339 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
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Brindley, Paul
· 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Paul Brindley, pathologist and professor, was born near Maypearl, Texas, on December 27, 1896, the last of the seven children of George Goldthwaite and Mattie (Hanes) Brindley. He acquired his premedical education at…
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Maypearl Cemetery
· 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
The community of Maypearl was established on the International and Great Northern Railroad line in 1903. The 1907 death of landowner William P. Wilemon and subsequent burial on his farm led Maypearl citizens to discuss…
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Jackson Cemetery
· 2.2 mi · Historical Marker
While moving to Oregon in 1852, North Carolina native and medical doctor Henry L. Jackson and his wife, Nancy Ann (Holland), were in route to visit her family in Burnet County, Texas. They made a stop at Fort Gates, in…
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Oak Branch Cemetery
· 2.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Oak Branch Cemetery, a place born from a pioneer's generosity. Back in 1875, William M. Claunch donated twenty acres of his ranch for a Methodist Church, a campground, and this very cemetery. The…
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Ozro Cemetery
· 3.0 mi · Historical Marker
In 1858 J.P. Gilmore and Richard D. Graves gave land for Pleasant Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, south, and for this burial ground. The earliest marked graves date from 1870. J.H.L. Jackson donated additional land in…
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Aurburn Cemetery
· 3.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ellis County, near the site of what was once the thriving farming community of Auburn. Pioneer settlers used this cemetery as early as 1856, and it was later part of land deeded for a school and…
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Greathouse Community, Church, and Cemetery
· 3.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ellis County, passing the site of the old Greathouse community. It all started back in 1848 when Archibald and Mary Greathouse settled here, giving their name to the creek and the community. The…
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Jefferson Dunaway Home
· 5.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Jefferson Dunaway Home, built in 1855. Jefferson Madison Dunaway built this home for his bride, Sarah Ann Brack. The stone for the chimneys was gathered right from the creek banks nearby, and…
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Bethel Methodist Church
· 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bethel Methodist Church, a place with roots stretching back to 1853. It all started under a simple brush arbor at High Springs. Services moved around a bit, first to a log schoolhouse, then another…
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Bethel Cemetery
· 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ellis County, near where Bethel Methodist Church was established. In 1852, N.P. Sims donated land for a church and burial ground. The cemetery you're passing has over 400 graves, including those…
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Shawnee Cattle Trail
· 7.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ellis County, the heart of the Blackland Prairie, which was once a vital pathway for Texas cattle. From about 1850 to 1873, the Shawnee Cattle Trail, the first north-south trail, ran right through…
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McKinney-Aday Farm House
· 7.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the McKinney-Aday Farm House near Waxahachie. Henry McKinney, a former Texas Ranger, moved to Ellis County and bought farmland in 1903. By 1913, he'd hired a builder to construct this impressive…
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The Sims Family of Ellis County
· 7.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Italy, Texas, and the Sims family story unfolds. These weren't just settlers; they were the bedrock of early Ellis County development. In 1851, Nicholas P. Sims and his family established their…
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The City Built in a Decade
· 8.2 mi
If you turn off the main road and drive east, you'll enter a different world. You'll find yourself in a vast, sprawling grid of streets that seems to go on for miles. This is Colony Ridge and its sister developments,…
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Southwestern Presbyterian Home and School for Orphans
· 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Southwestern Presbyterian Home and School for Orphans in Itasca. It all started in Dallas with a few church women caring for four children whose father had died. That act of kindness…
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Venus, TX
· 9.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Venus, formerly known as Gossip, is on State Highway 67 some twenty miles east of Cleburne in eastern Johnson County. Though a number of families settled in the area in the late 1850s, a community did not develop there…
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Chambers' Creek
· 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving by Chambers' Creek. This area was first granted land by the Mexican government in 1834 to Thomas Jefferson Chambers, a name you'll see on maps all over Texas. But before it was Chambers' Creek, settlers…
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Staff Sgt. Felix M. Conde-Falcón Memorial Highway
· 9.8 mi · Historical Marker
This stretch of highway in the Ellis County area is named for Staff Sergeant Felix M. Conde-Falcón. Conde-Falcón was Puerto Rican-born, raised in Texas, drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. In 1969, he…
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The Cornfield That Became Venus
· 9.9 mi
This small farming town on the Blackland Prairie has nothing to do with the planet. In the late eighteen eighties, a Johnson County businessman named Jabe Smyth bought about eighty acres of an abandoned cornfield east…
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Where Two Iron Roads Crossed
· 9.9 mi
Venus sits where it does because two rail lines crossed here: the International and Great Northern, and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe. A junction like this was valuable engineering. Freight could switch from one line…
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A Quarter-Inch Beetle Took the Cotton
· 9.9 mi
Venus rose on cotton. The deep black soil of the Blackland Prairie grew it well, and at its peak the town ran three gins and a compress to bale and ship the crop by rail. Then a beetle about one quarter of an inch long…
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The Four-Story College of Venus
· 9.9 mi
For about a decade, this little cotton town had its own college. Burnetta College, sometimes written Burnette, opened in Venus in eighteen ninety-six, sponsored by the Disciples of Christ and named for Burnetta Barnes.…
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Sardis Cemetery
· 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Sardis Cemetery, where the earliest marked grave belongs to Susan Jane Rachael Kelly, who died in childbirth back in 1871. Early settler Robert Mayfield donated land for this burial ground, which…
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Lightning in a Furnace
· 10.1 mi
The steel mill south of Midlothian melts metal with something close to captured lightning. It uses an electric arc furnace: three giant graphite electrodes drop down toward a pile of scrap steel, and a massive electric…
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The Mini-Mill That Recycles Scrap Into Steel
· 10.1 mi
In 1975 a steel mill fired up just south of Midlothian called Chaparral Steel, a joint venture between Texas Industries and CoSteel of Canada. It was one of the first American plants to prove out the mini-mill idea, a…
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Emory Home
· 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Emory Home in Grandview. Built in 1907 by John Samuel and Mary Elizabeth Emory, this two-story residence was a testament to John's success as a farmer and stockman. He was also a leading civic…
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Grandview High School — State Softball 2026
· 10.2 mi
Grandview High School in Grandview, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class three A, Division One.
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UIL 3A Football State Champions — 2 titles
· 10.2 mi
Grandview High School (Grandview, TX): Most recent: 42-35 over Pottsboro · 2019 3A Division 1 final.
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The Town That Chased the Tracks
· 10.2 mi
Grandview once stood about a mile north of where you are now. Then the railroad decided the town's future for it. In the early 1880s the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, the line Texans called the Katy, laid its…
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Grandview Baseball — Randy Pistokache, District 18-3A Newcomer of the Year 2026
· 10.2 mi
Randy Pistokache, a freshman (#29) at Grandview High School (Grandview, TX — Johnson County), was named the District 18-3A Newcomer of the Year for the 2026 baseball season.
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The Ground That Breathes
· 10.2 mi
The rich black dirt around Grandview is a scientific marvel with a temper. This is the Blackland Prairie, and its signature soil, called Houston Black, is the official state soil of Texas. It is a vertisol: a clay so…
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Getzendaner Memorial Park
· 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Getzendaner Memorial Park, originally West End Park, established way back in 1889. For decades, it was the site of massive Chautauqua assemblies, drawing thousands for two weeks each summer. Imagine…
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Waxahachie Chautauqua Building
· 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a cultural phenomenon that swept across America! Back in 1899, Waxahachie became a hub for Chautauqua assemblies, drawing huge crowds from all over. People would camp out for days,…
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Grandview, TX
· 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Grandview, Texas, right where U.S. 81 and I-35W meet. This town owes its start to a general store opened by J. F. Scurlock back in the 1850s. By 1860, a townsite was laid out, and a two-story…
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Sardis United Methodist Church
· 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Sardis, Texas, where Methodism has deep roots stretching back to 1845. That's when a traveling preacher named Thomas Welch first rode through this area, spreading the word. The formal congregation…
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Grandview Masonic Lodge
· 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Grandview, home to Johnson County's oldest continuously operating Masonic Lodge. Chartered in 1861, this lodge has met in several buildings, including one shared with the Methodist church. A fire…
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Grandview
· 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Grandview, a town born from a beautiful vista. Settled in 1850 on land granted by Governor Pease, its early settlers hauled supplies by ox wagon all the way from Houston. A visitor once exclaimed,…
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Rosemont
· 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Rosemont, a true Victorian gem in Waxahachie. Built in 1894 for a whopping twelve thousand dollars, this 20-room mansion was a statement. Notice the wide verandas, the ten fireplaces with carved oak…
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Sardis School
· 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Sardis School, a community hub for decades. Kids here first learned their lessons in the local Methodist church back in the early 1870s. By 1897, a dedicated schoolhouse went up…
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Bruco the Caterpillar and the Concrete Domes of I-35E
· 10.4 mi
Beside Interstate 35E sits one of the strangest engineering campuses in Texas: the Monolithic Dome Research Park at 177 Dome Park Place, home of Monolithic Constructors and the Monolithic Dome Institute. Its most…
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The Cement Capital of Texas
· 10.4 mi
Midlothian sits on a ridge of Cretaceous limestone called the Austin Chalk, and that white rock underground turned this town into what locals proudly call the Cement Capital of Texas. Three cement plants mine the local…
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Paul Richards Park
· 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Waxahachie's historic ballpark, known by many names over the years, including Jungle Park and Woodman Park. Back in 1914, locals dreamed of attracting a major league team, and by 1916,…
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Waxahachie Cemetery
· 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Waxahachie Cemetery. The first burial here was on New Year's Day, 1852, for Silas Killough, a pioneer merchant and one of the town's founders. The land itself was donated back in 1858 by Emory…
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Newton Cemetery
· 10.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ellis County, and right here is Newton Cemetery, the final resting place for a true Texas pioneer. Larkin Newton arrived in Texas in 1848, joining his nephews who had settled earlier. But Larkin…
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Dunlap - Simpson House
· 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past a truly unique home in Waxahachie, built back in 1890 and 1891. This isn't just any house; it's a fantastic example of Queen Anne Revival style, featuring two hexagonal rooms and two octagonal rooms!…
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Hawkins House
· 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hawkins House in Waxahachie. This home started as a simple, one-story structure built in 1851 by Benjamin Franklin Hawkins, a key figure in organizing Ellis County as part of the Peters Colony.…
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Hawkins, Eddy P., Home
· 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Eddy P. Hawkins home in Waxahachie. Hawkins, from a pioneer Ellis County family, built the first two rooms of this place right after he married Netta Carson in 1878. Fast forward to 1900, and he…
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Trippet-Shive House
· 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Trippet-Shive House in Waxahachie, a beautiful example of late 19th-century architecture. Banker H.W. Trippet finished this home in 1896, right around the turn of the century. Later, Walter…
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The Marble Library a Dead Man Paid For
· 10.6 mi
At 515 West Main stands a small marble temple of a building that owes its existence to a will. Nicholas P. Sims, a Virginia native who settled in Ellis County in the 1830s and grew rich as a farmer and investor, died in…
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Grandview Cemetery and Original Grand View Town Site
· 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Grandview Cemetery, the final resting place for the original Grand View town site. This place got its name in 1854 when John Whitmire looked around and declared, 'What a Grand View!' Just two years…
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Site of Fort Smith
· 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Fort Smith, established around 1846. This was one of a chain of forts built to protect settlers from Indian raids, stretching all the way from the Colorado River to the Red River. The…
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Rogers Street Bridge
· 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Rogers Street Bridge in Waxahachie. Built in 1889, this truss bridge was a crucial piece of infrastructure, connecting early settlers and a vital North-South commercial route.…
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Mount Zion Cemetery
· 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Mount Zion Cemetery, a place that holds the stories of early Ellis County. Back in the 1850s, an Indian who loved this hill met his end right here, killed by his own wild prairie horse. It was a…
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Wilkinson Family Cemetery
· 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Johnson County, not far from Grandview. Look around and imagine the Wilkinson family, Henry and Sarah Ann, pulling their ox-drawn wagons into this area back in January of 1867. They'd left…
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Ellis County Woman's Building (Davis Hall)
· 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Ellis County Woman's Building, also known as Davis Hall, in Waxahachie. Designed by Dallas architect Bertram C. Hill and built in 1925 and 1926, it was intended as a public park and a place for…
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Elizabeth, the Bride Who Never Left the House on Water Street
· 10.7 mi
The Victorian house at 814 Water Street, built in 1895, spent decades as a family home before it opened in 1984 as the Catfish Plantation, a Cajun-and-catfish spot that became famous less for the food than for being…
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What a Grand View
· 10.7 mi
Grandview got its name from a single spoken sentence. In 1854, John Whitmire, son-in-law of early settler F. L. Kirtley, looked out across the high prairie here and exclaimed "What a Grand View!" The name stuck, written…
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Thompson, Dr. D.G., Homesite of
· 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the homesite of Dr. D.G. Thompson, a prominent physician right here in Waxahachie. After studying medicine in Kentucky and training in the East, Dr. Thompson married Rufa Jones in 1882. He built this…
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Mahoney - Thompson House
· 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Mahoney-Thompson House in Waxahachie, a solid piece of local history. Built between 1902 and 1904 by Dennis Mahoney, a contractor who first came to Texas to build Trinity University. He laid the…
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N.P. Sims Library and Lyceum
· 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here in Getzendaner Park, you're passing a building that was a pioneer among privately endowed Texas libraries. Captain W.H. Getzendaner donated this park back in 1895. But…
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First Presbyterian Church Building
· 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is the First Presbyterian Church building. Organized way back in 1871 by Reverend J.A. Smiley with just 16 members, this congregation has seen a few buildings. The first…
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A Native-Derived Name With Uncertain Language
· 10.8 mi
You're in Waxahachie, Texas, so here's the Indigenous place-name tangent behind the name: Waxahachie shares its name with the local creek and is traditionally said to come from an Indigenous word connected with cow or…
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North Texas Before Modern Towns
· 10.8 mi
You're in Waxahachie, Texas, so here's the Indigenous place-name tangent behind the name: North Texas was homeland, hunting country, travel corridor, and contested territory for multiple Indigenous peoples across…
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Disease, Removal, and Living Nations
· 10.8 mi
You're in Waxahachie, Texas, so here's the Indigenous place-name tangent behind the name: European-introduced epidemics caused catastrophic population loss before many detailed written records were made. Warfare,…
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The Pink-Granite Castle on the Square
· 10.8 mi
Look up. The building dominating the square is widely called one of the finest county courthouses in America, and it's the reason people drive here. Architect James Riely Gordon designed it in the Richardsonian…
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Corn Villages and Buffalo Hunts
· 10.8 mi
You're in Waxahachie, Texas, so here's the Indigenous place-name tangent behind the name: many Southern Plains communities combined farming with seasonal hunting rather than choosing one lifestyle. Corn, beans, squash,…
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Trade Before Highways
· 10.8 mi
You're in Waxahachie, Texas, so here's the Indigenous place-name tangent behind the name: Indigenous trade networks moved salt, food, horses, hides, pottery, shell, pigments, stone, metal goods, and information across…
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Bessie Coleman - Aviator
· 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
Bessie Coleman was born in a one-room cabin in Atlanta, Texas in 1892 and grew up picking cotton in the fields outside Waxahachie. She walked four miles to a one-room schoolhouse for Black children that closed every…
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The Faces of Mabel: A Courthouse Love Story That Probably Isn't True
· 10.8 mi
Walk the corners of the courthouse and watch the carved faces change. Near one entrance a young woman's face is serene and lovely; turn the corner and she sours, twists, and finally curdles into something demonic. The…
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Waxahachie - Gingerbread City
· 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
Waxahachie has more ornate Victorian homes per block than almost any town in Texas, a legacy of the cotton boom that made Ellis County one of the wealthiest in the state during the late 1800s. The decorative woodwork on…
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Ellis County Courthouse
· 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ellis County Courthouse. Ellis County's first courthouse was made of cedar logs and built here in 1850. A second courthouse was built on this square in 1853 and a third in 1874. In 1894 Virginia…
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The Fireproof Hotel With Spring Water and Spring Training
· 10.8 mi
On the northeast corner of the courthouse square stands the four-story Rogers Hotel, built in 1912 on the very lot where town founder Emory Rogers raised his log cabin back in 1847. Designed by architect C.D. Hill, it…
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Ellis County Courthouse
· 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Ellis County Courthouse in Waxahachie, a stunning example of Romanesque Revival architecture. Built between 1895 and 1897, it's constructed from Texas granite, limestone, and marble. Look closely…
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Ellis County Jail, Old
· 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Old Ellis County Jail in Waxahachie, completed in 1888. This impressive brick and stone building housed the sheriff's family on the first floor and twenty cells upstairs. Look for the distinctive…
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Hancock Building
· 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hancock Building in Waxahachie, a Victorian commercial structure built in 1890. Look for the decorative brickwork and cast iron columns on the facade. It was purchased in 1907 by William Pitt…
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1889 Masonic Lodge Hall
· 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the 1889 Masonic Lodge Hall in Waxahachie. Look at this three-story brick building, topped with a tin cornice decorated with Masonic symbols. It was built in 1889 for Waxahachie Lodge No. 90. The…
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Site of a Confederate Powder Mill
· 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a Confederate powder mill, erected back in 1862 by William Rowen. Just a year later, on April 29th, 1863, a massive explosion rocked this spot. The blast destroyed the mill and tragically…
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Williams, Marc
· 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, the birthplace of Marc Williams, a pioneering cowboy singer who bridged the gap between the rough-hewn sounds of early Western music and the smooth crooning of Hollywood cowboys.…
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Midlothian, TX
· 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Midlothian, a town with roots stretching back to the 1840s. Originally known as Hawkins' Springs after a local spring, this community got its permanent name in the early 1880s. Legend has it a…
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St. Paul's Episcopal
· 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Waxahachie's oldest church, St. Paul's Episcopal. <break time="400ms"/> Dedicated way back in 1885 by pioneer Bishop A.C. Garrett, this building still stands as a testament to Gothic Revival…
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Bessie Coleman
· 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the neighborhood where Bessie Coleman grew up and went to school, right here in Waxahachie. Born in 1892, Coleman dreamed of flying, but no American flight school would teach a black woman. So, she…
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First United Methodist Church of Waxahachie
· 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Waxahachie, and right here is where a faith community planted its roots way back in 1849. Nine charter members, led by Reverend Falacius Reynolds, met in a settler's cabin to start a Methodist…
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Site of The Plantation Home of Edward H. Tarrant
· 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a significant Texas frontier home. Edward H. Tarrant, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a renowned Indian fighter, built his house here in 1845. He was a statesman of vision and commanded…
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Williams - Erwin House
· 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Williams-Erwin House in Waxahachie, a beautiful example of Victorian architecture. Built in 1893 for cotton merchant Edward Williams, this home showcases the wealth generated by the booming…
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Joshua Chapel, A.M.E. Church
· 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Joshua Chapel, an important landmark in Waxahachie's African American community. Organized in 1876, this congregation was named for its first pastor, the Reverend Joshua Goins, a man who started many…
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Central Presbyterian Church
· 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Waxahachie's Central Presbyterian Church. It started way back in 1853 as a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation, with just twelve members led by Rev. Daniel G. Molloy. They met in a…
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Presiding Elder's House
· 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of a Methodist presiding elder in Waxahachie. Built in 1901, this house served as the parsonage for the district superintendent for over 40 years. Mrs. M.J. Cooke initially had the…
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Duke Cemetery
· 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the Willow Springs Community, near Alvarado. Look to your right for the Duke Cemetery. It began in 1870 when the Duke family buried their ten-year-old daughter, Zilla, on their farm. By 1879, Dr.…
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Catching Lightning in a Camera
· 11.2 mi
As you roll into Waxahachie, look toward the middle of the square, because you are about to see one of the most photographed landmarks in all of Texas. Rising over the downtown is the Ellis County Courthouse, a red…
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Strickland - Sawyer House
· 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is a house with a story of Texas industry. In 1888, a widow built a home on this spot. Just one year later, it was bought by J.F. Strickland. He was a big deal—a…
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Marvin College, Site of
· 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Marvin College, founded right here in 1870 by the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Waxahachie residents pitched in with land, labor, and cash to build it up. This place earned acclaim…
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First Methodist Church of Midlothian
· 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Midlothian, where Methodists have been gathering for worship since the 1840s. For decades, circuit-riding ministers traveled from Waxahachie to serve scattered families, meeting in homes and even…
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Desertron: The Biggest Machine That Texas Almost Built
· 11.3 mi
Beneath the farmland south of Waxahachie runs the ghost of what would have been the most powerful scientific instrument on Earth. In 1988 the federal government chose Ellis County for the Superconducting Super Collider,…
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The Gingerbread City That Hollywood Kept Filming
· 11.3 mi
These tree-shaded streets full of ornate Victorian houses are why Waxahachie calls itself the Gingerbread City, named for the lacy gingerbread woodwork dripping off the porches and gables that cotton money paid for. The…
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The Octagon in the Park Where Will Rogers Played
· 11.3 mi
In the shade of Getzendaner Memorial Park stands a great wooden octagon that once drew crowds of thousands for ideas, music, and oratory. This is the Chautauqua Auditorium, built in 1902 by the Waxahachie Chautauqua…
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Lord Byron: The Golfer Born on an Ellis County Farm
· 11.3 mi
One of the greatest golfers who ever lived was born on a farm near here. Byron Nelson came into the world on February 4, 1912, just outside Waxahachie in Ellis County, before his family moved toward Fort Worth where he…
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Buffalo Creek and the County Seat Emory Rogers Gave Away
· 11.3 mi
The town you're entering took its name straight off the water. Waxahachie comes from a Native American word the local tribes gave the creek running along the south edge of the new settlement, usually translated as…
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Meharg, Emma Grigsby
· 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Italy, Texas, a town that was home to Emma Grigsby Meharg, the first woman to ever serve as Texas Secretary of State. Appointed in 1925 by Governor Miriam Ferguson, Meharg served for two years,…
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Italy, TX
· 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Italy, Texas, a town with a name that might surprise you. Back in 1879, settlers were debating what to call this new spot. Some wanted Houston Creek, others Egypt. But it was Gabriel Penn, a…
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Oak Lawn School
· 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former site of Oak Lawn School, a beacon for Black education in Waxahachie. It started in 1887 as an elementary school, moving to this very location in 1893. By the turn of the century, high…
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Hardeman, John Marr
· 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the marker for John Marr Hardeman, a soldier who fought for Texas independence in 1836. He was born way back in Tennessee in 1804, but he made his life here in Texas. Hardeman lived a long life,…
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Watson, Benjamin William
· 11.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, near Italy, Texas, where Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Watson commanded the Nineteenth Texas Cavalry during the Civil War. Watson, a plantation owner who arrived in the 1850s, helped…
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Trotter House
· 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Trotter House, a beautiful example of Arts and Crafts and Prairie School architecture. Built after 1918 for Jasper 'Jake' Preston Sewell Jr., this home was likely funded by oil dividends. Jake…
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H.P. and Mollie McCartney House
· 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Waxahachie, and you might just pass a fairytale house! This French Eclectic home was built in 1939 for H.P. and Mollie McCartney. Noted Dallas architect Charles S. Dilbeck designed it, giving it…
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St. Joseph Catholic Church
· 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past St. Joseph Catholic Church. The earliest Catholic settlers in Waxahachie were two brothers of English and American ancestry who arrived in 1859. A German Catholic family joined them in 1870 and a…
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Nelson, John Byron, Jr.
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
John Byron Nelson, Jr., professional golfer, was born on his parents' cotton farm in Long Branch, Texas, near Waxahachie, on February 4, 1912. He was the son of John Byron Nelson, Sr., and Madge (Allen) Nelson. Nelson…
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Dawson, Ronald Monroe [Ronnie]
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waxahachie, Texas, the hometown of Ronnie Dawson, a rockabilly legend. Born in 1939, Dawson first hit the music scene as Ronnie Dee with his band, the D Men. They were so good they won ten…
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Rogers, Emory W.
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past Waxahachie, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to Emory W. Rogers. Back in 1849, Rogers was granted 640 acres right here to establish the county seat for Ellis County. He didn't just get the…
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Still, Rae Mandette Files
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, and right here is Waxahachie, home of Rae Files Still. She wasn't just a teacher; she was a force in the Texas House of Representatives for a decade. Still is best remembered for…
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Richards, Paul Rapier
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here in Waxahachie, you're driving past the birthplace of Paul "Sleepy" Richards, a Major League Baseball player and manager. But what's really interesting is how this town shaped his love for the game. Back in…
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Forrest, Frederic Fenimore, Jr.
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waxahachie, the hometown of actor Frederic Forrest. Born here in 1936, Forrest grew up a fan of Westerns, attending movies in town and eventually pursuing his own acting dreams. He studied with…
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Allen, Jules Verne
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the rugged West, and right here in Waxahachie, Texas, was born Jules Verne Allen, the original 'Singing Cowboy.' Before he hit the radio waves in the 1920s, Allen actually lived the…
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Blaffer, Sarah Campbell
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, in Waxahachie, was born Sarah Campbell Blaffer, a woman who would bring world-class art to the Lone Star State. After a visit to the Louvre on her honeymoon, she began…
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Carrick, Manton Marble
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is where Dr. Manton Marble Carrick spent his formative years. He went on to become a pioneer in public health, serving as superintendent of the Texas State Leper Colony…
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Erwin, Frank Craig, Jr.
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is the hometown of Frank Erwin Jr. A lawyer and political player, Erwin became a titan at the University of Texas System. From 1963 to 1975, he chaired the Board of…
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Twelfth Texas Cavalry
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through the territory where the Twelfth Texas Cavalry was born. Organized in September of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as> near…
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Midlothian Cemetery
· 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Midlothian Cemetery, where the story of this town really begins. It all started with the Peters Colony, bringing settlers to Texas in the late 1840s. The Hawkins family arrived in 1848, and…
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Bradshaw, Amzi
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, heading towards Waxahachie, where Amzi Bradshaw made his home. A lawyer and legislator, Bradshaw answered the call to arms in 1861, enlisting as a private in the Nineteenth Texas…
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Central Texas and Northwestern Railway
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, near Waxahachie. Back in the 1870s, the folks here were a bit stubborn. When the Houston and Texas Central Railroad wanted to build through, Waxahachie refused to offer any money,…
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Dawson, Joseph Martin
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, near where Joseph Martin Dawson was born back in 1879. He was a Baptist pastor, but he was also a fierce social activist. In 1914, after reading the works of Walter Rauschenbusch,…
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Ferris, Justus Wesley
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waxahachie, the town named for Justus Wesley Ferris. He arrived in Texas in 1847, drawn here after his law mentor died unexpectedly. Ferris became a prominent lawyer and judge, even authoring…
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Gibson, Charles Reese
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waxahachie, a town that owes a lot to Charles Reese Gibson. After serving in the Confederate Army and practicing law, Gibson arrived here in 1867. He didn't just settle down; he built up the…
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Rainey, Anson
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, passing through communities like Waxahachie and Dallas, places that were shaped by figures like Anson Rainey. He started his Texas journey in Crockett in 1867, then moved to…
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Southwestern Assemblies of God University
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waxahachie, home to Southwestern Assemblies of God University. But this school has a history that stretches across state lines and multiple mergers. It began in 1927 as Southwestern Bible School…
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Kemble, Josiah Wright
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, near Waxahachie. Right here, Josiah Wright Kemble, a prosperous farmer and merchant, made a big decision around 1861. Fearing the Civil War's violence back in Kentucky, he packed up…
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Waxahachie, TX
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waxahachie, a town with a name that comes from an Indian word meaning 'cow' or 'buffalo.' It was established as the county seat of Ellis County back in August 1850. Early settlers like Emory W.…
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Ellis County
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, a place established in December of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1849</say-as>. It was drawn from Navarro County and likely named for Richard Ellis, a key figure in the…
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McKnight, Samuel Ewell
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here in Waxahachie, Samuel Ewell McKnight got his start. Born in 1864, he worked the family ranch before heading out on his own around 1891 to lease land near Brady. He…
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McPherson, Chalmers
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in Waxahachie, Chalmers McPherson arrived in 1879. He was a minister with a vision, serving the Christian church for twenty years. But his real passion? Education.…
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Singleton, Albert Olin
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Waxahachie, the birthplace of Dr. Albert Olin Singleton. Born in 1882, Singleton went on to become a pioneering professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He…
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The Black City Hall on The Hill
· 11.6 mi
Under segregation, Italy's Black neighborhood, known locally as The Hill and centered on Hardeman, Williams, and Harris streets and parts of Poplar and Clark, went without running water, sewers, paved streets, and…
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The 900-Foot Tornado Down Main Street
· 11.6 mi
If Italy's downtown looks like a patchwork of older masonry, altered storefronts, and newer construction rather than an intact nineteenth-century row, this is largely why. At about 7:20 p.m. on March 26, 1961, a tornado…
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Art the Great, Baseball's Loudest Showman
· 11.6 mi
Italy produced one of professional baseball's all-time characters, and he never let anyone forget it. Arthur Shires, born here, billed himself as Art the Great, dressed extravagantly, boxed professionally, turned up in…
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Italy Colored City Hall
· 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Italy's Colored City Hall. In the mid-twentieth century, frustrated by poor infrastructure, the African American community rallied for change. This led to the establishment of the Italy…
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The Town That Was Almost Called Egypt
· 11.6 mi
The little Blackland Prairie town you're passing through, the one locals pronounce IT-lee, came within a postmaster's whim of being named something else entirely. The first building on this site went up in 1879, raised…
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Where Steam Trains, Electric Cars, and Cotton Wagons Crossed
· 11.6 mi
This compact downtown was once a genuine crossroads of freight, the kind of place where four different eras of transportation briefly overlapped. The Katy, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, reached Italy in December…
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The Queen of the West's Italy Connection
· 11.6 mi
The golden age of singing cowboys reaches surprisingly far into this farming town. Dale Evans, the actress, singer, and songwriter remembered as the Queen of the West, was born in Uvalde, but her parents farmed here at…
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Italy, TX
· 11.6 mi
Once a small settlement in Ellis County, Texas, the town of Italy has seen its fair share of ups and downs. Founded in 1879 by settlers who found the land ideal for growing cotton, corn, sweet potatoes, and wheat, Italy…
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Tarrant, General Edward H.
· 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the final resting place of General Edward H. Tarrant, a man who saw action in the War of 1812. Born in North Carolina in 1796, Tarrant moved to Texas and became a courageous Indian fighter. He also…
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The Marker for a Grave That Isn't There
· 11.6 mi
In the traffic circle where State Highway 34 meets Couch Street stands a 1936 granite marker for General Edward H. Tarrant, the man Tarrant County is named for, and it commemorates a grave that no longer holds him.…
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The Cafe That Became the Town's Scrapbook
· 11.6 mi
For three decades the most beloved place to eat in Italy was Doris Mitchell's Uptown Cafe, and it was as much a community institution as a restaurant. Mitchell started with a small burger operation near I-35E before…
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Midlothian Public Schools
· 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of early education in Midlothian. It started in 1850 as a one-room log cabin serving both school and church. Later, Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad President George B. Sealy donated…
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The Homesick Scot Who Named the Town
· 11.7 mi
Before it was Midlothian, this spot was Hawkins Springs, named for a spring on land the William Alden Hawkins and Larkin Newton families claimed through the Peters Colony in 1848. A post office opened in 1877 under the…
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Hawkins, William L. and Emma, House
· 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of William L. and Emma Hawkins, built right here in Midlothian. They bought this property back in 1892. Then, in 1901, they tore down the old place and hired a local wood artisan,…
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The Mulkey-Loggins House
· 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Mulkey-Loggins House, a home with roots stretching back to the earliest days of Ellis County. This land was first settled in 1854 by Philip Mulkey, a pioneer who arrived before the nearby town of…
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Midlothian Presbyterian Church
· 11.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Midlothian, where in 1911, two Presbyterian congregations merged to form the Midlothian Presbyterian Church. The new congregation built this sanctuary between 1913 and 1914. The church has a long…
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The Day the Sky Turned Black
· 11.8 mi
As you roll into Milford, it's easy to miss how much history sits along this quiet ridge just south of Mill Creek. The town was laid out back in 1854, and a settler named William Hudson gave it its name after a little…
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Chris Kyle Memorial Highway
· 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
This stretch of US Highway 287 through Midlothian is named for Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle. Kyle was a rodeo kid from a small Texas town who joined the Navy and became the deadliest sniper in American military…
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Polytechnic Institute, Site of
· 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Polytechnic Institute, founded right here in 1883 by W.W. Works. Works was a respected educator from this area who even attended the University of Texas. He returned in 1892, and…
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Does It Actually Feel Like Italy
· 12.0 mi
Postmaster Penn named this place for a climate he imagined, so it's worth asking, does Italy, Texas actually feel like Italy? Here's the reality, and it is a lesson in climate science. The parts of Italy people picture,…
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All Roads Lead to Rome
· 12.0 mi
You're rolling through Italy, Texas, a small town on the Blackland Prairie named on a postmaster's whim, not the boot-shaped country across the ocean. But since the name begs the obvious question, let's actually talk…
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The Boot That Became One Nation
· 12.0 mi
You're parked in Italy, Texas, but the name keeps pulling us overseas, so let's stay with Italy the country for one more beat, because the second act is just as big. Fast forward past Rome and you land in the…
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A Town Named for a Sky
· 12.0 mi
Here's a Texas town wearing the name of an entire country, and the reason is pure weather envy. Italy, in Ellis County, was named in eighteen eighty by Gabriel J. Penn, the postmaster over in Waxahachie, about fifteen…
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It Almost Was Egypt
· 12.0 mi
Before Italy won the name, there was an argument. Early residents floated three choices, and each opens its own thread. One camp wanted Houston Creek, after the stream running through town, because the story goes that…
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One Borrowed Name, a Whole World
· 12.0 mi
So think about how much one small town name can carry. Pull on Italy, Texas, and the thread unspools fast. It starts with a Waxahachie postmaster in eighteen eighty who thought the sky looked Mediterranean, even though…
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Cotton, Katy, and the Interurban
· 12.0 mi
Back on solid Texas ground, the name may be borrowed but the history here is homegrown, and it runs on cotton and steel rail. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, the old Katy, reached Italy in December of eighteen…
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The Festival That Folds Back
· 12.0 mi
Here's a nice loop the town closes on purpose. Italy, Texas leans into its borrowed name and throws an Italian festival every June. Think about that for a second. A place named on a postmaster's whim, by a man who very…
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Italy - Because the Founder Said So
· 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
Italy is a small town in Ellis County, just south of Dallas off Interstate 35. It was platted in 1879 along the railroad. The founder, a man named John Tucker, had recently traveled in Europe, and he decided that the…
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Nash Public School
· 12.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Forreston, and right here is the site of the Nash Public School. Back in 1873, pioneer Thomas Alexander Williams brought his family to Garden Valley and immediately set about establishing a school…
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Hawkins Spring, Site of Old
· 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Hawkins Spring, a vital water source for the very first settlers in this area. In May of 1848, William Alden Hawkins and his large family arrived here from Indiana. In a remarkable 28-day…
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Greenbrier Baptist Church
· 12.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the old Greenbrier community, which was renamed Greenfield back in 1917. This area's history goes back to 1878, when 17 charter members founded the Greenbrier Baptist Church. For years, Baptists…
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The Lake SW of Town Is a Flood Machine
· 12.5 mi
The lake a couple of miles southwest of Alvarado is not just a fishing hole, it is a piece of watershed engineering. Alvarado Park Lake was created in 1966 by throwing a dam across Turkey Creek, and it was built to do…
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Oakland Cemetery
· 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Oakland Cemetery, established around 1866. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2007.
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Tubb, Ernest Dale
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, not far from where Ernest Tubb, the legendary "Gold Chain Troubador," was born in Crisp back in 1914. He learned guitar on his own, got a break from Jimmie Rodgers' widow, and landed…
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Lyman's Wagontrain
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once a critical flashpoint in the Red River War. Right here, in late August of 1874, Captain Wyllys Lyman found himself in a desperate situation. His wagontrain, tasked with resupplying…
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Smith, Thomas Ingles
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the wild Texas frontier, a land Thomas Ingles Smith knew well. Arriving in Texas in 1836, Smith fought with the Republic of Texas Army, served as a Texas Ranger, and even negotiated…
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Texas National Research Laboratory Commission
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, near the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, where a massive scientific endeavor once promised to put Texas on the map. Back in 1985, the Texas National Research Laboratory Commission was…
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Burnham, TX
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Burnham (Burnam) was on the Ascensión Gonsaba land grant six miles southwest of Ennis in southeastern Ellis County. In 1861 the House family received a portion of this grant in exchange for a slave called John. Edeline…
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Telico, TX
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Telico is on Farm Road 1181 five miles east of Ennis in east central Ellis County. The site that became Telico was settled before 1856 and, as it lay near the banks of the Trinity River, was originally called Trinity…
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Itasca Railroad Depot
· 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Itasca Railroad Depot, a grand Victorian building that's a testament to the town's early boom. Built in 1895, just fourteen years after Itasca was founded, this depot was the heart of the…
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Nineteenth Texas Cavalry
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, the heart of where the Nineteenth Texas Cavalry was formed during the Civil War. Fear of the draft pushed many men to join this mounted regiment in March of 1862, hoping to keep their…
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Young, Harvey W.
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Ellis County, a place that saw a lot of action in the 19th century. Harvey W. Young arrived here in 1842 and quickly became a key figure. He served as the sheriff of Ellis County in…
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Forreston, TX
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Forreston is on U.S. Highway 77 and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas tracks eight miles south of Waxahachie in south central Ellis County. At first the site was called Howe's Settlement, after William R. Howe, who arrived…
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Trumbull, TX
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Trumbull is near Interstate Highway 45 and U.S. Highway 75 ten miles north of Ennis in northeastern Ellis County. The area that became Trumbull was settled in 1872, when the Houston and Texas Central Railway established…
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Beall, James Andrew [Jack]
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, near Mountain Peak, the birthplace of James Andrew Beall. Born in 1866, Beall became a lawyer and a politician, serving in both the Texas Legislature and the U.S. Congress. But his…
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First Bapist Church of Waxahachie
· 12.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church, a community cornerstone for over 150 years. It all started way back in 1861, with just twelve members meeting in the local…
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Auburn, TX
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Auburn was sixteen miles southwest of Waxahachie in western Ellis County. Some of its first settlers were from a caravan of 105 covered wagons that originated in Arkansas in 1852. They were attracted by the water supply…
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Avalon, TX (Ellis County)
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Avalon is an agricultural community located at State Highway 34 and Farm Road 55 about fourteen miles southeast of Waxahachie in southern Ellis County. Settlers began to arrive in the area along Chambers Creek in the…
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Byrd, TX (Ellis County)
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Byrd was on Farm Road 985 near Clear Creek sixteen miles southeast of Waxahachie and eight miles southwest of Ennis in Ellis County. The original settlers to the Byrd area included H. L. Parker, Dan Faulk, Rube Warren,…
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Oak, TX
· 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
The Oak community, also known as Oak Branch, was on the Oak Branch of Chambers Creek three miles northeast of Maypearl in the southwest corner of Ellis County. Oak was once a prosperous farming community with a cotton…
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Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Itasca (Itasca)
· 13.0 mi
Itasca (Itasca, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Brayden Daniel (0.529 avg).
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Site of Switzer College
· 13.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former site of Switzer College, founded right here in 1902 by David and Rebecca Switzer. It was originally called the Woman's College and Conservatory of Music, offering degrees in liberal arts,…
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Park, J. W., Home
· 13.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of John Wilkes Park, built around 1908 in Itasca. Look for the massive Corinthian columns and classic details of this beautiful Classical Revival house. Park, a Mississippi native,…
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First Presbyterian Church of Itasca
· 13.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Itasca, where history is a bit of a moving target. This church's story isn't about one building, but six different communities and congregations across the 19th century. Think Itasca, Osceola,…
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Alvarado
· 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Alvarado, a town with roots stretching back to the late 1840s. It all started with David Mitchell's trading post, but it was William Balch who really shaped this place. Settling here in 1852,…
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Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company
· 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here in Itasca, Texas, you're driving past the site of a company that transformed local cotton into finished fabric. Before the Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company was organized in 1900, raw cotton had to travel…
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Outlaws Benjamin Bickerstaff and Josiah Thompson
· 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near Alvarado, where in 1869, a pair of outlaws met their end. Benjamin Bickerstaff, wanted for murder in Louisiana, and Josiah Thompson, a local businessman, had joined forces and were believed to be…
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Southwestern Presbyterian Home and Service Agency
· 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, not far from Itasca. Right here, in 1902, the Presbyterian Synod of Texas decided to build an orphanage. Thanks to a generous donation of land and cash from the Files family,…
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Itasca, TX
· 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Itasca, a town that owes its existence to the railroad and the fertile Blackland Prairie. In 1901, the Itasca Cotton Manufacturing Company opened its doors, quickly becoming a major employer. This…
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First Methodist Church
· 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Alvarado's First Methodist Church. Services here started way back in 1851, in a hall built by the town's founder, William Balch. The first dedicated church building went up in 1866, but sadly, it…
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Alvarado Masonic Lodge No. 314 A.F. & A.M.
· 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Alvarado, and right here is the home of the Alvarado Masonic Lodge, chartered way back in 1869. These guys weren't just about fellowship; they were serious about education. Their first lodge…
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The Dr. Strangelove Writer Was Born Here
· 13.4 mi
One of the sharpest satirists of the nineteen sixties was born right here in this small North Texas cotton town. Terry Southern came into the world in Alvarado on the first of May, nineteen twenty-four, the son of a…
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When the Trains Turned Alvarado into a Boomtown
· 13.4 mi
Alvarado is the oldest town in Johnson County, but the thing that really put it on the map was steel rail. In 1881 two railroads reached town in the same stretch of years, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe and the…
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Collier, John C.
· 13.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in the area, John C. Collier, known as 'Marse' to his students, was building a legacy in education. He arrived in Texas in 1855, first teaching at Bosque Academy before…
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Alvarado, TX
· 13.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Alvarado, the oldest town in Johnson County! It all started in the winter of 1849 when William Balch staked a claim near an old Indian trail. Though his family left for a bit, they returned in…
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Weaver, John Calvin
· 13.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Johnson County, and right here in Alvarado, John Calvin Weaver was building a life. He wasn't just a doctor, but a businessman and a state representative. In 1870, he was elected to the Twelfth…
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Balch-Senterwood Cemetery
· 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Balch-Senterwood Cemetery, a resting place with a somber beginning. It was established in 1856, right next to the Balch Cemetery, to serve the African American population. The story starts with a…
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Site of Alvarado School, Church and Union Building
· 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Alvarado, and right here is the site of the very first union building in Johnson County, established way back in 1854. William Balch donated this land for a place that served as a school, a church…
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McDaniel, James
· 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of James McDaniel, a veteran of the Texas Revolution. Born in Alabama in 1810, McDaniel came to Texas and served in the army in 1836, the very year Texas won its independence. He…
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Jordan, Thomas J.
· 13.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the final resting place of Thomas J. Jordan, a soldier who fought for Texas's independence in 1836. Born in Tennessee in 1808, Jordan lived a long life, passing away in 1880. His wife, Stacy Choate…
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Milford Cemetery
· 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Milford Cemetery, a final resting place for generations of Ellis County pioneers. It all started back in 1853 when W.R. Hudson and J.M. Higgins settled here, laying out the townsite of Milford just a…
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First Baptist Church of Milford
· 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Milford, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church, chartered way back in 1855. It started with just eleven members meeting at a doctor's home. The first pastor, Reverend J.M. Perry,…
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First Baptist Church of Alvarado
· 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Alvarado. Settlers arrived in the 1850s, and Baptists here are thought to have met for years before officially forming their church on October 6, 1861. Their…
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Milford Presbyterian Church
· 13.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Milford, and just off the road stands Milford Presbyterian Church, organized way back in June 1855. It started with 16 members and was one of only four Presbyterian churches within a massive…
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Carnohan, Harry Peyton
· 13.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Milford, where artist Harry Carnohan got his start. After studying art in Dallas and Chicago, he spent over four years in Europe, soaking up modernist ideas. Back in…
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Milford, TX
· 13.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Milford, a community that owes its start to a bit of foresight and a bargain. Back in the 1850s, settlers bought land for just fifty cents an acre. Then, in 1854, men like William R. Hudson laid…
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Massey's BBQ: Where a Family Brand Started
· 13.8 mi
Right here in Alvarado is where Massey's BBQ began. The first one opened in 2018, started by Todd Massey and his son Dakota, with Todd's brother Terry Massey as the pitmaster. Terry was the real heart of the smoke.…
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Ellis County Farm Cemetery
· 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Ellis County Farm Cemetery, also known as the Pauper Cemetery. This burial ground was part of a county farm established in the 1890s to support the needy. Between 1890 and 1946, it served as the…
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How Limestone Becomes Cement
· 14.0 mi
Inside the cement plants at Midlothian, ordinary limestone gets cooked into a brand new material through some serious chemistry. Limestone is mostly calcium carbonate. Heat it past about 900 degrees Celsius in a giant…
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Johnson County Pioneers and Old Settlers Reunion
· 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a Texas tradition that started way back in 1892. A local farmer named John James had an idea for a reunion, but folks initially said no. Undeterred, James and some writer friends…
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Saint James A.M.E. Church
· 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Milford, and right here stands Saint James A.M.E. Church, Milford's oldest African-American church and building. It all started back in 1883, organized by Reverend Joshua Goins, Sr. Services first…
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Alvarado Glenwood Cemetery
· 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Alvarado's Glenwood Cemetery, a resting place born from two family plots. Back in the 1870s, the Campbell and Sansom families set aside land for their own cemeteries. The first recorded burial here…
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Richardson Cemetery
· 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Reagor Springs, a place named for a family whose descendants are buried right here. John I. Richardson, a surveyor and Confederate veteran, and his wife Ann Elizabeth, are interred in this…
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Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Life Waxahachie (Waxahachie)
· 14.4 mi
Life Waxahachie (Waxahachie, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Shaun Malone (0.583 avg).
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Crossroads of the Prairies
· 14.6 mi
Right now, you're in a place that was once one of the most important railroad junctions in Texas. Alvarado is the oldest town in Johnson County—staked out back in 1849 and incorporated in 1878—but what made it boom was…
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Dr. Strangelove's Hometown
· 14.6 mi
It might be hard to believe, but the mind that helped create the dark, satirical humor of 'Dr. Strangelove' and the free-wheeling spirit of 'Easy Rider' came from right here in Alvarado. Terry Southern was born in this…
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Engineering a Crossroads
· 14.6 mi
Alvarado didn't grow up around the railroad; the railroads came looking for Alvarado. William Balch staked his claim near an old Indian trail in the winter of 1849, and by the summer of 1854 about a hundred families…
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When Cowboys Drove the Prairie
· 14.6 mi
Before the railroads, the biggest thing to move through this part of Texas was cattle. The Chisholm Trail, the great highway for longhorn drives, ran north through Johnson County a few miles west of here. From 1867 into…
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Site of Norman Springs & Norman Grove
· 14.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Norman Springs, a place that once quenched the thirst of Caddo Indians and Texas pioneers. Back in 1849, William Balch claimed this land, and when he returned with his family in 1851,…
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St. Paul Cemetery
· 14.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the St. Paul Cemetery, a place that started as a burial ground for early settlers, with graves dating back to 1875. The land here was deeded to the Mountain Creek School community in 1881. Later, in…
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Avalon Missionary Baptist Church
· 14.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Avalon Missionary Baptist Church, but this congregation started out as Mt. Nebo Baptist Church way back on July 6, 1879. Sixteen charter members, including families like the Martins, the…
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Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Avalon (Avalon)
· 14.9 mi
Avalon (Avalon, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Josh Novak (0.571 avg, 1 HR).
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Watts Chapel Methodist Church and Cemetery
· 14.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Watts Chapel, named for Nathaniel Franklin Watts. He and his wife Rachel settled here in 1872, building a life and a farm that included a cotton gin. Their family grew, but tragically,…
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Ezell-McLeroy Cotton Gin
· 15.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Alvarado, where cotton was once king. Back in 1896, John Ezell saw the boom in Johnson County cotton and built a gin right here. It was a lifesaver for local farmers, processing bales for markets in…
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Boren Cemetery
· 15.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Boren Cemetery, a final resting place for folks who settled this part of Texas. Michael Boren and his wife Mary Ann arrived here from Kentucky in 1847, bringing their children and enslaved people…
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Shiloh Cemetery
· 15.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Shiloh Cemetery, the final resting place for many of Ovilla's earliest settlers. Burials here began with Peters Colony pioneers who founded this town way back in 1844. Look closely, and you might…
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Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church
· 15.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ovilla, and right here is the site of the first organized church in Ellis County. The Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church congregation was chartered way back on July 25, 1847, two full years…
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Myers Cemetery
· 16.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Myers Cemetery near Alvarado, a place that holds stories of family, hardship, and even a shocking crime. Samuel Houston Myers and his wife Martha arrived here in 1851 with their six children.…
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Hammel's Branch
· 16.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be Hammel's Branch, a Texas town born from a German family's settlement. In 1876, the John Henry Himmel family arrived, and seven years later, their daughter Emma became the first…
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Eureka Cemetery
· 16.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Eureka Cemetery, a quiet testament to a farming community that thrived here in the 1870s. Settlers were drawn by the rich blackland soil, perfect for growing cotton. While Eureka…
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Parsons' Cavalry C.S.A.
· 16.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Waxahachie, and right here we remember Parsons' Cavalry. Back in September of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as>, men from this county and beyond gathered near Rockett's Spring…
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Ellis County
· 16.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ellis County, Texas. It was carved out of Navarro County back on December 20th, 1849. The county was officially organized just a few months later, on August 5th, 1850. It’s named for Richard…
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Ovilla
· 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ovilla, one of Ellis County's oldest settlements. It started way back in 1844 as a fortified community right here on upper Red Oak Creek. Imagine that! Just a few years later, in 1847, the Shiloh…
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Ovilla Cemetery
· 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ovilla Cemetery, established in 1886 by the Ovilla Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The earliest marked grave here is Rebecca Summers McElroy, who died in 1884. The cemetery remains a chronicle of…
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First Baptist Church of Ovilla
· 16.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ovilla, Texas, where the First Baptist Church has been a cornerstone of the community for over a century. Organized back in September of 1903, these early Baptists first gathered in a wooden…
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Head, A. A. and Susanna
· 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a remarkable farm, built by Alanson Asbury and Susanna Head, known fondly as Uncle Ben and Aunt Sukie. Around 1877, they established their home here and transformed about 300 acres into a…
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Bethany Rest Cemetery
· 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bethany Rest Cemetery, a quiet reminder of Alvarado's early settlers. The land here was donated in 1903 by A.A. "Ben" Head and his wife, Sarah, for Bethany Church, originally called Head's Chapel. By…
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Cahill Methodist Church
· 16.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Johnson County, near Alvarado. Look around, and you might imagine a community called Cahill, named for Nancy and Aquilla Cahill, who settled this land back in 1859. Decades later, in 1893, Sarah…
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Gathings College
· 17.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Gathings College, founded around 1860 by Colonel James Gathings and his brother Philip. This school, which enrolled over 200 students, even had a military department that trained young…
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Covington Cemetery
· 17.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Covington Cemetery, a resting place for Hill County pioneers. The earliest marked grave here belongs to Joseph Patterson Wier, who died fighting in the Civil War's Battle of Yellow Bayou. His…
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Thomas C. Neel
· 17.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ennis, where the town's name has roots right here. Thomas C. Neel, a Georgia native, settled near here in 1855 with his wife, Willia. Their cotton and wheat plantation became known as Will's Town,…
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Gathings, James J.
· 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, and right here is the area where James J. Gathings decided to build his dream. He arrived from Mississippi in 1849, seeking cheap land. He settled near Richland Creek, eventually…
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Covington, TX
· 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County, heading towards Covington. This town owes its very existence to James J. Gathings, who arrived here in 1852. He envisioned a community built on his own terms. Gathings set aside land…
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Douglass, Astyanax M.
· 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hill County right now, and you're passing through the territory once home to Dr. Astyanax Douglass. He was a physician who answered the call to fight for the Confederacy. Douglass served in the…
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The Field of Dreams That Reinvented Drag Racing
· 17.4 mi
Out on U.S. 287 south of town sits a piece of motorsports that changed its entire sport. The Texas Motorplex, at 7500 U.S. Highway 287, was built in 1986 by former funny-car driver Billy Meyer, and it was the first…
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Ovilla, TX
· 17.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ovilla, Texas, the oldest town in Ellis County. Right here, settlers first gathered in 1844, not just for homes, but for protection in a fortified settlement. It grew around the Shiloh Cumberland…
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Bells' Chapel Cemetery
· 17.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bells' Chapel Cemetery, founded way back in 1875. Local landowners John and Elizabeth Gibbons gave the land for the church and cemetery on December 27th of that year, deeding it to the Methodist…
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Red Oak Cemetery
· 17.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Red Oak Cemetery, which started life as the Kemble family burial ground. Abraham Kemble bought this land around 1860, and he and his wife Mary were laid to rest here in 1867. Decades later, in…
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The Schoolhouse at the Heart of Town
· 17.8 mi
The true heart of Pecan Hill was never a courthouse or a factory; it was its school. Founded in 1881 in a single building that also served as a church, the school was the community's anchor. By the early 1900s, it had…
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The Gift and Curse of the Blackland Soil
· 17.8 mi
The reason Pecan Hill exists is a story of soil science. You’re on the Blackland Prairie, famous for its dark, clay-rich soil derived from Taylor Marl. This soil is packed with a mineral called montmorillonite, which…
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Pecan Hill, TX
· 17.8 mi
Pecan Hill is a community in Texas.
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The Town the Railroad Missed
· 17.8 mi
In the late 19th century, a railroad line was the difference between life and death for a Texas town. Pecan Hill, despite its productive cotton farms, never got one. The major rail lines, like the Missouri-Kansas-Texas…
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Rockett Christian Church
· 18.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Rockett Christian Church, a building that's seen over a century of Texas history. The congregation started gathering way back in 1853, but they formally organized in 1894. This beautiful…
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Graves Cemetery
· 18.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Graves Cemetery, a final resting place for many of Ellis County's earliest pioneers. The first marked grave here belongs to Joseph Hinkle, who was laid to rest in 1859. His son-in-law, Robert Russell…
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Red Oak High's Father-Daughter Olympic Medalists
· 18.2 mi
Red Oak High School can claim something almost no school anywhere can: a father and daughter who both stood on an Olympic medal stand in the same event. Michelle Carter grew up in Red Oak and graduated from Red Oak High…
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Smith Cemetery
· 18.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Smith Cemetery, established back in 1852. It started as a burial place for pioneers on a lonely knoll, but today it overlooks nine urban areas. Nancy Owen Smith founded this spot for her family and…
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When Hollywood Shot Bonnie and Clyde Right Here
· 18.3 mi
In 1967, the crew of Arthur Penn's landmark film Bonnie and Clyde rolled into little Red Oak, about 15 miles south of Dallas on Highway 35E, and put the town on screen. A spruced-up red-brick bank near the corner of…
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The Town That Used to Be Called Possum Trot
· 18.3 mi
The fast-growing suburb you're passing on Interstate 35 about 18 miles south of Dallas almost ended up with a much stranger name. Settlement started here in 1844, when James E. Patton and his family put down roots along…
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The Patton Family and the Church That Came Before the County
· 18.3 mi
If you want the family whose name runs under this whole community, it's the Pattons. Colonel James E. Patton brought his family to Red Oak Creek in the mid-1840s and, on July 25, 1847, organized the Shiloh congregation…
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The Town That Snubbed the Railroad, Then Chased It
· 18.3 mi
Red Oak grew up as a blackland farm town. Before the Civil War the main crop was wheat, but by the 1860s cotton took over the deep prairie soil, and a general store opened around 1852 by Hugh Caldwell and I.P. Jeffers…
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The Red Oak Boy Who Still Holds a 1938 Big-League Record
· 18.3 mi
Red Oak's first taste of national fame came on a baseball diamond. Michael Franklin Higgins, nicknamed Pinky as a baby, was born here on May 27, 1909, and grew into a hard-hitting major-league third baseman. Over…
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The Red Oak Cowboy Who Fell Off a Bridge for The Wild Bunch
· 18.3 mi
Hollywood owes a quiet debt to Red Oak. Bill Hart, born here on July 28, 1934, became one of the great Western stuntmen of the studio era. He broke in on John Wayne's epic The Alamo in 1960 and went on to perform or…
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Cotton Fields to Cloud Servers Off Ovilla Road
· 18.3 mi
The blackland prairie that once grew cotton on the edge of Red Oak is now being asked to grow something invisible: the cloud. In 2023, Google announced it would invest more than 600 million dollars in a new hyperscale…
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Deputy Clifton Taylor Memorial Highway
· 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're on Interstate 35 West, on a stretch of road named for Johnson County Deputy Clifton Leigh Taylor. On April 23, 2011, Taylor responded to a domestic disturbance call out on Eagle Court, just outside the little…
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Buddy Groom Field and the Lefty Who Earned It
· 18.3 mi
The baseball diamond at Red Oak High School carries the name of one of the school's own, and it is well earned. Wedsel Gary Groom Jr., known to everyone as Buddy, graduated from Red Oak High in 1983, where he was an…
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The Indie Songwriter Who Grew Up in Red Oak
· 18.3 mi
Before she became a fixture of the North Texas indie scene, singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe was a kid in Red Oak. Born in Lufkin, she moved around the state as a child until her family settled in Red Oak, just south of…
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Rutherford's Crossing Bridge
· 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Rutherford's Crossing Bridge, built back in 1919 by the Texas Bridge Company for just over 500 bucks. Before this Warren Pony truss bridge went up, locals had to ford Red Oak Creek. That crossing was…
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Fry - Butcher House
· 18.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Fry-Butcher House, a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture right here in Red Oak. Sam and Sarah Jane Fry bought this land in 1882 and, with the help of carpenter Lewis Butcher, built this…
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St. Jude Catholic Church
· 18.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of St. Jude Catholic Church in Mansfield, a community that started with just six Catholic families in the late 1800s. Imagine a priest traveling by train once a month, just to hold Mass for…
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Born to Beat an Annexation
· 18.6 mi
Glenn Heights owes its existence to a turf fight. In the late 1960s a Dallas firefighter named N.L. "Moe" Craddock opened a thirty-acre mobile home park on this prairie south of the city. The nearby town of DeSoto was…
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One City, Two Counties, Two School Districts
· 18.6 mi
Glenn Heights sits astride an invisible line that predates the town: the border between Dallas County to the north and Ellis County to the south. That single boundary quietly splits the city in two. Children on the…
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Glenn Heights, TX
· 18.6 mi
Glenn Heights may be a relatively young city, but it has its own quiet story to tell. Drive down I-35E today and you see the result of that late 20th-century growth spurt — homes and businesses that sprang up as people…
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From 257 to a Boomtown
· 18.6 mi
Few Texas towns have grown as steeply from as small a start as Glenn Heights. It counted just 257 residents in 1970, the year after it incorporated. Then the numbers climbed like a staircase: 1,033 by 1980, 4,564 by…
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Nugent-Hart House
· 18.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Nugent-Hart House, a beautiful example of late 19th-century Victorian and Eastlake architecture. Built in the early 1890s by Joseph Nugent, this home showcases intricate details on its porch.…
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The Boll Weevil Line
· 18.7 mi
The town of Bardwell owes its very existence to a railroad nicknamed 'The Boll Weevil Line.' In 1907, the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway laid its tracks right through here, and the town as you see it was born…
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The Railway That Engineered a Town
· 18.7 mi
The grid of streets you’re driving through in Bardwell isn’t accidental; it’s a direct result of a major engineering project from 1907: the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway. Building a railroad isn't just about laying…
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The Town That Followed the Railroad
· 18.7 mi
Bardwell began in the 1880s around a cotton gin built by a man named John Bardwell on the Blackland Prairie. But the town you would find today is not quite where it started. When a railroad was routed through Ellis…
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Brandon Mill, Old
· 18.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Old Brandon Mill, one of the first grist mills in Hill County! Built in 1868 by Dr. James T. Harrington, the same man who founded the town of Brandon, this mill was crucial for…
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Bardwell, TX
· 18.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, not far from Waxahachie, and you're passing through Bardwell. This community got its start in the early 1880s, not with a town square, but with a cotton gin built by John W.…
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Herring, Benjamin Oscar
· 18.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, and right here in Bardwell, Texas, is where Benjamin Oscar Herring was born in 1889. He became a Baptist pastor and a university administrator, but his biggest impact might be at…
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Feild, Julian
· 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Tarrant County, maybe near Mansfield. Right here is where Julian Feild, a civic leader and founder, helped shape this area. In 1854, Feild moved to Fort Worth and became the first worshipful…
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Man, Ralph Sandiford
· 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Mansfield, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to a mill. Ralph Sandiford Man arrived in Texas in 1850, eventually settling near Walnut Creek. When his first water-powered mill failed, he…
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Morse, Ella Mae
· 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Mansfield, Texas, the birthplace of Ella Mae Morse, a blues singer who hit the national spotlight at just seventeen. <break time="400ms"/> Born in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
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Mansfield, TX
· 18.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Mansfield, a town with roots stretching back to 1857. It all started when two business partners, Ralph Man and Julian Feild, moved their sawmill and gristmill operation here. They built the first…
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Burgers and Barbecue on Sycamore Street
· 18.8 mi
A town of a few hundred people does not get many restaurants, so the couple Bardwell has, it earns. Out on Sycamore Street you will find the Bardwell Ice House, a local spot slinging burgers, wings, and cheesesteaks…
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Cumberland Presbyterian Cemetery
· 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Cumberland Presbyterian Cemetery in Mansfield. This quiet resting place began as a burial ground right after the Civil War, around <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1865</say-as>. The…
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Mertens Baptist Church
· 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're passing Mertens Baptist Church, a testament to faith and community that's been serving Hill County for over a century. It all started on June 14, 1884, when a small group of Baptists, led by W. J. Priddy, D. P.…
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The Mill That Spelled Out a Town's Name
· 18.9 mi
This whole town grew up around a noise that no longer exists: the grinding of a steam-powered gristmill. The settlement out here on Walnut Creek was first just called Walnut Creek, until two transplants changed…
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How a Mayonnaise Recipe Made the Pickle Capital
· 18.9 mi
Mansfield's strangest claim to fame started in a small rock house here in 1926, with a woman trying to sell mayonnaise. Mildred Dalton was making homemade mayonnaise while her husband Jessie Otis Dalton ran a one-room…
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The Night a 7,000-Gallon Tank Became a Fireball
· 18.9 mi
On the evening of July 31, 1968, a fuel station called the Red Ball Gas House, out on the southern edge of the Mansfield area near Kennedale, turned into one of the worst disasters in local memory. A tanker truck was…
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The Robot Warehouse That Ships a Circuit in 15 Minutes
· 18.9 mi
That sprawling glass-and-steel campus near 1000 North Main Street is one of the most automated buildings in Texas, and almost nobody realizes it. It's the global headquarters of Mouser Electronics, which distributes…
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The 1917 Picture House Still Lit on Main Street
· 18.9 mi
At 109 North Main Street in downtown Mansfield stands the Farr Best Theater, which has been showing audiences a good time since October 10, 1917. It was built by Milton May Farr, one of the town's leading citizens, who…
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Longhorn Country and the NFL Pipeline
· 18.9 mi
Friday nights are serious business in Cedar Hill, and the trophy case backs it up. The Cedar Hill High School Longhorns built one of the more feared football programs in Texas during the 2000s and 2010s, going a perfect…
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Mansfield Mill
· 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the original Mansfield Mill, a massive steam-powered operation built in 1859-60 by Julian Feild and Ralph Mann. This three-story mill ground wheat and corn, attracting business from…
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The Rails That Turned a Mill Town Into a Stop
· 18.9 mi
For its first thirty years, Mansfield's lifeline was wagon roads and the steam mill at its heart. That changed in 1886, when the Fort Worth and New Orleans Railroad finally reached town, after local property owners…
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The Town's Memory, on the Corner of Broad and Main
· 18.9 mi
If you want the whole story of this place in one room, the Mansfield Historical Museum and Heritage Center sits at 102 North Main Street, right on the northeast corner of Broad and Main in the historic downtown, the…
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Thor, a Trailblazing Country Star, and a Hometown Roster
· 18.9 mi
For a town that was farmland within living memory, Mansfield has sent out a surprising number of names. The flame-throwing right-hander Noah Syndergaard, nicknamed Thor, grew up here and pitched for the New York Mets,…
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Mansfield, TX
· 18.9 mi
Mansfield, Texas, is situated in the rolling Cross Timbers country of north central Texas, a region characterized by its varied terrain and vegetation. The city's location, approximately 30 miles from Dallas and 20…
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Collier, John L.
· 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the John C. Collier Home in Mansfield. Built in 1877, this wasn't just any house. It was the residence for John C. Collier, a Presbyterian minister and educator who founded the Mansfield Male and…
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Mertens, TX
· 18.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Mertens, a town born from the railroad. Back in 1887, the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas line was building west, and right here, a station popped up. It was named Mertens, for the wife of the…
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Higgins, Michael Francis
· 19.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ellis County, not far from Red Oak, the birthplace of Michael Francis "Pinky" Higgins. He earned his nickname in a unique way, reportedly showing up for a sandlot football game wearing his clothes…
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Red Oak, TX
· 19.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving south of Dallas on I-35, and right here is Red Oak. This town started out as Possum Trot back in 1844, named for the critters that were everywhere. The first settlers were the James E. Patton family, who…
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Cedar Hill, TX (Floyd County)
· 19.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Floyd County, and right here is the spot where Cedar Hill began. Settlers started arriving in the late 1880s, drawn to the wheat farming in this part of the Caprock escarpment. A schoolhouse…
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Rodgers, Floyd H. [Slats]
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Central Texas, and right here near Keene, you're passing through the stomping grounds of an aviation pioneer named Floyd 'Slats' Rodgers. He was largely self-taught, and in late 1912, a mere nine…
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The Founder's House That Outlived Everything Else
· 19.1 mi
At 604 West Broad Street sits the oldest thing in Mansfield that's still standing: the home of town founder Ralph S. Man. The mill is long gone, the original general store is gone, but Man's house survived, built in…
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Adventist Churches
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Johnson County, and right here in Keene, you're passing through a town founded by faith. In 1893, a group of Seventh-day Adventists established this community, seeking a place to build their lives…
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Lackawanna Ranch
· 19.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the historic Lackawanna Ranch, once owned by Dr. John S. Scofield. He bought this 2500-acre spread in 1858, naming it after the Indian word for 'dwelling of the deep valleys.' Dr. Scofield wasn't…
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Ralph Man Homestead
· 19.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Ralph Mann Homestead, a key piece of Mansfield's early history. Mann, a South Carolinian who arrived in Texas in the 1850s, co-founded this town with his brother-in-law, Julian Field.…
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Keene, TX
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Keene, Texas, a town with a unique origin story tied to faith and education. Back in 1894, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists established a school here to train ministers. They built…
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The First Airplane in Texas Limped Out of Keene
· 19.2 mi
Around 1912 a speed-mad young man named Slats Rogers, born Floyd Rodgers in Georgia and raised here as a teenager, decided he was going to build an airplane. He started the work in Cleburne and finished it in Keene,…
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From Elm Grove to Keene
· 19.2 mi
The town you're rolling into started under a different name. The first settler in this part of Johnson County was Jeremiah Easterwood, who arrived around 1852 and put up a Methodist meeting house that doubled as a…
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The Names That Still Run the Town
· 19.2 mi
Walk the old part of Keene and you're walking through a roster of its founders. The first teacher in the Adventist school, in 1893, was Ella E. Evans, who taught the settlers' children before the academy even had a…
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The Petrified-Wood Gate That Watches the Campus
· 19.2 mi
At the south entrance to Southwestern Adventist University stands the Mizpah Gate, and it's worth a look because of what it's made of. Completed in June 1937 as a gift from that year's graduating class, the gate was…
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Grady School, Site of
· 19.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Grady School, just outside Palmer. It started in 1895, built to educate the children of the pioneer Farrar family. The first building sat on a hill overlooking Red Oak Creek. By…
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The Tornado That Erased a Town
· 19.3 mi
In the spring of 1856, an early version of Cedar Hill was simply wiped off the map. Two storms collided just south of the village and merged into one enormous tornado that, as a newspaper of the day put it, swept the…
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How You Build a Quarter-Mile-Tall Tower on the Highest Hill in North Texas
· 19.3 mi
Look toward that cluster of impossibly tall towers and you're looking at one of the densest forests of broadcast masts in America, and it's no accident it lives here. Cedar Hill sits on one of the highest points between…
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The Morning the Tower Came Down
· 19.3 mi
On the morning of October 12, 1996, one of the giant guyed masts on the Cedar Hill ridge came down in seconds, and three workers fell with it. A crew was raising a new antenna up the 1,462-foot tower using a gin pole, a…
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The Cedar Brakes on the Hill
· 19.3 mi
The high ground you're climbing onto is exactly what gave this town its name. Cedar Hill grew up in the 1840s as one of the settlements carved out of the Peters Colony, the big empire-resario land grant that pulled…
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A Gospel Powerhouse Set Up Shop on the Hill
· 19.3 mi
Cedar Hill's musical heavyweight works in gospel, not country or blues. Fred Hammond, the singer, bassist, songwriter, and producer widely credited with shaping the sound of modern urban contemporary gospel, built his…
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Who Walks Penn Farm After Dark
· 19.3 mi
By day the old Penn Farm is a peaceful row of weathered barns and farm gear. After the gates close, it has a reputation. Visitors and staff have traded stories for years of figures glimpsed among the buildings,…
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Roberts House, Dr. R. A.
· 19.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Roberts House, a beautiful example of late Victorian architecture right here in Cedar Hill. This home was built in 1884 by Dr. R. A. Roberts, a North Carolina native who settled in this area back…
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Mizpah Gate
· 19.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, and you're looking at the Mizpah Gate. This isn't just any old entrance; it replaced a barbed wire fence that used to keep starving livestock out of…
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The Town Built on Purpose in the Dead of Winter
· 19.4 mi
Most Texas towns just happened. Keene was planned. In 1892 a committee of Seventh-day Adventists from the Dallas area went looking for land to build a school, settled on roughly 800 acres east of Cleburne, and paid…
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How 45,000 Wyoming Dinosaur Bones Ended Up in Keene
· 19.4 mi
Tucked into this small Adventist college town is one of the largest dinosaur fossil collections in the country. For about 25 years, Southwestern Adventist University has sent a summer crew to a private cattle ranch in…
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The Morning West Hall Burned
· 19.4 mi
On the cold early morning of January 2, 1944, fire tore through West Hall, the boys' dormitory on the campus of what was then Southwestern Junior College. By accounts of the night, a 16-year-old student named Reginald…
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The Street Named for a Steam Engine Called Old Betsy
· 19.4 mi
The main drag through Keene is Old Betsy Road, and there really was an Old Betsy. On December 20, 1902, a little steam engine by that name began running a roughly ten-mile route between Cleburne and the community of…
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Named for the Cedars on the Hills
· 19.4 mi
The name Cedar Hill is about as honest as a town name gets. Settlers from Kentucky and Alabama arrived around 1846 and found these rolling hills blanketed in native cedar, the dark evergreen eastern red cedar that still…
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First United Methodist Church of Cedar Hill
· 19.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Cedar Hill. This congregation got its start way back in 1854. Their very first church building didn't last long – a tornado ripped it apart in 1856! They rebuilt…
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The Town Where the Weekend Runs Backward
· 19.5 mi
Roll through Keene on a Saturday and you'll notice something off about a Texas town: a lot of it is closed. Roll through on a Sunday and it's open. That's because Keene grew up as a Seventh-day Adventist community, and…
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Cedar Hill
· 19.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Cedar Hill, one of Dallas County's oldest settlements. Back in the late 1840s, settlers were drawn to this high prairie hill, establishing a community. The early economy thrived by supporting…
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Mansfield Methodist Church
· 19.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Mansfield, and right here is the site of a church that's been serving this community for over a century. The first Methodist congregation in Mansfield was established in 1885 by fourteen families…
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Elm Branch Cemetery
· 19.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Elm Branch Cemetery, a quiet resting place for generations of Ellis County settlers. The earliest marked burial here is Martha R. Tidwell, who died way back on November 28, 1877. This rural community…
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The Sharp Manor and Its Long Haunted Legend
· 19.6 mi
On the dark land off Houston School Road, a brick manor and its barns spent decades as one of the oldest haunted attractions in Texas, the seasonal Reindeer Manor, opened in 1974 and run for some 49 seasons before the…
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Driskell, Earle C.
· 19.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of Earle C. Driskell, a lawyer who traded his brief for a byline. He came to Texas as a boy in 1888. In 1907, he joined the Fort Worth Star, quickly becoming a champion for better…
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The First Baptist Church in the County, and the Graveyard Beside It
· 19.8 mi
Out in the countryside between Burleson and Alvarado lies Bethesda, older than the town of Burleson itself and central to its founding family's story. The community traces to 1853, when pioneer farmer David R. Jackson…
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The Health-Food Store the Whole Town Built Its Diet Around
· 19.8 mi
If you want to taste what makes Keene different, stop at the Adventist Book Center and food store at 201 South Old Betsy Road. Seventh-day Adventists have long promoted a vegetarian diet, so in Keene that conviction…
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Bethesda Community
· 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what used to be the heart of Bethesda, a community that started way back in 1853. Pioneer David R. Jackson donated land for a cemetery, where unmarked graves might even date to 1844! Just a few years…
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Frost Baptist Church
· 19.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Frost, Texas, and right here is where the Frost Baptist Church has stood since 1890. Led by Reverend H. A. Conway, about twenty charter members started this congregation. They began with services…
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Frost Methodist Church
· 20.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Frost, Texas, and right here is the Frost Methodist Church, a survivor of a devastating tornado. This congregation started way back in the 1860s, over two miles south at a place called Cross…