Bell County, Texas
Belton is home to 46 official Texas Historical Commission markers — each one telling a piece of the city’s story. Browse the markers below, then find them on the map and discover more nearby with RoadHistorical.
Fought at San Jacinto as a private. Later commanded a company of volunteers. Born in North Carolina October 12, 1795 died October 15, 1869. His wife Rhoda Doty Caddell. Born January 27, 1801. Died March 18, 1880.
View on map ↗San Jacinto Veteran born in Tennessee 1814 died in 1858. His wife Amanda Isbell. Born April 8, 1819 died September 1, 1880.
View on map ↗Widow of William Hardin before her marriage to Dr. O.P. Kelton. Many of the Mexican officers and men were placed in the care of Judge and Mrs. Hardin after the victory at San Jacinto and were mercifully treated by them.
View on map ↗1812 - 1898. (right panel) Fought at San Jacinto April 21, 1836. Assistant Inspector General and Inspector General of the Texas Army 1837-1839. Captain of Texas Rangers and Lieutenant Colonel of Mounted Volunteers in…
View on map ↗First water power mill in Bell County. Built in 1847 by Robert Childers, pioneer settler, Indian fighter, served in the Army of Texas, 1836. Sold in 1856 to G. W. Shanklin, 1799-1888, who built best water race in Texas.…
View on map ↗Baylor University (including the "Female Department" later to become Mary Hardin-Baylor) had operated at Independence for 15 years before 1861. In the Civil War it suffered the setbacks of Texas education in general.…
View on map ↗(1793-1873) Noted lawmaker, judge, lay preacher, served in the legislatures of his native Kentucky and of Alabama. Represented Alabama in U.S. Congress, 1829-1831. Came to Texas 1839. Was Associate Justice Supreme…
View on map ↗State Senator, Confederate veteran, lawyer, teacher at Salado College. Birthplace of Harris' grandson, famous World War II General, Walton Harris Walker. Home was built in 1866 of limestone quarried nearby. Mortar…
View on map ↗In 1854, four years after the county was organized, a 2-story structure of logs was built on this site, to serve as the first Bell County jail. That log jail was replaced in 1873 by this building of native limestone. In…
View on map ↗One of earliest homes in Nolan Valley community. Built when he moved to Texas in 1867 by John Rice Sanderford (1841-1923), a veteran of the Civil War. Birthplace, 1895, of John Roy Sanderford, State Senator from this…
View on map ↗A large building erected here 1850, by Mrs. Sarah Lawler (1807-1890). In this structure, little more than a shed, Mrs. Lawler boarded workmen who were surveying and building Nolanville (later renamed Belton), county…
View on map ↗A stockade and blockhouse of the Republic of Texas. Built in November, 1836, by a unit of some 20 Rangers under Lt. George B. Erath (soldier-statesman for whom Erath County was named). By Christmas they had erected 7 or…
View on map ↗Three Bell County courthouses have stood on this site--part of the 120 acres given by Matilda F. Connell Allen for the location of the county seat. Prior to erection of a courthouse, early official business of the…
View on map ↗(1809-1882) Renowned Baptist minister in early Texas history; president from 1861 to 1863 of Baylor University (which included what is now Mary-Hardin-Baylor College); great-grandfather of Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th…
View on map ↗A distinctive Victorian house, associated with one of the historic private schools of Bell County. Charles H. Wedemeyer (1857-1938), a former teacher and administrator of Baylor University, Crane College, and Waco…
View on map ↗Jeff Hamilton, Associate of Governor Sam Houston Born a slave in Kentucky, Jeff Hamilton was still a child when Sam Houston rescued him from purchase by a cruel master at a slave auction. Hamilton was Houston's personal…
View on map ↗Jeff Hamilton (d. April 3, 1941) A Kentucky-born slave who was brought to Texas as a child, Jeff Hamilton became San Houston's personal servant, companion of his young sons, and a trusted member of his household.…
View on map ↗A Scotsman, Robert Naismith (1859-1939), founded the Central Manufacturing Co. in a two-story building on this lot in 1893. Using equipment originally powered by steam, he supplied and repaired machine parts for the…
View on map ↗W.R. and Ida (Rogers) Miller, rich from good cotton years at turn of the century, built this late Victorian house in 1902. In its architecture, Queen Anne features are mingled with Shingle style then popular in the…
View on map ↗Cotton broker William Ray Miller (1868-1954) and his wife Ida (Rogers) built this structure in 1902 and lived here with their large family about six years. Mrs. Miller was from Galveston, and had graduated from Baylor…
View on map ↗Founded in 1850 when Bell County was created, this church was part of a circuit until 1869. By the 1880s, the membership had outgrown their original church building at Pearl and First Avenue. This larger sanctuary was…
View on map ↗On October 7, 1841, at a meeting in Fayette County, Union Baptist Association Members organized the Texas Baptist Educational Society to coordinate various educational programs. R.E.B. Baylor (1791-1873), the first…
View on map ↗Completed in 1904, this brick library building was funded by a personal contribution from the noted New York industrialist and benefactor Andrew S. Carnegie. Ben D. Lee, builder of the Bell County Courthouse, served as…
View on map ↗Built in the early 1890s, this house was deeded by prominent Belton businessman Peter Hammersmith to his son, John Peter, as a wedding gift in 1895. The property was sold to Sophie Clark, widow of a Rogers lumberman, in…
View on map ↗Construction on this Queen Anne style home, which features sunbursts in the gables, elaborate corner brackets, and fish-scale shingles, was begun in 1892 by Ele Bright Baggett (1847-1934) and his wife, Mary Carolyn…
View on map ↗Built for J.M. Spencer between 1881 and 1891, this building served in its early years as part of the Smith & Peyton Hardware and Buggy Shop and as the Everett Grain Company. In 1914 John Fellrath opened a tin and…
View on map ↗(Dec. 25, 1817-Aug. 3, 1881) A native of South Carolina, Wilson Van Dyke served as a member of the Somervell Expedition, which was organized in 1842 to expel the Mexican Army from Texas. Under command of Col. W.S.…
View on map ↗The First Baptist Church of Belton was organized in the summer of 1853 under the leadership of the Rev. Solomon G. O'Bryan and the Rev. David Fisher. There were eight charter members, and the congregation met in a small…
View on map ↗Founded in 1898 as a literary society with twenty-five members, the Woman's Wednesday Club is the oldest active club of its kind in Bell County. Initially meeting in the Central Hotel in downtown Belton, the club…
View on map ↗Henry Mansfield Cook opened his first store in Centerville, Texas, in 1869, and in 1874 established the firm of H.M. Cook & Company with his son-in-law, Thomas W. Cochran. The firm moved to Buffalo, Texas, in 1876.…
View on map ↗German immigrant Fred Muehlhause, Sr. (1868-1947) arrived in Texas in 1885. He married Louise Albrecht in 1892, and later that year the couple moved to a home located adjacent to this homesite. Muehlhause worked as a…
View on map ↗The School of Nursing was founded in 1904 by Dr. Arthur C. Scott and Dr. Raleigh White, Jr., as a part of their Temple Sanitarium to provide professional training for nurses. Initially a small local student body was…
View on map ↗Bell County school districts were formed in 1854. The earliest record of public education for area African American students dates from 1882 when Mrs. Aleck McGee was hired "to teach the colored school." Professor…
View on map ↗Using arched passageways, round-arch and pedimented windows, a clock tower with columned gallery, and a rusticated limestone finish, Jasper N. Preston & Son of Austin designed the 1885 Bell County Courthouse in the…
View on map ↗(January 23, 1816 - August 21, 1891) A native of Tennessee, William W. Reed came to Texas with his parents, Michael and Martha Reed, in 1833 and joined Robertson's colony in 1834. His land grant was situated near his…
View on map ↗Built in 1912 at the Santa Fe rail yards in Temple, this planing mill was part of a complex of buildings that housed repair facilities for the railroad. Workers at the mill manufactured replacement parts for wooden…
View on map ↗This memorial, an important symbol for the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, has historic ties to the earliest days of the school in Belton. Founded in 1845 at Independence, Texas, as the female department of Baylor…
View on map ↗Railroads greatly impacted the development of Texas by allowing year-round transport and delivery of goods. The Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad bypassed Belton in 1881, and residents arranged for the rail line to…
View on map ↗Hill Cemetery Established 1852 Historic Texas Cemetery - 2005
View on map ↗(August 2, 1811 – May 12, 1890) Texas revolutionary veteran and local merchant Norman Austin made important contributions to his adopted state. Born in Skaneateles, New York, he was the fifth son of a large family and…
View on map ↗In 1867, Martha White McWhirter experienced a religious vision during which she felt she had been sanctified by God. She began to share her experience with other Belton women, and soon formed a small community of women…
View on map ↗IN AUGUST 1911, A BAPTIST REVIVAL WAS HELD AT THE ELM GROVE SCHOOL, WHICH HAD SERVED AS A WORSHIP SITE FOR SEVERAL CHURCHES FOR APPROXIMATELY TWENTY YEARS. WHEN THE SCHOOL CLOSED IN 1915, ONLY THE BAPTIST CONGREGATION…
View on map ↗On October 21, 1860, the Rev. Levi Tenney established a Presbyterian congregation in Belton with eight founding members. After meeting in several locations during its early years, property was purchased west of the…
View on map ↗THE BELTON FARMERS CO-OP GIN, BUILT IN 1927 ALONG NOLAN CREEK, IS A RARE EXAMPLE OF A SURVIVING BRICK COTTON GIN IN CENTRAL TEXAS. IT WAS BUILT BY AN ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL COTTON FARMERS TO REPLACE AN EARLIER GIN THAT…
View on map ↗SOUTH BELTON CEMETERY ESTABLISHED 1851 HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2003
View on map ↗Early settlement in Bell County began along creeks and rivers but by 1860 most of the county was divided into farms. The Mary Allen Oliver Cemetery is located on Three Forks Farm in the Three Forks Community. Franklin…
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