Name: Granbury, Texas
Address: Granbury, TX

The Reactor With Two Sets of Plumbing That Never Mix RoadyGoat

1990

Comanche Peak's two reactors are pressurized water reactors, or PWRs, and the clever part is the plumbing: two completely separate water loops that never touch each other. The primary loop runs water through the blazing-hot reactor core. Here is the trick. That water is held under enormous pressure, so even though it climbs far past the normal boiling point, it stays liquid and does not boil. It just gets extremely hot. That super-hot primary water then flows through a steam generator, where it heats a second, separate loop of water on the other side of metal tubes. The two waters never mix. The secondary water does boil, turning into steam, and that steam spins a turbine to make electricity before it condenses and circles around again. Why go to all this trouble? Because the primary water touches the radioactive core. Sealing it in its own loop keeps the turbine side, and everything past it, clean. That separation is the whole safety idea. The two units came online in 1990 and 1993, and the plant is operated by Luminant, part of Vistra.

9.9 mi away

Splitting an Atom to Boil Water RoadyGoat

Just north of Glen Rose sits the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant, and at its heart is one of the strangest facts in all of engineering. This enormous, complicated plant exists to do one humble thing: boil water into steam. The twist is how it boils that water. It splits atoms. Here is the basic idea of fission. Fire a tiny neutron at the nucleus of a uranium-235 atom, and the nucleus splits apart, releasing a burst of energy plus two or three more neutrons. Those fresh neutrons fly off and split more uranium atoms, which release still more neutrons, and just like that you have a self-sustaining chain reaction. To keep it under control, engineers use control rods made of materials that soak up neutrons. Slide them into the core and the reaction slows or stops; pull them out and it speeds up. Water flows through the core to carry the heat away, and it also helps keep the reaction going. All that nuclear drama, just to make heat.

9.9 mi away

The Man-Made Lake Built to Cool a Reactor RoadyGoat

1979

A power plant like this needs somewhere to dump its leftover waste heat, so before the reactors ever ran, the utility dug an entire lake just to cool them. It was filled, or impounded, in 1979. Here is the physics behind it. No power plant turns all of its heat into electricity; that is simply impossible. A big chunk of the heat is left over after the steam has spun the turbine, and that waste heat has to go somewhere, or the plant would cook itself. The reservoir is the heat sink. Warm water cycles out of the plant into the lake, sheds its heat to the air and the water, and comes back cooler, ready to do the job again. A naming note worth knowing: the lake was originally called Squaw Creek Reservoir, but it was officially renamed Comanche Creek Reservoir in 2022. The current name is Comanche Creek Reservoir, and the old name is handy only if you are reading it off an old map.

9.9 mi away

Granbury - Legends on the Square

1866

Granbury's historic square features one of the best-preserved courthouses in Texas. The town is associated with persistent legends that Jesse James and John Wilkes Booth both lived there under assumed names.

Hood, General John Bell

1861

Born Kentucky. West Point graduate. Army service on Texas frontier led Hood to adopt the Lone Star State. Resigned U.S. Army 1861 to serve South. Commanded 4th Texas Infantry. Led "Hood's Texas," most renowned Confederate Brigade. Rose rapidly to Lieutenant General. Known as "The Fighting General" for leadership in the Army of Northern Virginia. Although lost leg Battle Chickamauga, became commander Army of Tennessee. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy Erected by the State of Texas 1963.

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Granbury, General H.B.; and Granbury's Texas Brigade

1861

A Mississippian. Came to Texas early 1850s. Lawyer in Waco, recruited Waco Guards, Confederate Army, 1861. Elected Major 7th Texas Infantry. Beat back Federals some miles, Fort Donelson, Tenn., Feb. 1862. Captured there, exchanged Aug. Colonel in Vicksburg campaign to prevent split of Confederacy along Mississippi River. Took 306 men into battle, lost 158. Chickamauga, Sept. 1863 severely wounded. Had brigade command Missionary Ridge. Promoted Brigadier General 1864. Led Granbury's Texas Brigade into Tennessee with Hood. Was one of 6 Confederate Generals killed at Franklin, Tenn. Buried in Granbury Cemetery. (Back of Gen. H.B. Granbury) Granbury's Texas Brigade Formed in Autumn 1863 from remnant of Deshler's Brigade. Texas units included 6th, 7th, 10th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th Infantry, with 3rd, 5th Confederate Regiments of Memphis. Nov. 1863 battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Granbury's men repulsed Sherman's attacks repeatedly. C.S.A. Congress thanked unit for valor at Ringgold Gap at Kennesaw Mountain, this and fellow Brigade counted 700 enemy casualties at their front after one charge. In bayonet combat, yells in the dark from Granbury's men were sufficient to rout Federals. Before troops of equal number in open field the unit was unconquerable. Fought intrenched army, Franklin, Tenn. Battle. Flags flying, drums rolling, but with no cover Granbury's men ran forth on the double. Courage inspired by the leader named it forever: Granbury's Brigade. Erected by the State of Texas 1964

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Granbury, Hiram Bronson

1861

Hiram Bronson Granbury, Confederate general, was born in Copiah County, Mississippi, on March 1, 1831, the son of Nancy (McLaurin) and Norvell R. Granbury, a Baptist minister. He was educated at Oakland College. In the 1850s he moved to Texas and lived in Waco, where he was admitted to the Bar; he served as chief justice of McLennan County from 1856 to 1858. On March 31, 1858, Granbury married Fannie Sims of Waco; they had no children. At the outbreak of the Civil War he recruited the Waco Rifles (sometimes called the Waco Guards), which became Company A of the Seventh Texas Infantry in Brig. Gen. John Gregg 's brigade of the Confederate Army. In November 1861 at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, the regiment elected Granbury as major. He was captured with the command at the battle of Fort Donelson on February 15, 1862, and was paroled that same year in an officers' exchange. Upon his release he was promoted to colonel. In April 1863 Granbury was at Port Hudson, Louisiana, and in May he participated in the battle of Raymond, Mississippi. Shortly thereafter he joined Gen. Joseph E. Johnston 's army, assembled for the relief of Vicksburg. Granbury commanded the Seventh Texas in Brig. Gen. Bushrod R. Johnson's brigade of Gen. John B. Hood 's corps at Chickamauga, where he was wounded. He participated in the battle of Missionary Ridge, where his commanding officer was James A. Smith; shortly thereafter he succeeded to brigade command. During the retreat from that battle he was particularly distinguished for his conduct at Ringgold Gap, where he commanded his own brigade. Granbury was commissioned brigadier general on February 29, 1864. During the ensuing Atlanta campaign, he served in Cleburne's division of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee and was again particularly distinguished at the battle of New Hope Church. After the fall of Atlanta, Granbury led his brigade in Hood's disastrous invasion of Tennessee, and at the battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, he was killed in action. Granbury was first buried near Franklin, Tennessee. His body was later reinterred at the Ashwood Church Cemetery south of Columbia. On November 30, 1893, his remains were removed to Granbury, Texas, seat of Hood County, as the town was named in his honor. The correct spelling of the general's name has long been debated. He attended Oakland College under the name Granberry, but after graduating and moving to Texas he changed the spelling to Granbury. Why he changed the spelling of his name is unknown. His sister, Mrs. Nautie Granberry Moss, stated that he changed the spelling of his name based on a peculiar whim. The official records and correspondence of the Civil War show his named spelled as Granbury, although many Texas newspaper articles at the time referred to him as General Granberry. When he was killed at the battle of Franklin and buried in Tennessee, the name on his tombstone was spelled Granberry, perhaps because that was the spelling of the family name in the area. When he was exhumed and reburied in Granbury in 1893, the name on the tombstone was spelled Granberry. Apparently, however, the reburial opened a debate on the proper spelling of his namesake city, and a letter by one J. N. Doyle in the Dallas Morning News reviewed the history of the general's name and concluded by pointing out that deeds for lots in the city, veterans who had served with him, and local citizens all used the spelling Granbury. In 1913, when a statue was erected on the Hood County courthouse square, the name was spelled Granbury. In 1996 a new tombstone with the name spelled Granbury was put in place, and after almost 150 years, the spelling of the general's name on his tombstone, statue, and name city became uniform as Granbury. See also GRANBURY'S TEXAS BRIGADE .

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Granbury, TX

1866

Granbury, county seat of Hood County, lies thirty-six miles southwest of Fort Worth on the shore of Lake Granbury on U.S. Highway 377. In 1854 "Uncle Tommy" Lambert and Amon Bond led a group of emigrants, mostly from Tennessee, across the Brazos River to the west bank into traditional Indian territory. That same year, Elizabeth Crockett brought her family from Tennessee to settle on a league of land awarded by the Republic of Texas to heirs of men who fought in the Texas Revolution in 1836. In 1866 brothers J. and J. H. Nutt donated forty acres of riverfront property to form a new townsite, and Hood County was carved out of Johnson and Erath counties and named in honor of Gen. John Bell Hood . The new town was named for Gen. Hiram Bronson Granbury , who led Confederate troops from this area into battle during the Civil War . Three spirited elections were needed to make Granbury the county seat, instead of the older Glen Rose and Fort Spunky further south. The first two courthouses burned, the second one in 1875, at which time Somervell County was demarcated out of Hood County. Granbury's new three-story courthouse was built of Brazos limestone and had a lighted clock tower. The first public school in Granbury was taught by A. P. Harbin in 1871, the same year that the Methodists established the first church. A year later W. L. Bond founded the first newspaper, the Vidette . This was later taken over by Ashley Crockett, who had come to Texas in 1854. Granbury prospered as the trading center for much of north central Texas, marketing pecans, peanuts, peaches, grains, and cotton. Reunion Park, established in honor of returning Civil War veterans who met annually into the twentieth century, provided an active arena for trading and auctioning livestock. The county fair is held there annually. When the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway came through Granbury in 1887, travelers no longer had to ride thirty-five miles north to flag down the Butterfield Stages running from Sherman to El Paso. This rail connection spurred the construction of many buildings, mostly two story and built of limestone. There are thirty-nine such historic buildings in Granbury; many of them are on the courthouse square and house various business establishments. The Old Opera House, built in 1886, is a main tourist attraction, and the old red brick depot of 1887 is now the Genealogical Museum. In the last century these buildings were occupied by several saloons, gun shops, a bank, the sheriff's office and jail, a farm supply store, the Beef Market, and the Granbury House. These outstanding examples of nineteenth-century buildings are identified with state historical markers. A dam across the Brazos River at De Cordova Bend southeast of Granbury was completed in 1969, forming Lake Granbury. The town responded with new marinas and shopping malls to serve the expanding residential developments along the meandering riverbed. Further growth came with the construction of the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in the 1980s, which brought in thousands of employees to Somervell and Hood counties. In 1990 Granbury's independent school district listed taxable properties amounting to more than $1 billion. The population in 1990 was 4,045. The fifth annual reunion of the descendants of David Crockett was held in Granbury in 1990. Annual events include the Fourth of July Parade and the Bean Cook Off. In addition to its historic square, Granbury's tourist attractions include facilities for golfing, fishing, and boating. The Granbury Queen , an old paddle wheeler, cruised the lake on weekends until the early 2000s.

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Robertson, Nellie Gray

1918

Nellie Gray Robertson, attorney, was born on February 28, 1894, in Granbury (Hood County), Texas. She was the daughter of William Jarrett Robertson and Arminda (Barton) Robertson. She attended the local public schools and graduated from Granbury High School in 1912. The only girl of six children, Nellie was academically motivated from an early age and, despite the impoverished family background created when her father abandoned them, she managed to put herself through the University of Texas School of Law. Her own mother's struggles as a single parent motivated Robertson to find her independence and place in the world without a man. She never married and remained fiercely independent until her death. Though she had no children of her own, she inspired many young women in their academic endeavors and implored family members to continue their studies and even paid her nieces' college tuition. Robertson applied to study at the University of Texas, where she started in 1912. She was an active member of the university community and took part in a variety of clubs, including Texas Woman's Law Association, the Present Day Club, Kappa Beta Pi, Pennybacker Debating Club, the Woman's Assembly, and the Woman's Council. Robertson quickly rose through both scholarly and social ranks and became an officer in all but one of the clubs she joined. She was at the University of Texas from 1912 to 1918 and then returned to Granbury and ran unopposed for county attorney in the Democratic primary, two years before women gained the right to vote on a national level ( see WOMAN SUFFRAGE ). In the general election, she was elected by the men of the county, in a remarkable victory of 446 votes to 2 over a male opponent-thus she became at the age of twenty-four the first woman to hold the office. Two years later she successfully ran for re-election, this time appealing to both male and female voters, to beat Mr. E. L. Roark substantially by 776 votes to 570 in the primary; she won unopposed in the general election. While she held office as county attorney, a part-time position at the time, Robertson continued to push boundaries. She simultaneously held office, part-owned and ran the Hood County Abstract Company, and managed to work her way up in the Texas District and County Attorneys Association. She was rewarded for her hard work in this association in 1921, when she was elected secretary and treasurer of the organization. In 1922, following her previous successes, Robertson sought to become the Hood County Judge but was unsuccessful against four male candidates. In 1924 she won a third term as county attorney. A year before her retirement from public office in 1926, Robertson was chosen to sit as the first female chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court. This All-Woman Supreme Court was chosen by Governor Pat Neff and was a national story that faced backlash from many, including a clerk involved in the Johnson v. Darr trial, who exclaimed that he would go fishing, as he "refused to play nursemaid to a bunch of women." The trial, more than thirty years before Texas women were allowed to serve on juries, continues to be a central moment in the history of female empowerment in Texas. Unfortunately, Robertson was a few months short of seven years in practice, which made her ineligible for the court. Due to the last-minute nature of the change, the newspapers were unable to modify the text, and her name is still often tied to this historic event. When asked later in life how she felt about missing out on such a huge milestone Robertson responded nonchalantly, "It is what it is." In 1925 Robertson moved to Dallas to practice law, but restlessness got the better of her, and in the following year she moved again, this time to New York. In the new setting, Robertson slightly altered her career path and began to write law books for the Doubleday Publishing Company. Her time away from Texas did not last long; in 1930 Robertson returned to Texas for good and mov

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Granbury, Texas

Rivers & Roads in Song near Granbury

History of Granbury

The Reactor With Two Sets of Plumbing That Never Mix RoadyGoat

Splitting an Atom to Boil Water RoadyGoat

The Man-Made Lake Built to Cool a Reactor RoadyGoat

Granbury - Legends on the Square

Hood, General John Bell

Granbury, General H.B.; and Granbury's Texas Brigade

Granbury, Hiram Bronson

Granbury, TX

Robertson, Nellie Gray

Things to Do in Granbury

Everything Near Granbury