Stephenville, Texas

Everything Stephenville is known for

19 songs mention this city 10 artists from here

Stephenville, Texas, known as the "Cowboy Capital of the World," also has a notable connection to music, particularly in the country genre. Many artists have ties to this central Texas city, and its name even appears in song titles.

Among the artists who call Stephenville home are country musicians Zack McGinn and Courtney Patton, as well as the metal band Submersed. The city is also mentioned in songs like "Leavin' Stephenville" by Kyle Park and "Stephenville, TX" by Jewel.

Music in Stephenville

Songs About Stephenville

Leavin' Stephenville
Kyle Park
100%
"I'm leavin' Stephenville"
Stephenville
Rowdy Decker
90%
"Title song about Stephenville TX"
Stephenville, TX
Jewel
90%
"been living in Stephenville"
The Devil's in Stephenville
Cooper Hamilton
90%
"Title song mentions Stephenville"
Stephenville Heist
Royal Wade Kimes
90%
"Title song mentions Stephenville"
Leavin’ Stephenville
Kyle Park
83%
"I’m leavin’ Stephenville"
Belle of Breckenridge
Dalton Domino
53%
"Under a Stephenville moon"
Missed Call
Treaty Oak Revival
45%
Febuary 28, 2016
Koe Wetzel
45%
No Vacancy
Treaty Oak Revival
45%
Stop & Stare
Treaty Oak Revival
45%
Thank You
Bart Crow
23%
"North side of StevenVille"
February 28, 2016
Koe Wetzel
20%
Easy Money Down in Texas
Ray Wylie Hubbard
19%
"Then call up Larry Joe Taylor And say you wanna play his Chili Fest"
Lubbock
Koe Wetzel
9%
"But my one true love's in Stephenville and screaming on the phone"
I’ve Been Everywhere...In Texas
Brian Burns
4%
"Stephenville"
The Chili Song (Live)
William Clark Green
3%
"Charlie Stout, y'all!"
My Texas
Josh Abbott Band
3%
"Never heard of the larry jo taylor fest"
Ramblin' Jack and Mahan
Guy Clark
2%
"To which Larry Mahan replied:"

Artists From Stephenville

Z
Zack McGinn
country Pop: 55
C
Courtney Patton
country Pop: 48
S
Submersed
metal Pop: 43
L
Lee Roy Parnell
country Pop: 36
G
Giovanni And The Hired Guns
country Pop: 35
D
Dolly Shine
country Pop: 15
C
Cottonwood Crows
country Pop: 12
R
Rowdy Decker
country Pop: 10
L
Larry Joe Taylor
country Pop: 8
J
Jon Young Band
country Pop: 4

Rivers & Roads in Song near Stephenville

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

Interstate 20 13 songs Brazos River 37 songs

History of Stephenville

The Night the Sky Lit Up RoadyGoat

2008

On the evening of January 8, 2008, dozens of people around Stephenville reported a large, brightly lit object drifting silently across the sky. Pilot Steve Allen described it as huge, with fast-flashing strobe lights, and said it moved at astonishing speed. The reports drew national news crews to this quiet dairy town. The military first said no aircraft were in the area, then reversed course and admitted F-16 fighter jets had been on a training exercise. That only deepened the mystery. The Mutual UFO Network filed Freedom of Information Act requests and published a report analyzing FAA and National Weather Service radar, arguing an unidentified object without a transponder had performed maneuvers unlike any known aircraft. Skeptics point to jets, flares, and the fog of eyewitness memory. Whatever it was, the Stephenville Lights remain one of America's most documented mass sightings.

The Man Who Gave Away a Town RoadyGoat

1854

In 1854 John M. Stephen settled on the Bosque River frontier, and in May 1855 he rode in with surveyor George B. Erath and a party of about thirty pioneers, among the first settlers of what would become Erath County. When the county was organized in 1856, Stephen offered to donate land for a townsite and courthouse on one condition: the town be named Stephenville and made the county seat. Texas agreed. Stephen threw in fifty extra acres of timber to spur growth and became the first postmaster in 1857. The county itself honors Erath, the surveyor who mapped it. The grand courthouse on the square came later, completed in 1892, a polychrome landmark of white limestone and red Pecos sandstone designed by architect J. Riely Gordon. It still anchors downtown today.

Fitbits for Cows RoadyGoat

2011

Erath County is one of the top dairy counties in Texas, historically the state's leading milk producer, and Stephenville sits at the center of it. Just northeast of town, up US 281, Tarleton State University runs the Southwest Regional Dairy Center, opened in 2011 with hundreds of Holstein, Jersey, and crossbred cows. This is a working laboratory. Cows wear activity trackers, essentially Fitbits for cattle, that log how much each animal eats, sleeps, and moves, so researchers can spot a sick cow before she looks sick. Scientists here test lameness detection using sound and drone-mounted cameras, study manure management to protect the North Bosque River watershed, and train the next generation of dairy scientists. Federal grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture help fund the work. It is high-tech ranching, hidden in plain sight in dairy country.

Hogan, William Benjamin

1912

William Benjamin (Ben) Hogan, professional golfer, was born in Stephenville, Texas, on August 13, 1912, the second son and third child of Chester and Clara (Williams) Hogan. The diminutive Hogan, nicknamed "Hawk" for his ferocious concentration on the golf course, was a relatively late bloomer as a pro. He won his first PGA tournament and his first major title at the relatively advanced ages of twenty-six and thirty-four respectively. Once his career took off, however, he went on to compile one of the most impressive records in golf history. His contemporary Jimmy Demaret considered him "the greatest golfer that ever lived," and Jack Nicklaus called him "the best shotmaker the game has ever seen." Hogan's early life gave few indications of his future success. His father, a blacksmith in Dublin, Texas, may have suffered from bipolar disorder; one source says that his wife moved the family to Fort Worth in the summer of 1921 to put Chester in a sanatorium. Chester committed suicide in front of his family in February 1922, when Ben was only nine. Thereafter, Clara Hogan earned a meager living as a seamstress and Ben's older brother, Royal, then thirteen, quit school and went to work to help support the family. Young Ben sold copies of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram at the Texas and Pacific Railroad station until a friend told Royal that Ben could earn more money caddying at Glen Garden Country Club. Hogan's competitive nature surfaced as soon as he began caddying, in the summer of 1924. Sometimes he slept in a bunker at Glen Garden, so as to be first in line for a bag on the following day. According to family legend, when Clara scolded her teenage son for wasting his time playing golf, he responded, "Momma, someday I'm gonna be the greatest golfer in the world." One of his fellow caddies at Glen Garden was Byron Nelson , who also became a legendary golfer and Hogan's lifelong friend and rival. In 1927 Nelson beat Hogan by one shot after a nine-hole playoff in the club's annual Christmas tournament for caddies. Hogan registered as a professional in February 1930 to play in the San Antonio Open, but went broke soon after joining the PGA Tour in January 1932. He tried again two years later, with similar results, and briefly worked as a dealer and dice-game croupier in Fort Worth's thriving underground gambling scene. Years later, Hogan said, "My greatest accomplishment was being able to make a living playing golf after going broke twice starting out." In 1935 he married Valerie Fox, whom he had met in Sunday school more than a decade before. They were married for 62 years, until his death, and Hogan credited Valerie's support and faith in him for much of his success. Initially, however, Hogan's marriage seemed to have little effect on his golfing fortunes. In 1938 he and Valerie were in Oakland, California, and down to their last eighty-six dollars when someone stole the tires off their car. A distraught Hogan was ready to quit golf for good, but Valerie talked him out of it. Hogan went on to finish second in the Oakland Open, winning $285. Later that year, he won his first tournament, the Hershey Four-Ball, and from then on he was almost unbeatable. He was golf's leading money-winner in 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, and 1948, and was named the PGA player of the year in 1948, 1950, 1951, and 1953. His sixty-three career victories and nine major-tournament wins rank third all-time, an accomplishment made even more remarkable by the time he missed-more than three full years-during the prime of his career. Hogan was drafted in March 1943 and initially assigned to Fort Worth Army Air Field as a physical-training instructor. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Force after completing Officer Candidate School in Miami that summer, then returned to Fort Worth for training as a flight instructor. Eventually, he was promoted to captain, though he never worked as a flight instructor. When he left the service in August 1945, he was

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Erath County Courthouse

1856

Founded in 1854 and named for early settler and land donor John M. Stephen, the town of Stephenville became county seat when Erath County was created in 1856. The first county courthouse, a wood frame structure built in 1856, was destroyed by fire in 1866. By 1890 Erath County was experiencing an economic boom. The railroad had reached this area in 1889, and local business increased as shipping opportunities improved. County commissioners called for bids to design a new courthouse in 1891. J. Riely Gordon submitted the winning design. The construction contract was awarded to S. A. Tomlinson of Fort Worth. Gordon, who became a nationally known architect, had designed two earlier buildings on the town square (the First National Bank and the Crow Opera House). He is well known for his Texas courthouse designs. A distinctive rendition of the Romanesque Revival style, this courthouse, completed in 1892, features striking use of locally-quarried limestone accented with Pecos sandstone. A 1988 restoration project included the addition of an adjacent courthouse annex. The central clock tower of the historic courthouse has been the most prominent feature of the surrounding landscape for more than a century. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1963

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Audie Murphy Arena

1952

Located in an area of Texas known for rodeos, the Audie Murphy Arena originated in Euless, Texas, on the property of car dealer Ray Woods. Woods met Audie Murphy on a defense bonds drive and instantly connected over their love of horses. The arena on Woods’ property and his association with Murphy attracted many cowboys to rodeos with Murphy as a featured guest. In 1952, Woods purchased a ranch in Erath County and the arena was moved to Stephenville where it hosted local rodeos and saw the origination of the Erath County Trail Blazers as well as participation in the Professional Rodeo Association. Murphy continued to appear at rodeos and events until the ranch was sold in the mid-1960s and arena was relocated.

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Brown, William Milton

1932

Milton Brown, western swing bandleader and singer, was born William Milton Brown in Stephenville, Texas, on September 8, 1903, the son of B. L. "Barty" and Martha Annie (Hueford) Brown. Milton's parents were cotton sharecroppers who were determined that Milton and his older sister, Era Lee, would get an education and not spend their lives in the cottonfields. Milton and Era attended the Smith Springs school. Both were good and popular students who showed a talent for singing at an early age. Stephenville's entertainment center, known as the Stephenville Jokey Yard, served as a marketplace as well as performance venue for the traveling medicine shows that came to town. The tent-show patter and musical numbers performed there may well have influenced the stage presence Brown developed later. His early vocal repertoire included church songs and sentimental ballads learned at home. In September 1915 a second son, Melvin Derwood, was born to the Brown family. In May 1918, Era died. Devastated by her death, the family moved to Fort Worth a few months later. They settled on the city's west side close to the Bain Peanut Company, where Barty found work. Another son, Roy Lee, was born in Fort Worth in February 1921.Over the next several years Milton attended school, but dropped out periodically to help support the family by working with his father. As a result of this sporadic school attendance, he did not graduate from Arlington Heights High School until 1925. He was not sure what direction his talents would take him, but he was sure that he wanted to make his living in music. Although Barty Brown was an accomplished fiddle player and Milton's brothers both became musicians, Milton never showed an interest in any musical expression besides singing. By 1927 Brown was singing with his friends Roy McBride and Ellis Fagan in a group called the Rock Island Rockets. Advertised on radio and in newspapers, the group received good responses at their performances around town for various organizations and businesses. Before long, young Derwood started playing guitar with his brother at singing engagements. The Brown brothers met fiddler Bob Wills and guitarist Herman Arnspiger in the spring of 1930 at a Fort Worth house dance. They formed a band, the Wills Fiddle Band, which played every Saturday night at the Eagles' Fraternal Hall in downtown Fort Worth. After winning a fiddle contest in the summer of 1930 the band performed on KFJZ radio in Fort Worth, and later on WBAP in Dallas. The group also played at the Crystal Springs Dance Pavilion , a popular club near Fort Worth. Wills hired tenor banjoist Clifton "Sleepy" Johnson and a second fiddler, Jesse Ashlock , to fill out the band's sound. With the help of friends and fans in Fort Worth, Wills persuaded W. Lee O'Daniel , general sales manager of Burrus Mills and Elevator Company, to sponsor the group on a KFJZ radio show by advertising the mill's Light Crust Flour. The program and the band became a huge success, but when O'Daniel ordered the band to quit playing dances and placed other restrictions on the group, Brown left. Seeking creative freedom in a band of his own, Brown organized the Musical Brownies in 1932 and shaped them into the first western swing band. Original members of the group were Ashlock (fiddle), Ocie Stockard (tenor banjo), Wanna Coffman (bass fiddle), Derwood Brown (guitar), and Milton Brown (vocals). Pianist Fred "Papa" Calhoun and fiddler Cecil Brower were soon added. In 1934 steel guitarist Bob Dunn was invited to join, and in 1935 fiddler Cliff Bruner . Brown had assembled the prototype western swing band—two fiddles, guitar, banjo, bass, steel guitar, and piano—to accompany his pop vocal styling and occasional scat-singing. Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies began broadcasting in Fort Worth on KTAT and playing at the Crystal Springs dance hall. The band became extremely popular in North and Central Texas and was highly influential for other swing bands. Bob Wills

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Davis, Lt. Col. George A., Jr.

1920

One of six sons who served in the military, George A. Davis, Jr. was born in Dublin in 1920 to Pearl (Love) and George Davis. He enlisted as an aviation cadet at Lubbock in Mar. 1942. Davis was among the first P-47 Thunderbolt pilots, flying hundreds of missions during World War II. In the Korean War, he was a leading Ace in the 334th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. On Feb. 10, 1952, Davis led an F-86 SabreJet Combat Aerial Patrol near the Manchurian border. He shot down two attacking MIG-15s before his plane took a direct hit and crashed south of the Yalu River. Already highly decorated, Davis posthumously received the Congressional Medal of Honor and promotion to Lt. Colonel for his final heroic actions. (2008)

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Gordon, William Knox

1915

William Knox Gordon, engineer and oilman, son of Cosmo and Adelaide (Lorimer) Gordon, was born in Spottsylvania County, Virginia, on January 26, 1862. He was a self-made railroad surveyor, civil and mining engineer, mine manager, and independent oil and gas producer. In 1881 he took a position as a surveyor's helper for the Virginia and Carolina railroad; he learned his trade well and within a few years had become a competent surveyor and civil engineer. After working in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Mississippi, he moved to Texas in 1889 to survey a route for a proposed railroad between Dublin and Thurber. Robert Dickie Hunter , president of the Texas and Pacific Coal Company and manager of the Thurber coal mines, offered Gordon a position as civil and mining engineer in Thurber. Although he had no previous mining experience, Gordon soon mastered the work, and made and patented several significant technical improvements for the mines. After Hunter retired in 1899, Gordon became vice president and manager of the T&P Coal Company, responsible for operation of the company-owned town of Thurber. Under Gordon and the new T&P president, Edgar L. Marston of New York, the company abandoned Hunter's antiunion policy and came to terms with the United Mine Workers in 1903. Despite occasional strikes, labor-management harmony prevailed in Thurber for many years. The miners and other Thurber residents respected Gordon as an honest, fair, and concerned employer; many were genuinely fond of him. Gordon realized that the Thurber mines could not compete indefinitely with eastern coal mines, which had richer deposits. In the course of his continual prospecting for coal and other mineral deposits, he acquired considerable geological knowledge and became convinced of the existence of oil and gas deposits west of Thurber. After a number of disheartening failures, the discovery of oil a few miles northwest of Thurber near Strawn in January 1915 won for Gordon the company's approval to continue his exploration over the objections of trained geologists. Gordon's persistence led to the discovery of the vast Ranger oilfield in October 1917 ( see RANGER, DESDEMONA, AND BRECKINRIDGE OILFIELDS). The resulting supply of oil and subsequent conversion of railroad locomotives from coal to oil led to the demise of Thurber in the 1920s. Gordon retired from T&P in the early 1920s and became a highly successful independent oil and gas producer. He had been a director of T&P since 1892 and served as chairman of the company's board of directors from 1934 until his death. In 1903 he married Fay Kearby, daughter of Judge Jerome C. Kearby of Dallas. The marriage produced three children, only one of whom survived childhood. Gordon died in Fort Worth on March 13, 1949.

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Things to Do in Stephenville

nature 22.7 mi away
Dinosaur Valley State Park

The Paluxy River cut down through the limestone here and exposed dinosaur tracks pressed into 113-million-year-old mud. You can wade out into the river in…
historical 23.4 mi away
Americas First Union Town

On Labor Day 1903 the miners of Thurber had had enough. More than 1600 men joined the United Mine Workers walked out of the mines and shut down production…
historical 23.4 mi away
Twenty Nations Underground

At its peak Thurber was one of the most ethnically diverse places in all of West Texas. Nearly twenty different nationalities worked side by side in the mines…
historical 23.4 mi away
The Bricks That Built Texas

When coal started declining in the early 1900s Thurber pivoted to bricks. The company fired up kilns running day and night producing millions of bricks from…
historical 23.4 mi away
The Largest Town Between Fort Worth and El Paso

At its peak around 1920 Thurber boasted a population somewhere between 8000 and 10000 people making it the largest town between Fort Worth and El Paso. It had…
quirky 23.4 mi away
The Town They Sold Piece by Piece

When Thurber died it didnt just fade away -- it was literally dismantled and sold. The company auctioned off buildings houses equipment and anything that wasnt…
historical 23.5 mi away
One of the First Electrified Cities in Texas

In 1895 while most of Texas still relied on kerosene lamps the coal mining town of Thurber had full electric power running 24 hours a day. The company built…
spooky 8.2 mi away
McDow's Hole

In 1880s Erath County a young bride named Jenny Papworth was murdered and thrown into this swimming hole on the Green Creek. Her ghost guards the water and…
day trip
Day Trip to Stephenville 🐴 (FULL EPISODE) S4 E2

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

Sports in Stephenville

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 4A · Football · 2021–2025

Stephenville Yellow Jackets — UIL 4A Football State Champions — 2 titles

Most recent: 10-0 over Kilgore · 2025 4A Division 1 final

Stephenville High School, a Class 4A football powerhouse in the heart of Texas, boasts a remarkable record of state championships. The Yellow Jackets have consistently demonstrated their strength on the field, bringing home the top honor multiple times. The program is known for developing talent that goes on to compete at the professional and major collegiate levels, a testament to the strong football culture in Stephenville.

The tradition of excellence at Stephenville High School is further highlighted by a roster of notable alumni who have made their mark in higher echelons of football. This list includes Branndon Stewart, Kevin Kolb, Jevan Snead, Cody Davis, Jarrett Stidham, and Coy Eakin. These athletes represent the enduring impact of Stephenville's football program, reflecting the dedication and skill nurtured within the community.

State titles
2 (2021–2025)
Most recent
2025, 10-0
Class
4A
Key Players
  • Branndon Stewart — , 1993, American football quarterback at the Texas A&M University
  • Kevin Kolb — , 2003, American football quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, attended the University o
  • Jevan Snead — , 2006, American football quarterback at the University of Mississippi
  • Cody Davis — , 2008, American football safety at Texas Tech University
The moment

In 2025, Stephenville secured the 4A Division 1 state title with a 10-0 victory over Kilgore.

Sources: Wikipedia · UIL State Championship Archives · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)

Everything Near Stephenville

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

Explore Stephenville on the Map
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