with the Red River arm (45 miles) in Texas and the Washita arm (30 miles) in Oklahoma covering 93,080 acres. The waters are impounded by Denison Dam. When Texoma was created, it caused the relocation of railroads, highways, utilities, and cemeteries. The site of Preston, historically the Red River crossing for the Butterfield Stage, was submerged, as were the sites of Hagerman and part of Cedar Mills, Texas. In 1966 numerous recreation areas on Texoma drew 8,500,000 tourists, who could also visit Eisenhower State Park at the southeast end of the lake. The park was named in honor of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the thirty-fourth president of the United States. Texoma is one of more than 200 major inland lakes and reservoirs in Texas which contribute greatly to the economic and industrial growth of the state.

Historical Marker → · 4.7 mi away

Eisenhower, Dwight David

1890

Dwight David Eisenhower, general of the army and thirty-fourth president of the United States, was born in Denison, Texas, on October 14, 1890, to David J. and Ida (Stover) Eisenhower. His father, who had moved from Pennsylvania during the late nineteenth century, was employed on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad at the time. Shortly after his birth the family moved to Abilene, Kansas, from where Eisenhower was appointed to the United States Military Academy, West Point, in July 1911. At West Point he was popular and gregarious, but no dedicated student. A promising football career ended with a broken knee in a game against Jim Thorpe's Carlisle Indians, after which the cadet coached the freshman team. His future leadership abilities were predicted by one superior who described him as "born to command." Another, however, advised that his first assignment, on graduation in 1915, should be under "a strict disciplinarian." Eisenhower graduated on June 12, 1915, at the top of the middle third of his class, which numbered 163. He was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the Nineteenth Infantry at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, on September 13, 1915. He received promotion to first lieutenant on July 1, 1916, the day he married Mamie Geneva Doud. They had two sons. Eisenhower's military career had an auspicious beginning when, during World War I , he commanded a heavy tank brigade at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. In 1926 he graduated number one in his class at the highly competitive Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth. During the 1930s Eisenhower, as a major and lieutenant colonel, was assigned largely to staff positions. His years in the War Department (1929–35) and as chief of staff to Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines (1935–39) gave him an insight into governmental affairs, both military and civilian, that was denied most of his contemporaries. On December 14, 1941, Eisenhower, then at Fort Sam Houston, was transferred to the War Plans Division, United States Army Staff, under Gen. George C. Marshall. From that time to 1961 he held one responsible position after another. As supreme commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, he gave the order that sent British and American troops into Normandy on June 6, 1944 (D-Day). Eleven months later (V-E Day) he accepted the surrender of Nazi representatives Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl. In 1948 Eisenhower retired as army chief of staff to become president of Columbia University in New York. Though his tenure was short-and interrupted continuously by service in Washington-he was able, while there, to organize the American Assembly for the Study of War and Peace through a gift from W. Averell Harriman. In 1951 he was recalled to military duty to serve as supreme commander, Allied Powers in Europe, under NATO. Though his name had often been mentioned in connection with the presidency, Eisenhower always demurred, insisting on an honest "draft" for that office. When he relented in 1952, however, he found himself bitterly opposed for the Republican nomination by Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio. His nomination was achieved only by the seating of a pro-Eisenhower Republican delegation from Texas. By contrast, his election over Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson was remarkably free of acrimony. As president, Eisenhower followed a moderate course, continuing most of the social reforms of Roosevelt's New Deal but insisting on fiscal responsibility in the federal government. His concern over the growing size of the Pentagon budget was reflected in his much-remembered farewell address, in which he warned of the "unwarranted influence of the military-industrial complex." His domestic achievements as president included, besides balancing the federal budget three times, the construction of the Interstate Highway System, passage of the first civil-rights law since the Civil War , and the dispatch of the 101st Airborne Division to enfo

Tsha Handbook → · 7.6 mi away

Denison, TX

1872

Denison is on U.S. highways 75 and 69 seven miles north of Sherman in northeastern Grayson County. In the early 1870s William Benjamin Munson, Sr. , and R. S. Stevens bought land in the area and prepared for the arrival of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad (the Katy). The townsite was laid out in the summer of 1872 and named for the vice president of the Katy, George Denison. The first train arrived on Christmas Eve. The town had over 3,000 residents by the summer of 1873, when it incorporated. Although Main Street appeared to be an orderly collection of businesses, the surrounding area consisted of a tent city, inhabited by bars, gambling halls, and houses of prostitution. On February 6, 1873, Denison established the first free public school in Texas. The first Denison Independent Order of Odd Fellows was organized on February 19, 1873. Denison had the first women's club in Texas; the XXI club began in 1876. In 1886 a post office opened, and in 1889 the town had 5,000 residents. During the next ten years Denison established itself as a retail and shipping point for North Texas. In addition to the tracks of the MKT, the town also became a stop on the St. Louis, San Francisco and Texas and the Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf railroads. Five additional rail lines that connected Denison with other communities in North Texas were chartered between the late 1870s and 1900, including the first interurban electric line between Denison and Sherman in 1896. By the end of the 1870s local businesses included two cotton compresses, a large flour mill, and a slaughterhouse capable of handling 700 cattle a day. In 1884 the town had an opera house that seated 1,200. In 1889 the Denison Herald began publication. During the twentieth century industrial and manufacturing plants provided a diversified economic base for the community. Electronic parts, clothes, furniture, and a variety of plastic goods are among the products manufactured in Denison. In 1900 the population surpassed 10,000. By the mid-1920s Denison had just over 17,000 residents and 400 businesses, including four banks. It also had two high schools, nine grade schools, and numerous churches. In 1936 Denison had 13,850 residents and 460 businesses. By the end of World War II the number of residents was just short of 16,000. The population was 26,000 in 1966, when businesses numbered just under 600. In 1989 Denison had a reported 24,234 residents and 427 businesses. In 1990 the population was 21,505, and in 2000 it was 22,773. Denison was the birthplace of the thirty-fourth president of the United States, Dwight David Eisenhower . The home he was born in in 1890 has been returned to its original appearance and sits in the Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site , a three-acre area that includes a museum.

Tsha Handbook → · 7.6 mi away

Griggs, Allen R.

1870

Allen R. Griggs, Baptist minister, was born a slave, the son of Elbert and Brailla Griggs of Hancock County, Georgia, about 1850. He was brought to Texas at age nine. Griggs joined the Baptist Church in 1869 and was ordained as a missionary five years later. In 1870 he married, and he and his wife had eight children. Their son, Sutton Elbert Griggs , became a noted minister and novelist. In the early 1870s Griggs received his first pastorate at the New Hope Baptist Church in Dallas, a position he held for nearly ten years. He later served as pastor at Mount Gilead Baptist Church in Fort Worth and First Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Aside from his church duties, Griggs devoted himself to the education of black Texans. He helped raise funds to establish Bishop College and served that institution as a trustee. He was cofounder of North Texas Baptist College in Denison and several other institutions. He has also been credited with establishing the first black high school in Texas and Texas's first black newspaper. In 1891 Griggs was awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree by the State University of Kentucky. In 1873 he was made a member of the World's Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago, and in 1905 he was selected as a delegate from Texas to the Pan-Baptists Congress meeting in London, England. Further religious activities include years spent as corresponding secretary of the National Baptist Educational Board and chief organizer and president of the Texas Baptist State Sunday-School Convention, and chief organizer of the Texas Baptist Foreign Mission Convention and the Texas Negro Biographical and Historical Society. For twenty years he served as moderator of the Northwestern Baptist Association and was moderator of the State Missionary and Superintendent of Missions for Texas for twenty-eight years. Griggs also served as editor for several newspapers including, the Baptist Journal , Baptist Preacher , Centennial Dollar Reporter , Dallas Christian Leaflet , National Baptist Bulletin , and the Western Star , which he served as an associate editor. At the time of his death he was dean of North Texas Baptist College. Griggs died on May 7, 1922, in Denison. He was buried in Dallas.

Tsha Handbook → · 7.6 mi away

Colbert, Oklahoma

Music in Colbert

Songs About Colbert

Artists From Colbert

Rivers & Roads in Song near Colbert

History of Colbert

Bryan County, OK RoadyGoat

The Mountain of Earth That Made the Lake RoadyGoat

The Red River Bridge War RoadyGoat

1931 Free Bridge Controversy

Colbert's Ferry

Lake Texoma

Eisenhower, Dwight David

Denison, TX

Griggs, Allen R.

Everything Near Colbert