Copeville, Texas

Everything Copeville is known for

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Music in Copeville

Songs About Copeville

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Artists From Copeville

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Charlie Walker
country Pop: 18

Rivers & Roads in Song near Copeville

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

Sabine River 13 songs Interstate 20 13 songs Interstate 45 7 songs Trinity River 10 songs Red River 84 songs Interstate 35 42 songs

History of Copeville

The Storm That Wiped a Town Away RoadyGoat

In the pre-dawn darkness of May 9th, 1927, the town of Nevada lay asleep, unaware of the catastrophe bearing down on it. The town, which had suffered a devastating fire just a year earlier, was about to face an even greater disaster. An F4 tornado, a monster storm over a half-mile wide, descended directly on the community in the middle of the night. It moved slowly, deliberately, taking 15 minutes to grind its way through town. When it was over, Nevada was virtually gone. The storm killed at least 19 people, injured more than 100, and destroyed roughly three-fourths of the town's buildings. Because it struck around three in the morning, many of the victims never woke—they were trapped in their beds. The opera house, the banks, the cotton gins—all reduced to rubble. But one building refused to fall: the Nevada Baptist Church. The tornado tore its heavy doors clean off, yet its walls held, and in the desperate hours that followed it became a makeshift hospital and morgue, where the wounded were tended and the dead were prepared while the town waited for coffins to arrive. It was a blow from which Nevada's economy would never fully recover. The 1927 tornado is the defining event in this town's history, a moment of unimaginable loss and a testament to the resilience of those who stayed to rebuild from the splinters.

The Lifeblood Called the Cotton Belt RoadyGoat

The town of Nevada was already here, out on this stretch of Collin County prairie, before the railroad ever came. Granville Stinebaugh founded it back in 1861, buying a hundred and sixty acres near McMinn Chapel and naming the place for the Nevada Territory out west. By August of 1880, Nevada had its own post office and a life of its own. Then came the ribbon of steel. Eight years later, in 1888, the tracks of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway, affectionately known as the 'Cotton Belt,' finally reached the community, and the town did something remarkable: it picked up and moved to the tracks. Suddenly this patch of prairie was connected to the world. The depot became the town's heart. Farmers hauled their cotton here, where it was loaded onto trains bound for distant mills. Traveling salesmen stepped off the train, bringing news and goods. The train whistle became the rhythm of daily life, signaling arrivals, departures, and the town's connection to the bustling national economy. For decades, the railroad was Nevada's lifeline. As you drive through, imagine the steam engines, the clatter of the cars, and the central role this railroad played. The tracks are gone now, but the town's whole layout, the way it gathered itself around that powerful line of steel, still tells the story.

The Desert That Means Snow RoadyGoat

You're passing through Nevada, Texas, but the name itself traveled a long way to get here, so let's chase the word for a minute. 'Nevada' is Spanish, and it means snow-covered, or snow-capped. It comes from 'Sierra Nevada,' literally 'snowy mountain range,' the name Spanish explorers gave the great wall of peaks along what is now the California and Nevada line. Here's the irony that word carries. The state of Nevada, named for snow, is the driest state in the entire country. So how does a desert end up wearing a name that means snow? The answer is up high. When moist Pacific air slams into the Sierra Nevada, it is forced to climb, and rising air cools. Cold air holds less water, so that moisture falls out as snow on the western slopes. Scientists call that orographic lift. By the time the air crests the range and sinks down toward Nevada, it has been wrung dry, which is exactly why the basins beyond it bake. The snow and the desert are two halves of the same weather machine. And that snowy Spanish word is the very one a settler carried home to this quiet patch of Texas blackland prairie you're driving across now.

RoadyGoat → · 3.8 mi away

Prairie Grove Cemetery

1895

The Prairie Grove Cemetery served residents of the Aleo community from the late 1800s until the middle of the 20th century. The burial ground has ties to the Prairie Grove Baptist Church, which set aside land to be used for burials. The oldest known grave in the cemetery dates to 1895. World War II hero Audie Murphy lived in the area for a time, and his mother and grandparents are buried here. Victims of the 1927 tornado that came through nearby Nevada are also interred here. A vestige of rural settlement of the 19th century, the cemetery serves as a reminder of the pioneer community of Aleo. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2005

Historical Marker → · 3.6 mi away

Lavon

1854

Located in southeastern Collin County, the rich soils of the Blackland Prairie and the water provided by Bear Creek attracted settlers to the Lavon area in the 1850s. Elbert C. Thompson came to the area in 1854 and others soon followed. Lavon began when the St. Louis and Southwestern Railroad came through the county in 1886. The first post office started in 1888 with Elbert Thompson serving as the first postmaster. Originally, the town was known as Thompson or Thompson Switch, after Mr. Thompson, who also owned a general store. To avoid confusion with another town named Thompson, the name was changed to Lavon in honor of Mr. Thompson's son, Bud O. Lavon Thompson. Early on there was a depot, meat market, general store, restaurant and barber shop. A bank building was built in 1907. James L. Rees, a Civil War veteran, and Miranda Rees' home was moved down the street to make room for the bank building. The Rees' home stands today as the oldest home in Lavon. Before a church was built, a two-story brick schoolhouse served as a place for people to worship. The Lavon Presbyterians organized in 1897 and erected a church in Lavon which served as a community church. Each denomination would alternate Sundays to provide a place of worship for the community until the late 1940s. From 1938 to 1940, a school building was built under the Works Progress Administration. In the 1950s, the creation of Lavon Dam attracted fishermen and boating enthusiasts to the area as a popular resort spot. Over the years, a number of businesses have been in Lavon, including a restaurant that filmed scenes for the 1967 movie, Bonnie and Clyde. The town incorporated in 1972. (2013)

Historical Marker → · 3.8 mi away

Nevada

1852

Located in southeast Collin County, the settlement of Nevada was on its way to becoming a booming commercial city until a disastrous tornado swept the town in 1927. In 1835, John McMinn, who received a land grant for 1600 acres, moved his family to what was later known as the McMinn Chapel community, four miles north of the present-day site of Nevada. Soon, the rich Blackland Prairie attracted more settlers to the area. In 1852, Granville Stinebaugh from Missouri purchased 160 acres and established Nevada. The town incorporated on Jan. 24, 1891. There were no denominational churches in the community at the time, but an old gin house serving as a place of worship for all faiths. In the 1890s, the town had Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Christian churches. The St. Louis and Southwestern Railroad, which later became the Cotton Belt Railroad, came to Nevada in 1888 and the town slowly moved closer to the railroad depot. As a result of the railroad, nearby settlers moved to Nevada and the town prospered with a booming commercial district. Restaurants, shops, hotels, offices and fraternal lodges filled downtown. In 1902, due to increased interest, John Evans purchased land east of town and opened the Evans Addition. In addition to economic priorities, Nevada also focused on the education of its citizens. Early on, classes were held in people's homes until a school was erected. Sadly, on Monday, May 9, 1927 at 2:20 A.M., a half-mile wide tornado completely destroyed the west side of town with 27 killed and 75 wounded. Even though a large portion of the town was destroyed, the citizens of Nevada continued to work and hope for future growth. (2013)

Historical Marker → · 3.8 mi away

Nevada, TX

1927

Nevada is on Farm Road 1138 two miles east of Lavon Lake in southeastern Collin County. The rich soils of the Blackland Prairies and the water provided by Bear Creek attracted settlers to the area as early as the mid-1840s. The first organized community in the area was McMinn Chapel, established in the early 1840s four miles north of the site of present Nevada. For the most part the residents of the community were the family and friends of its founder, John McMinn. In 1861 Granville Stinebaugh moved to Texas from Missouri and purchased 160 acres of land near McMinn Chapel. Shortly thereafter the town of Nevada was established on his farm and named by Stinebaugh in honor of Nevada Territory, which he had passed through on his way to search for gold in California. The town received a post office on August 3, 1880. Eight years later the tracks of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway reached the community. In 1889 Nevada incorporated, choosing an aldermanic form of government. From the 1880s to the 1920s Nevada served as a retail market for a small but populous farming territory. The population of the town grew from an estimated fifty in 1885 to 578 in 1920. By 1925 Nevada provided its 625 residents with paved roads, electricity, a telephone exchange, twenty-five businesses, and a high school. On May 9, 1927, a tornado struck the town. Twenty-seven people were killed, seventy-five were injured, and approximately $1 million in property damage occurred. Nevada never recovered from this disaster. The Great Depression and the mechanization of farming further retarded the growth of the town. By 1950 the population had decreased to 386, and it remained near this figure for the next thirty years. In 1980 Nevada had an estimated 400 residents served by four businesses. In 1990 the population was 456. The population was 563 in 2000.

Tsha Handbook → · 4.0 mi away

Lavon, TX

1888

Lavon is on State Highway 78 two miles east of Lavon Lake in southeastern Collin County. The rich soils of the Blackland Prairie and the water provided by Bear Creek attracted settlers in the mid-1850s. The St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway laid tracks through the area in 1888. The community adopted the name Lavon in honor of Lavon Thompson, the son of E. C. Thompson, who operated the town's post office, established in 1888. The flag stop, on what became the St. Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas in the early 1890s, served as a commercial center for farmers and increased the population of Lavon from an estimated twenty-five in the late 1880s to 300 by 1910. In 1913 the Richard Royal chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution marked the grave of John Abston, who was buried near Lavon. Abston fought in the battle of King's Mountain during the war and later moved to Texas. The population of Lavon hovered near 200 through the 1930s and 1940s, and in 1940 five businesses served its residents. These population and business figures varied only slightly between 1940 and 1980, despite the construction of Lavon Lake in 1952–53, two miles west of town. The lake did, however, bring boaters, fishermen, and picnickers to replace farmers as the most frequent visitors to the community. In 1980 the newly incorporated Lavon had one business serving 306 residents. In 1990 the population was 303. The population grew to 387 by 2000.

Tsha Handbook → · 4.0 mi away

The Candy Montgomery Case - Wylie, Texas, 1980

1980

Candy Montgomery, a member of the First United Methodist Church of Lucas, Texas, killed Betty Gore at the Gore family home in Wylie on June 13, 1980, striking her 41 times with an ax following a confrontation about Montgomery's affair with Gore's husband Allan. Montgomery was acquitted on October 30, 1980, pleading self-defense. The case was profiled in Texas Monthly and dramatized in HBO's Love and Death (2023), starring Elizabeth Olsen.

Curated → · 8.4 mi away

Things to Do in Copeville

historical 10.3 mi away
Southfork Ranch

The filming location of TV's Dallas. JR Ewing lived here.
quirky 12.4 mi away
Southfork Ranch

The Ewing family TV mansion from the Dallas soap opera sits on two hundred acres in Parker Texas and is open for tours every day. JRs bedroom is there. The…

Everything Near Copeville

616 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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