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Stephenville, Texas

Everything Stephenville is known for

19 songs mention this city 13 artists from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Stephenville. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

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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%
Stephenville, TX
Jewel
90%
"been living in Stephenville"
The Devil's in Stephenville
Cooper Hamilton
90%
Stephenville Heist
Royal Wade Kimes
90%
Leavin’ Stephenville
Kyle Park
83%
"I’m leavin’ Stephenville"
Stephenville
Dale Whittenberg
77%
"Stephenville"
February 28, 2016
Koe Wetzel
70%
Belle of Breckenridge
Dalton Domino
53%
"Under a Stephenville moon"
Missed Call
Treaty Oak Revival
45%
No Vacancy
Treaty Oak Revival
45%
Stop & Stare
Treaty Oak Revival
45%
Thank You
Bart Crow
23%
"North side of StevenVille"
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

K
Koe Wetzel
country
H
Hudson Westbrook
country
S
Submersed
metal
G
Giovannie and the Hired Guns
rock
L
Lee Roy Parnell
country
L
Larry Joe Taylor
country
D
Dolly Shine
country
G
Garrett Bradford
country
C
Cottonwood Crows
country
R
Rowdy Decker
country
Z
Zack McGinn
country
J
Jon Young Band
country
C
Carson VanGundy
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Stephenville

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

Interstate 20 13 songs Brazos River 43 songs

Musical Heritage

The Night Behind February 28, 2016 RoadyGoat

2016

Koe Wetzel grew up in Pittsburg, in East Texas, and left at eighteen to play linebacker at Tarleton State on a football scholarship. By the time he left school, he was already playing shows. On February twenty-eighth, two thousand sixteen, he was arrested in Stephenville. By his own telling, he drank all night at a buddy's house with little money and a bottle of vodka, left, came back, and kept talking about Taco Bell. He says his truck ended up about five blocks away, out of gas, hood popped and doors open, and an officer found him lying face down in the middle of a soccer field. Wetzel says the officer thought he was dead, and that he woke up in jail. He turned that night into a song named for the date, February twenty-eighth, two thousand sixteen, and fans celebrate the date every year as Koe Wetzel Day.

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The Father of Western Swing RoadyGoat

1903

Stephenville's music story starts with a man who helped build a genre. Milton Brown was born in Stephenville in nineteen oh three and moved to Fort Worth in nineteen eighteen. In nineteen thirty he started performing with Bob Wills, and together they developed the sound and style of Western swing. Brown then formed his own band, the Musical Brownies, fusing country, blues, jazz and pop. For a while, they were more popular than Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. Brown died in April nineteen thirty six, five days after a car crash in Fort Worth. He was laid to rest back home in Stephenville, which holds a Western Swing Festival in his honor and marks September eighth as Milton Brown Day. In two thousand eighteen the Texas Music Office in the governor's office certified Stephenville as a Texas Music Friendly Community, the sixth city to get that designation. And Koe Wetzel, whose rowdy songs caught on with college students, came to Stephenville from Pittsburg, Texas, at eighteen, on a football scholarship to play linebacker at Tarleton. His band was managed out of Stephenville until two thousand nineteen.

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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 Butcher of Stephenville RoadyGoat

1925

On December ninth, nineteen twenty five, two men setting traps in the cellar of an abandoned Erath County farmhouse found a bloody feed sack hanging from the beams. Inside was the severed head of a young man. At a funeral home in Stephenville the head was put on display, and at least six thousand people filed past before a woman named Ida Gristy recognized him as Bernie Connally, nineteen, of the Selden community. Sheriff Med Hassler and Texas Ranger Stewart Stanley drove out to Bernie's stepfather, F. M. Snow, who said the family had gone to Waco. The train station's records showed no such trip. When a crowd started gathering, the sheriff rushed Snow to the jail in Fort Worth to head off a lynching. In the farmhouse fireplace, officers found charred bone, teeth and hair. Snow confessed to killing his wife Maggie, her mother Samantha Olds, and Bernie on November twenty-seventh, nineteen twenty five, after a quarrel over a cow in the cotton patch. He became known as the Butcher of Stephenville. A jury convicted him, and on August twelfth, nineteen twenty seven, Texas executed him in the electric chair at Huntsville.

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Moo-La, the Ten Million Dollar Cow RoadyGoat

1972

The black and white cow on the courthouse square has a name: Moo-La. Very early on the morning of September twenty-third, nineteen seventy two, a local dairy barn contractor hauled the fiberglass Holstein downtown and set her on her pedestal under black plastic. Later that day the county judge unveiled her, and the town threw an all-day party with free ice cream. The dairy industry was bringing ten million dollars a year into the local economy, so her sign called her the ten million dollar cow. Word traveled, and in nineteen seventy three a group of Frenchmen who had read about her came to visit. One local dairyman says a magazine photo of Moo-La is the reason his family moved to Texas. His father saw the picture and announced he was going to Texas to start a dairy. In two thousand twenty two she got a complete makeover, and rode back downtown with a full police and fire escort. Every June she even gets her own festival in City Park.

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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

Historical Marker →

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)

Historical Marker →

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

209 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • The Night the Sky Lit Up

    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,…

  • Cowboy Capital of the World

    Stephenville calls itself the Cowboy Capital of the World, and it has the champions to back it up. The town is home to Ty Murray, the rodeo legend nicknamed King of the Cowboys, who won nine Professional Rodeo Cowboys…

  • The Butcher of Stephenville

    On December ninth, nineteen twenty five, two men setting traps in the cellar of an abandoned Erath County farmhouse found a bloody feed sack hanging from the beams. Inside was the severed head of a young man. At a…

  • Erath County Courthouse · Historical Marker

    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…

  • The Night Behind February 28, 2016

    Koe Wetzel grew up in Pittsburg, in East Texas, and left at eighteen to play linebacker at Tarleton State on a football scholarship. By the time he left school, he was already playing shows. On February twenty-eighth,…

  • Crow Opera House · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stephenville, and right here is the site of the old Crow Opera House, a building that was much more than just a place for shows. Erected before 1892, the first floor was home to the Erath County…

  • Moo-La, the Ten Million Dollar Cow

    The black and white cow on the courthouse square has a name: Moo-La. Very early on the morning of September twenty-third, nineteen seventy two, a local dairy barn contractor hauled the fiberglass Holstein downtown and…

  • John Tarleton's Duck

    Ask a Tarleton student about the school's founder, and you may hear about a duck. The story goes that John Tarleton walked all the way from Tennessee to Texas with his pet duck, Oscar P, waddling alongside. Legend says…

  • The Purple Poo

    Every Tuesday morning at Tarleton State, signs show up nailed to the trees on campus, and the people who made them are a secret. They come from the Purple Poo, a masked spirit group that Tarleton calls the oldest spirit…

  • The Alamo Land Under Stephenville

    Stephenville's story starts at the Alamo. John Blair was born in Tennessee in eighteen oh three, and on February nineteenth, eighteen thirty five, he registered for a league of Texas land as a married man. In early…

  • When Stephenville Nearly Emptied

    Stephenville lost more than half its people in its first twenty years. John M. Stephen settled here in eighteen fifty four, and by eighteen fifty eight the town had grown to seven hundred sixty-six people. Comanche…

  • The Father of Western Swing

    Stephenville's music story starts with a man who helped build a genre. Milton Brown was born in Stephenville in nineteen oh three and moved to Fort Worth in nineteen eighteen. In nineteen thirty he started performing…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • The Cowboy Capital Claim

    Stephenville calls itself the Cowboy Capital of the World, and it is not the only Texas town that does. Bandera claims the title too. A Texas House resolution in two thousand thirteen traced Stephenville's case to…

  • The Oil Boom That Passed By

    Stephenville had an oil boom once, and it lasted about two years. From nineteen eighteen to nineteen twenty, oil fever ran through Stephenville and Erath County. The trouble was that the important fields lay outside the…

  • Yellow Jacket Football

    Stephenville High's football team missed the playoffs every year from nineteen fifty two until nineteen eighty nine. Then Art Briles arrived and turned the program around. Under Briles, the Yellow Jackets made the…

  • Stephenville Drug Stores · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the corner of Washington and Belknap streets in Stephenville, the site of a long-running local institution: the town's drug store. From 1899 all the way to 1994, this spot served as the heart of the…

  • Everett & Ava Colborn, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame

    Everett Colborn ran the World Championship Rodeo Company out of Dublin, supplying stock for the big Madison Square Garden rodeos. He entered the Rodeo Cowboys Association Hall of Fame in nineteen sixty one, and in…

  • G.K. & Nita Brook Lewallen, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame

    G.K. Lewallen was a founding director of the Erath County Livestock Association. He entered the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in nineteen ninety four, and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in…

  • Audie Murphy Arena · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    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…

  • The Man Who Gave Away a Town · 0.1 mi

    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.…

  • Gentry and Shelton Building · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stephenville, and right here on the courthouse square, you're passing the Gentry and Shelton Building. Built in 1873 by partners George Gentry and James Shelton, this imposing limestone structure…

  • Cage Home · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stephenville, and right here is a beautiful example of Texas architecture. This is the Cage Home, built in 1913 for Janie Cage after her husband, J.H. Cage, a prominent merchant, rancher, and…

  • First National Bank Building · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stephenville, and right here on the town square is a piece of architectural history. Built in 1889, this building housed the city's very first bank. It's one of three structures on the square…

  • Dawson Saloon · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Dawson Saloon in Stephenville, built in the early to mid-1890s. Owner Billy Dawson made it a popular watering hole, even adding beer barrel seating for cowboys along the sidewalk.…

  • Cody Ohl, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Cody Ohl joined pro rodeo in nineteen ninety four and was named overall rookie of the year. He won world calf roping titles in nineteen ninety seven and nineteen ninety eight, and in two thousand one he took both the…

  • Charmayne James, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Charmayne James was a ten-time world champion barrel racer by nineteen ninety four, with more than a million dollars in arena winnings. Her pro career took off in nineteen eighty three after she won the barrel race at…

  • J.J. Hampton, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    J.J. Hampton won sixteen world roping titles in a six-year span, from nineteen ninety four to two thousand. From two thousand one to two thousand twenty one she stayed ranked among the top ten female ropers in the…

  • Ty Murray, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Ty Murray was born in Phoenix in nineteen sixty nine, and his father taught him to ride at age two. He turned pro in nineteen eighty eight and was rookie of the year. A year later he won both the college and the pro…

  • Jim Sharp, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Bull rider Jim Sharp was pro rodeo's rookie of the year in nineteen eighty six, and set a record for money won by a rookie. In nineteen eighty eight he became the first bull rider to ride all ten bulls at the National…

  • Harry Tompkins, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Harry Tompkins was born in Furnace Woods, New York, in nineteen twenty seven, an unlikely start for a rodeo champion. He worked horses on an eastern dude ranch and entered competition at Madison Square Garden in…

  • Tuff Hedeman, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Tuff Hedeman won the pro rodeo world bull riding championship three times, in nineteen eighty six, nineteen eighty nine and nineteen ninety one, and the Professional Bull Riders world title in nineteen ninety five. He…

  • Whit Keeney, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Whit Keeney started rodeoing in nineteen thirty two and won his first trophy saddle in nineteen fifty seven, when he was forty. He went on to win thirty-seven. Early on he roped with Will Rogers at the Texas Cowboy…

  • Junior Meek, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Junior Meek, born in Cleburne in nineteen thirty six, fought his first bulls with no experience, at an amateur rodeo in Louisiana, in exchange for his entry fees. In a twenty-year career he became one of the most…

  • Walt & Debbie Garrison, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Walt Garrison was two kinds of cowboy: a fullback for the Dallas Cowboys and a pro rodeo competitor. He made sure his Cowboys signing bonus included a two-horse trailer. His all-star rodeos raised more than four million…

  • Isora Johnson Young, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Isora Johnson Young was a rodeo pioneer. She roped calves and ran barrels at a time when women in rodeo were very rare. When she began competing in the early nineteen thirties, she was promoted as one of only two…

  • Chick Elms, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Chick Elms made the National Finals Rodeo in bareback riding six years in a row, from nineteen seventy five through nineteen eighty. He finished third in the world standings in nineteen seventy six and nineteen seventy…

  • Jerry Jetton, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Calf roper Jerry Jetton qualified for the National Finals Rodeo thirteen times. He grew up in Dallas and played football at Sam Houston, then quit to put his time into roping. That love was shaped by his grandparents'…

  • George & Beulah Brown, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    George and Beulah Brown married in nineteen forty three and rodeoed for more than twenty-five years, George roping and judging while Beulah went from schoolteacher to rodeo secretary. They put on the first Stephenville…

  • John Justin, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    John Justin was the grandson of the founder of the Justin Boot Company. He founded the Justin Hat company in nineteen thirty eight, and later turned the boot company into Justin Industries, which became the country's…

  • Troy Dunn, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Troy Dunn is an Australian bull rider who started riding calves at age nine. He moved to Canada in nineteen ninety to ride against the American cowboys, and in nineteen ninety one he qualified for the National Finals…

  • Tom Reeves, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Tom Reeves was born on September fifteenth, nineteen sixty four, in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, and grew up on his family's ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation. In two thousand one he became the only American…

  • Guy Allen, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Steer roper Guy Allen was born on September fifth, nineteen fifty eight, in Coushatta, Louisiana. He won his first world title in nineteen seventy seven, at nineteen, the youngest steer roping champion in history, and…

  • Terry & Delia Walls, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Terry Walls produced his first rodeo in Glen Rose in nineteen seventy one, and his company went on to supply bucking stock to the National Finals Rodeo. His Born to Buck breeding program raised a bronc named Jawbreaker,…

  • Buster Welch, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Buster Welch knew early that he wanted to be a rancher, and worked the Four Sixes, the Long X and the Pitchfork. He did not know he would become a household name in cutting horses. In nineteen sixty two he won the very…

  • Monty "Hawkeye" Henson, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Monty Hawkeye Henson won three world saddle bronc riding titles and qualified for the National Finals fourteen times. Born on October twenty-second, nineteen fifty three, in Farmersville, Texas, he grew up around…

  • Joy "Gordon" Hawks, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Joy Gordon Hawks was a world champion bareback rider in women's professional rodeo, and reserve world champion in bull riding. In nineteen ninety seven she won the women's bull riding at the Professional Bull Riders…

  • George Doak, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    George Doak was born in Fort Worth in nineteen thirty seven. Asked at age eight what he wanted to be, he said the best rodeo clown in the world. He fought his first bulls at the Mesquite rodeo in nineteen fifty three,…

  • Jimmy Anderson, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Jimmy Anderson was born in Fort Worth on September sixth, nineteen fifty three, and became a bullfighter and rodeo clown, named Wrangler Bullfighter of the Year more than once. Bull riders like Ted Nuce, Jim Sharp, Ty…

  • Chalk Mountain Masonic Lodge #894, A.F. & A.M. · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Chalk Mountain Masonic Lodge. Fourteen members organized here in 1904, electing Joe Dotson as their first master. The lodge met on Saturdays after a full moon, with a grocery store…

  • H. Sherwood Foster, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Sherwood Foster came from a pioneer West Texas cattle and ranching family, and was known as a breeder of some of the finest beef stock around. In Stephenville, he founded a home for children. He and his wife, Myrtie,…

  • Kay Floyd, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Kay Floyd moved from Indiana to Midland in the nineteen sixties and managed the Square Top three Ranch. In cutting horse competition she won the National Cutting Horse Association Non-Pro Futurity in nineteen seventy…

  • Hobie and Paula Wood, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Hobie Wood was a National Cutting Horse Association open world champion in nineteen ninety, nineteen ninety two, nineteen ninety five and nineteen ninety seven, and entered its hall of fame in nineteen ninety five. His…

  • J.M. "Junior" McNeill, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Junior McNeill came from a family that pioneered Erath County. He was a founding director of the Erath County Livestock Association and helped start a youth riding group called the Erath County Trailblazers. People…

  • Joe and Chitichi Fambro, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Joe and Chitichi Fambro ranched in Erath County from nineteen fifty on. They hosted cutting horse competitions, trail rides and barbecue cookouts at their ranch, and even sheriff's functions. They helped raise money for…

  • Faye Marburger Ramsey, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Faye Marburger Ramsey was born in Santa Anna, Texas, in nineteen eleven, and loved horses. She became one of the original Madison Square Garden Rodeo sponsor girls, young women picked by their local chambers of commerce…

  • Rodeo Clown Reunion, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    One plaque here honors no single cowboy. It salutes rodeo clowns, the funnymen who kept crowds laughing, and who, once Brahma bulls came into bull riding, were asked to help the cowboy get to safety. Later the barrel…

  • Bob Doty, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Bob Doty spent more than thirty years in rodeo, competing in amateur, junior and pro events before he became a college rodeo coach. Coaching at Western Texas College in Snyder and at Tarleton State, he produced one…

  • Toby & Jean Stone, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Toby Stone was a charter member and the first president of the Erath County Livestock Association, whose members built the county's rodeo arena. For more than four decades it hosted junior livestock shows, youth rodeos…

  • Tarleton State University rodeo teams, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    This plaque belongs to a team, not a person. It honors Tarleton State rodeo squads that won national intercollegiate titles: the men in nineteen sixty seven, and the women in nineteen sixty nine, nineteen seventy and…

  • Ethel Lewallen, Cowboy Capital Walk of Fame · 0.1 mi

    Ethel Lewallen came from New York City and became an acclaimed western artist in Stephenville, where she lived for twenty-eight years. Her paintings of Texas life were among the works of twelve artists exhibited at the…

  • First Methodist Church of Stephenville · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First Methodist Church of Stephenville. This congregation got its start way back in 1855 with just ten members, making it one of the town's earliest institutions. The current Beaux Arts building…

  • Stephenville Masonic Lodge #267 · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Stephenville Masonic Lodge #267. Organized in 1860 with 24 members, including town founder John M. Stephen, they first met in a log building. The lodge received its charter in 1861…

  • Crow Home · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Crow Home, a landmark of Stephenville's early prosperity. Tennessee natives Dr. Martin Swan Crow and his wife Mollie Jane arrived here in 1871. Dr. Crow built a successful medical…

  • Oldest Home in Stephenville · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Stephenville, and right here is the oldest home in town, built way back in 1869 by J. D. Berry. Take a look at that native limestone and the Victorian architecture – you can spot it by that steep…

  • Stephenville Church of 1900 · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stephenville, and you might notice a unique church building. This is the Stephenville Church, built by its Presbyterian congregation between 1899 and 1900. Designed by local builder William John…

  • Brick Streets of Stephenville, Historic · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stephenville, and if you look closely, you might still see them: the old brick streets. Back in 1929, the city council decided it was time to ditch the dirt. They hired the Thurber Construction…

  • Cornelia Graves · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Stephenville, where a remarkable educator once made her mark. Cornelia Tyler, born in Dallas in 1875, earned her teaching certificate and came here to lead the city's colored school. For nearly…

  • President's House · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Stephenville, heading past the Tarleton State University campus. Look for a beautiful home built right here in 1923. Originally known as the Dean's Home, this house was designed by the first man…

  • John Tarleton · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Stephenville, home of Tarleton College. But did you know it all started with a self-made merchant named John Tarleton? He worked in a dry goods store for over forty years, investing his earnings in…

  • Mount Olive Cemetery · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Mount Olive Cemetery, a vital piece of Stephenville's African American history. Established in 1922, it holds relocated graves dating back to 1856 from the old West End Cemetery. The Colored Burial…

  • Hogan, William Benjamin · 1.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    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…

  • Brown, William Milton · 1.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    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…

  • Erath County · 1.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Erath County, a place named for surveyor George B. Erath. When settlers first arrived in the 1850s, they found not only the land but also Native American tribes like the Caddo and Anadarko.…

  • Stephenville College · 1.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Stephenville, and right here is where a bold experiment in local education took root and then withered away. Back in 1893, citizens were convinced a college would boost the local economy,…

  • Cooperative Hospitals · 1.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through West Texas, and right here, we're talking about a revolutionary idea born out of necessity: cooperative hospitals. Back in the 1930s, rural communities like Amherst struggled to afford healthcare.…

  • Salmon, John A. · 1.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Erath County, and right here, John Salmon was a man who knew this frontier. Born in Kentucky around 1827, he came to Texas and became a farmer and rancher. But Salmon was also a Texas Ranger,…

  • King, Thomas Benton · 1.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Erath County right now, and you might be passing the very town where a legal battle for the future of education took place. Back in 1896, Stephenville was home to The John Tarleton College, an…

  • Tarleton State University · 1.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Stephenville, the home of Tarleton State University. Did you know this whole place started with a promise from a wealthy businessman? John Tarleton left a fortune in his will back in 1895 to start…

  • Stephenville, TX · 1.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Stephenville, a town that owes its very existence to a generous land donation. Back in 1854, John M. Stephen settled here and gave land for the townsite. He didn't stop there, donating fifty acres…

  • Jennings, Elzy Dee · 1.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Erath County, near Stephenville, where Elzy Dee Jennings spent much of his life. He was a college administrator who moved here as a child. After earning multiple degrees, he served as president of…

  • The Silicon Valley of Milk · 1.2 mi

    As you drive the highways around Stephenville, you're in the middle of a serious food-production engine. Erath County was the second biggest milk producer in Texas back in the 1980s, and by the early 2000s it led the…

  • The Stephenville Lights · 1.2 mi

    On the evening of January eighth, two thousand eight, dozens of people around Stephenville saw lights they could not explain. Some forty witnesses reported extremely bright lights that moved slowly, then fast. Some said…

  • Stephenville, TX · 1.2 mi

    Stephenville's history is marked by periods of growth and decline. Founded in 1854 by John M. Stephen, the town initially saw a population increase to 776 within two years. However, due to Comanche raids and the…

  • John Tarleton's Strange Gift · 1.2 mi

    The man whose name is on the university here was a puzzle, even about himself. John Tarleton gave census takers different ages and birthplaces over the years. He worked about forty years for a mercantile firm in…

  • The Blacksmith's Son · 1.2 mi

    Ben Hogan, who won nine major golf championships, was born on August thirteenth, nineteen twelve, and both Stephenville and nearby Dublin claim his birthplace. His family lived in Dublin, where his father Chester ran…

  • Davis, Lt. Col. George A., Jr. · 1.5 mi · Historical Marker

    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…

  • Gordon, William Knox · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    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,…

  • Thurber, TX · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Though it is a ghost town today, Thurber once had a population of perhaps as many as 8,000 to 10,000. At that time (1918-20) it was the principal bituminous-coal-mining town in Texas. The site of the town is…

  • Children of God · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Erath County, not far from the old ghost town of Thurber. In late 1969, this area became home to a unique community: the Children of God. Led by David Berg, also known as 'Moses David,' about 200…

  • Coal and Lignite Mining · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through a part of Texas that, for a time, powered the state. Right here, in counties like Erath, the ground beneath you was once a major source of coal and lignite. Commercial mining kicked off in the…

  • Hunter, Robert Dickie · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here, you're passing through the legacy of Robert Dickie Hunter, a Scottish immigrant who became a titan of Texas industry. After finding success in the cattle business,…

  • Salmon, Joseph · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Erath County, near Clairette, a place that owes its start to folks like Joseph Salmon. Salmon arrived in Texas back in 1839, a farmer and stock raiser who eventually settled here. By 1860, his…

  • Bunyan, TX · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Bunyan is on Farm Road 219 ten miles west of Stephenville in western Erath County. It was established the 1870s and named, according to some sources, for an early Methodist preacher in the area, Alexander Bunyan. Other…

  • Stephenville - 2025 Texas 4A Division I state football champion · 2.0 mi · Sports News

    You're near Stephenville High School in Stephenville. Last December, they took down Kilgore ten to zero to win the Texas 4A Division I state football championship. They wear that crown until this December, when the next…

  • UIL 4A Football State Champions — 2 titles · 2.1 mi

    Stephenville High School (Stephenville, TX): Most recent: 10-0 over Kilgore · 2025 4A Division 1 final.

  • Erath County Poor Farm Cemetery · 2.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Erath County Poor Farm Cemetery. This farm, established in 1881, was meant to house the indigent and provide work for petty offenders. It operated for over fifty years, producing…

  • Fitbits for Cows · 2.5 mi

    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…

  • Smith Springs Cemetery · 3.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Smith Springs Cemetery, established around 1907. This was the heart of the old Smith Springs Community, and it's the last remnant of that settlement. Among the graves are those of Frederick Hook,…

  • Oak Dale Cemetery · 5.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Oak Dale Cemetery, a final resting place that connects us to the very first settlers of this area. The Oak Dale community began to form in 1867, with folks like John Pickard, George Lidia, and…

  • Ramsey Cemetery · 5.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Ramsey Cemetery, named for William Ramsey who formally deeded this land in 1886. The oldest stone here marks the grave of Rebecca Henning, dated 1862. Many early Erath County pioneers and war…

  • Corinth Cemetery · 6.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Corinth Cemetery, the last historic trace of the Corinth community. It began in 1880 when Dr. William Wallace McNeill deeded land for a church, school, and this burial ground. While the oldest marked…

  • Indian Creek Cemetery · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Indian Creek Cemetery, a resting place for folks around Selden since at least 1871. This burial ground started on land deeded for cemetery, church, and school use, with later additions. It's…

  • Wyatt - Boyd Ranch Complex · 7.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Wyatt-Boyd Ranch Complex, a rare glimpse into a 19th-century Cross Timbers farmstead. Built in the early 1870s by James J. Wyatt, this limestone ranch house has seen a few updates. By the 1890s,…

  • Selden · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Erath County, near Stephenville, past the site of what used to be Selden. Originally called Garrett Springs, this farming community really took off in the mid-1850s when John Selden arrived. It…

  • Upper Greens Creek Cemetery · 7.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Upper Greens Creek Cemetery, established around 1877. The earliest marked grave is for one-year-old Luther Kiker. This graveyard holds many pioneer settlers and veterans, with land additions in…

  • Kiker's Gin · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Kiker's Gin, established in 1878 near Dublin. John Kiker and his brother-in-law built this steam-powered cotton gin, which later switched to coal and then oil. More than just a business,…

  • McDow's Hole · 8.2 mi · Things to Do

    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…

  • Bowman Ridge Cemetery · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving by Bowman Ridge Cemetery near Stephenville. The Primitive Baptist Church received land for this burial ground in 1885. The earliest marked grave is Wilson H. Benson, born and died in 1886. Confederate…

  • Acrea Cemetery · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Acrea Cemetery, originally known as Oxford Cemetery. John Wright died nearby around 1857, and Clayborn Oxford donated this land for his burial. The earliest marked grave is Oxford's infant…

  • Huckabay, The Community of · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Huckabay, a community that started as 'Flat Woods' back in 1875. Pioneers from Arkansas and Tennessee settled here, and John Copeland, a Confederate veteran, taught the first school sessions right…

  • Duffau School · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past the old Duffau Schoolhouse, built in 1936. It rose from the ashes, literally, using insurance money from a previous school that burned down. Imagine this simple brick building, heated by wood stoves…

  • Hale, Charles Haynes · 10.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Right here in Erath County, you're driving past the area where Charles Haynes Hale decided to take education into his own hands. In 1902, seeing a need for high school education beyond the eighth grade, Hale founded…

  • Cottonwood Baptist Church · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Cottonwood Baptist Church, organized in 1908 with 46 members. The community's school consolidated with Dublin schools in 1928, causing many families to move. However, six teenage girls…

  • Cottonwood Cemetery · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Cottonwood Cemetery, the final resting place for many early settlers near Dublin. This community began in 1854 with families like the Dobkins, Bellamys, Richards, and Strouds, who farmed cotton right…

  • Lingleville Tabernacle · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lingleville, and you might just pass the Lingleville Tabernacle. Built back in 1913, this wasn't just a church building. It was a permanent structure for summer religious revivals, replacing those…

  • Cedar Point School · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Erath County, near Stephenville, past the site of the Cedar Point School. It started life as Elm Grove School around 1860, in a simple log cabin miles from here. In 1894, the community got three…

  • Lingleville · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lingleville, a town that's seen its share of ups and downs. Founded in 1884 by Jacob Lingle, this community quickly grew, boasting stores, blacksmiths, and even three churches by 1892. But…

  • Pony Creek Cemetery · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Pony Creek Cemetery, a resting place for families who settled this land as early as 1845. Imagine the frontier life here, with homesteads built around that time, but still facing raids from Indian…

  • Alexander Cemetery · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Alexander Cemetery, a place born from an act of compassion. Back in the late 1800s, when this area was the thriving railroad town of Alexander, a child from a Mexican family died. They were denied…

  • Johnsville Cemetery · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Johnsville, a community that thrived here before 1860. It was named for John Z. Martin, the first postmaster back in 1901. Johnsville boasted general stores, a cotton gin, blacksmiths,…

  • Morgan Mill Tabernacle · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Morgan Mill Tabernacle, a place that's been at the heart of this community since 1910. Before this permanent structure, folks gathered under a summer brush arbor for revivals. This tabernacle…

  • Harris, D. L., House · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the D. L. Harris House, built in 1901. This home showcases popular architectural styles from the turn of the century. Look for the distinctive gabled roof with its ornamental trim, the wide veranda,…

  • Morgan Mill Cemetery · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Morgan Mill Cemetery, a community burial ground that started with a young girl's burial in the 1870s. The earliest marked grave is from 1880, and in 1883, three acres were deeded for this growing…

  • Trinity Episcopal Church · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Dublin. In 1881, Bishop A. C. Garrett preached here. By 1884, he'd organized Trinity Episcopal Church after finding an Episcopalian resident. The first services were held in the new building in…

  • Three Competing Name Stories · 12.1 mi

    You're in Dublin, Texas, so here's the dublin tangent behind the name: Dublin's origin is unresolved. Published histories offer Ireland's capital, a warning cry of double in during danger, or early double-log cabins.…

  • Dublin Dr Pepper · 12.1 mi

    You're in Dublin, Texas, so here's the dublin tangent behind the name: Dublin, Texas, developed a famous relationship with a local Dr Pepper bottler that continued using cane sugar while many soft drinks shifted…

  • The Dark Pool and the Liffey · 12.1 mi

    You're in Dublin, Texas, so here's the dublin tangent behind the name: Dublin, Ireland, takes its English name from Irish Dubhlinn, commonly interpreted as dark pool, referring to water near the River Liffey. A…

  • Patrick, Snakes, and Shamrocks · 12.1 mi

    You're in Dublin, Texas, so here's the dublin tangent behind the name: Saint Patrick was a real fifth-century Christian missionary in Ireland, but later legend greatly expanded his biography. Ireland has no native…

  • Ben Hogan and Two Dublins · 12.1 mi

    You're in Dublin, Texas, so here's the dublin tangent behind the name: golfer Ben Hogan was born in Dublin, Texas, in nineteen twelve and became one of the game's greatest ball strikers and major champions, famously…

  • Music, Manuscripts, and Writers · 12.1 mi

    You're in Dublin, Texas, so here's the dublin tangent behind the name: Irish traditional music uses combinations of fiddle, flute, whistle, uilleann pipes, harp, accordion, bodhrán, and voice, with reels and jigs…

  • Fritz, John Will · 12.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here, you're passing through the hometown of a man who stood at the center of one of America's darkest moments. John Will Fritz was born in Dublin back in 1895. He rose…

  • Davis, George Andrew, Jr. · 12.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Dublin, Texas, the hometown of George Andrew Davis, Jr. He was a fighter pilot who became America's leading jet ace during the Korean War. On his final mission, with his wingman out of oxygen,…

  • Duncan, John Richard [Johnny] · 12.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're cruising through Dublin, Texas, the hometown of Johnny Duncan, a country singer and songwriter who penned hits for the biggest names in music. Born John Richard Duncan in 1938, he grew up in a musical family,…

  • Dublin, TX · 12.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Dublin, Texas, a town with a name that might have come from a warning cry during Indian raids, or maybe the capital of Ireland itself. Founded in 1854 by A. H. Dobkins, the town really took off…

  • Jones, Evan · 12.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Evan Jones, Populist spokesman and farmer, was born on June 19, 1846, in Woodford County, Kentucky. In 1857 his parents moved to Schuyler County, Missouri, and his father died soon after. Jones acquired an education and…

  • Butte, George Charles · 12.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hunt County, and right here is where George Charles Butte spent his formative years, but his life took him far beyond this Texas soil. Butte was a legal scholar who studied in Berlin and…

  • Gillette, Levi Elliott · 12.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Erath County, and right here, Levi Elliott Gillette went from a Texas farmer to a Confederate officer. He enlisted as a private in 1861, fighting across Arkansas and Oklahoma, including the Battle…

  • The Renegade Bottler and the Cane Sugar Soda · 12.3 mi

    For over a century, this town was home to something special: Dublin Dr Pepper. The local plant, founded in 1891, was the oldest bottler in the world. And they did things differently. While the rest of the country…

  • The Sweet Science of Dublin Dr Pepper · 12.3 mi

    The legend of Dublin Dr Pepper wasn't just marketing; it was chemistry. The key was the plant's refusal to switch from sucrose—pure cane sugar—to high-fructose corn syrup, or HFCS. Chemically, they seem similar, but the…

  • The Humble Origins of a Golfing Legend · 12.3 mi

    In the world of golf, Ben Hogan is a titan, known for his perfect swing and his terrifying focus. He grew up right here in Dublin, Texas. He was born in nearby Stephenville in 1912, the youngest of three children, and…

  • Dublin, TX · 12.3 mi

    Dublin is home to many people of Irish American descent, as it was named after Dublin, Ireland. In 2005, Governor Rick Perry signed a bill designating Dublin as the official Irish Capital of Texas. The city celebrates…

  • How Dublin Became the Irish Capital of Texas · 12.3 mi

    If you're here in March, you can't miss it. But how did Dublin, Texas, become a capital of Irish celebration? Start with this: the Irish link is older than the marketing. The Legislature's own record credits much of…

  • The Gallagher House · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Gallagher House, built way back in 1895 for a local music company manager. You can see the Victorian style, and that grand Classical Revival porch was added in 1907. Later, in 1914, an Irish…

  • Dublin Bottling Works · 12.4 mi · Web

    For one hundred and twenty one years, the Dublin plant was the oldest Dr Pepper bottler on Earth, sweetening every bottle with pure Imperial cane sugar while the rest of the country went to corn syrup. Then in twenty…

  • Irish for a Day, Whatever the Name Means · 12.4 mi

    Here is a delightful little irony about Dublin, Texas. The town most likely was not named for Dublin, Ireland at all. Remember, locals lean toward the story that the name came from a frontier call to circle the wagons,…

  • Dublin, TX · 12.4 mi

    Dublin, Texas, has a rich history that includes a connection to the world of soft drinks and the railroad. The town was once home to the world's oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant, which used real cane sugar and had a…

  • Doublin Inn · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Dublin, Texas, a place that started with a cry of alarm! Folks called this spot 'Double in!' because of Indian raids. Built by Alex Dobkins, this structure served as a crucial stop on the Fort…

  • Hogan Blacksmith Shop · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Hogan Blacksmith Shop in Dublin. William Hogan, a former Confederate blacksmith, opened this shop after 1870 to serve the growing cattle and cotton industries. His grandson, world…

  • Dublin's Rodeo Train · 12.4 mi

    In the nineteen forties, broncs named Hell's Angel, Kickapoo, Home Brew and Broken Bones bucked for a rodeo company formed in Dublin, Texas. The man behind it was Everett Colborn, who got his first taste of stock…

  • Commercial Building, Early · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past a building in Dublin that's seen a lot of history! Constructed around 1880 by Joseph Bishop, it was originally made of wood. It was later faced with native stone in 1895 and remodeled a couple of…

  • Dublin - Dr Pepper's Original Home · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    For over a century, the tiny town of Dublin bottled Dr Pepper the way it was meant to taste. The Dublin Dr Pepper bottling plant opened in 1891, just six years after the drink was invented in Waco, making it the oldest…

  • Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company, the oldest Dr Pepper bottler in the world! Sam Houston Prim arrived here in 1891 with his bottling equipment and started selling Dr Pepper. By 1925,…

  • Miller, William T., Grist Mill · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the old William T. Miller Grist Mill, built right here in 1882. Imagine the rumble of the millstones, powered first by steam, then later by a crude oil engine installed in 1918. This place wasn't…

  • Dublin Rodeo · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    DUBLIN RODEO IN 1936, EVERETT COLBORN, AN ARENA DIRECTOR FOR THE MADISON SQUARE GARDEN RODEO, PURCHASED INTEREST IN A RODEO COMPANY AND SETTLED IN ERATH COUNTY ON THE LIGHTNING C RANCH. THE FIRST “WORLD’S…

  • Dublin National Bank · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Dublin National Bank, the oldest continuously operating bank in Erath County. It opened in 1893, established by John G. Harris and three other businessmen. The bank has been a vital part of…

  • Clairette Cemetery · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clairette, and just ahead is the Clairette Cemetery. It started in 1858 with the burial of 15-year-old Albert Salmon, who died at his favorite campsite on his family's land. His brother later…

  • Dublin Memorial Park Cemetery, Old · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Dublin Memorial Park Cemetery, Old. The earliest use of this burial ground was in 1864 at the death of Ellen, daughter of J. H. Keith. William ("Big Bill") Keith donated this memorial to his Aunt…

  • Clairette Schoolhouse · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Clairette Schoolhouse. This two-story native stone building was constructed in 1912, a year after the Clairette Independent School District was formed. It served students until 1949,…

  • Hancock Cemetery · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hancock Cemetery, once known as North Bolton Cemetery. The earliest marked grave here is Asa L. Anderson, buried around 1875. The cemetery contains about fifty graves and chronicles the pioneers…

  • Cow Creek Cemetery · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Cow Creek Cemetery, a final resting place for a rural Texas settlement. It started in 1871 when Jesse Van donated land. The first recorded burial here was the infant daughter of J.P. and Indiane…

  • Caudle Cemetery · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Caudle Cemetery, once known as South Bolton Cemetery. The earliest marked grave here belongs to Mary Follis, who died in 1879. The last burial was Fannie Caudle in 1895, who tragically died on…

  • Thornton, Daniel Roberts and Mary Anna (Garland) · 13.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the land once home to Daniel Roberts and Mary Anna Thornton. They married in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1853</say-as>, and settled here in Erath County in <say-as interpret-as="date"…

  • The Bridge That Was Never Really a Suspension Bridge · 13.8 mi

    The rusty iron bridge hanging over the Paluxy River near Bluff Dale may be the oldest bridge of its kind in the whole country. The Runyon Bridge Company out of Weatherford built it, and Erath County accepted the work in…

  • Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge · 13.8 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Get ready to step back in time as you approach the Bluff Dale Bridge, a true survivor from a bygone era. This isn't just any bridge; it's a tangible link to Erath County's late 19th-century history. Imagine a time…

  • The Highway Name That Took Seventy Years to Make Legal · 13.8 mi

    Every mile of U S Highway Two Eighty One inside Texas is the American Legion Memorial Highway, and the name is much older than the law behind it. On April thirtieth, nineteen thirty five, the Texas Highway Commission…

  • The Forgotten Inventor Behind the Bluff Dale Bridge · 13.8 mi

    The man who designed the old iron bridge near Bluff Dale is almost a mystery. When federal historians studied the bridge in nineteen ninety-six, they found very little about Edwin Elijah Runyon. What survives is a…

  • Bluff Dale Tabernacle · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Bluff Dale Tabernacle, built around 1906 on land donated by the founder of Bluff Dale itself, Andrew Jackson Glenn. This place was the heart of the community for decades. Imagine it packed for…

  • Bluff Dale United Methodist Church · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Bluff Dale, home to the United Methodist Church. Its roots go back to the mid-1880s, with early meetings following a camp meeting in 1881. The congregation built its first church in 1894 and moved…

  • The Town That Moved to Meet the Train · 13.9 mi

    Bluff Dale is not where it started. Settlers from Ellijay, Georgia, and other Southern towns came to the Paluxy River in the late eighteen sixties and settled near artesian wells. They called the place Bluff Spring. A…

  • Warnock, J. F., Hardware · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Bluff Dale, and if you look closely, you might see the bones of a true Texas landmark. This is the Warnock Hardware store, built in 1915 by J.F. Warnock. He'd been serving the local farmers since…

  • Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Bluff Dale Suspension Bridge. For at least 20 years vehicles had to ford the Paluxy River to reach Bluff Dale and points west. Wagon traffic increased after the Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railroad line…

  • Public Water Well, Old · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Bluff Dale, and right here is a reminder of how vital water was to early Texas. Dug around 1887 by railroad crews building the Fort Worth and Rio Grande line, this was a crucial oasis. It started…

  • Holt House · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Holt House in Bluff Dale, a beautiful example of Folk Victorian architecture built around 1895. It was home to Dr. Hardy L. Holt, a Civil War veteran who later became a pioneer physician in this…

  • Duffau Baptist Church · 14.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving near Clairette in Erath County. This marker commemorates the Duffau Baptist Church, which began with 17 members on October 6, 1878. Services were held monthly, and a sanctuary was built here. The…

  • Denny Cemetery · 14.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Denny Cemetery, a final resting place for a Texas Ranger who guarded the frontier. Alfred Denny arrived in Texas in 1853, eventually settling near here in 1867. During the Civil War, he served in…

  • Hightower Cemetery · 14.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Erath County, past the Hightower Cemetery. This peaceful spot began as a family burial ground for John Bryan McPheres Hightower and his wife Mary. They settled a large ranch here, and by 1870,…

  • Houston Ranch · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Houston Ranch. Frank R. Putnam was born on November 15, 1848 in Massachusetts. In 1879, Frank and his brother, Addison, purchased 25,000 acres on Upper Berry Creek. In 1883, the Putnams built a…

  • The John W. Bull Stone House · 14.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Tolar, Hood County, and you might just miss this old stone house. But it's one of the earliest masonry homes built around here, and it has a story tied to the frontier. John W. Bull, a Tennessee…

  • Liberty Cemetery · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Liberty Cemetery, a testament to Erath County's early settlers. Marion D. and Harriet Pryor Kelley deeded this land for a cemetery and school back in 1891. The oldest grave dates to 1890, and you'll…

  • Rock Church Cemetery · 15.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Rock Church Cemetery, a burial ground for pioneers who settled this agricultural area in the 1850s. The community center was built on Jesse Caraway's land in the 1870s, and he deeded the property…

  • Purves Live Oak Cemetery · 15.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Purves Live Oak Cemetery. The earliest marked burial here is an infant from the Ascue family, born and died on July 20, 1880. The cemetery continues to serve the Purves community today.

  • Duffau Cemetery · 15.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Erath County, passing the site of the Duffau Cemetery. This place tells the story of a community that boomed and busted. Francis T. Duffau settled here in the late 1850s, and soon a post office…

  • Glenn Cemetery · 15.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hood County, near the old community of Bluff Dale. This is the site of Glenn Cemetery, established when Andrew Jackson Glenn donated land in 1897. The earliest grave here dates back to 1867, and…

  • Hurley, Rev. Henry · 15.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Erath County, not far from Duffau. Keep an eye out for a marker honoring Reverend Henry Hurley. He was a Primitive Baptist minister who arrived in Texas in <say-as interpret-as="date"…

  • Pecan Cemetery · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Pecan Cemetery, a final resting place for folks in the old Purves Community. It all started around 1880, with the oldest marked grave belonging to little Horace F. Adams, who lived less than a…

  • Millerville Cemetery · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Millerville Cemetery, the last physical reminder of a village founded around 1881. Though local tradition suggests earlier burials, the first recorded one was Joseph Beaver, Sr., in 1877. The…

  • Round Grove Baptist Church · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through western Erath County, and you're passing the site of the Round Grove Baptist Church. Organized way back in 1871 by Reverend R. D. Ross, this was the very first church in this part of the county.…

  • Pecan Cemetery Tabernacle · 16.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Pecan Cemetery Tabernacle. Land for this church and cemetery was deeded in 1884, though burials have happened here since 1880. The lumber from a disbanded Baptist church was used to build this…

  • Turnbow Cemetery · 16.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Turnbow Cemetery, which began as a family burial ground in 1879. It was the final resting place for Chesley Turnbow, a patriarch of the local family, and many of his descendants. Though…

  • Thurber Ghost Town · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker

    In 1888, a coal company did something almost unheard of: it built an entire city from scratch. Thurber had 10,000 residents, its own electricity, running water, an opera house, and the only complete company town in…

  • Pate, William H. · 17.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Erath County, not far from De Leon, past the final resting place of William H. Pate. He was a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, a fight that secured Texas's independence. Born in Georgia, Pate…

  • The Night a Tornado Crossed Highway 377 · 18.4 mi

    On the night of April nineteenth, two thousand twenty-five, the strongest tornado of a stormy North Texas evening came up this stretch between Bluff Dale and Tolar. It touched down along the Hood and Erath County line…

  • Comyn-Theney, Community of · 18.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be Comyn-Theney, a Texas community that boomed and busted with the oil industry. It started around 1875 as a small settlement with homes and a store. The railroad arrived in 1881,…

  • Cole House · 18.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hico, and if you look closely, you might spot the Cole House, built between 1901 and 1902. It was purchased in 1907 by John Baldwin Cole, a druggist who ran the Cole and Grace Drugstore with his…

  • Chalk Mountain Cemetery · 18.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Chalk Mountain Cemetery, the only burial ground that ever served this community. The earliest marked grave is Abigal Davis, who died in 1874, though unmarked burials suggest it might be older.…

  • Hanson Cemetery · 18.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hanson Cemetery, a resting place with roots stretching back to the 1870s. Though the land was formally granted in 1925, settlers had already buried over fifty loved ones here. Tradition says two…

  • Billy the Kid Museum · 19.2 mi · Web

    In nineteen forty nine, an old man in Hico named Brushy Bill Roberts went public with a wild claim. He was Billy the Kid. Said Pat Garrett shot the wrong man back in eighteen eighty one and pocketed the reward. Brushy…

  • Koffee Kup Family Restaurant · 19.2 mi · Web

    The Koffee Kup opened in nineteen sixty eight and has been the heart of Hico ever since. What put it on the map is the meringue. Four inches tall, stiff as a snowdrift, the result of three years of testing and a recipe…

  • Hudspeth, Frances B. Hellums · 19.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hico, Texas, the hometown of Frances Hellums Hudspeth. She wasn't a politician or a soldier, but she played a crucial role in shaping one of Texas's most important cultural institutions. In 1958,…

  • Hico, TX · 19.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hico, a town that owes its very existence to a railroad. Founded in the mid-1850s on Honey Creek by Dr. John R. Alford, Hico's original site wasn't where it is today. When the Texas Central…

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