Stephens County, Texas
Breckenridge is home to 15 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.
Established near this site 1862. Part Confederate frontier defense line from Red River to Rio Grande. Occupied by company of Texas Frontier Regiment. Posts were day's horseback ride apart and area patrolled regularly.…
View on map ↗(0.5 mi. E) One of Stephens County's first white settlements, Picketville was founded before the Civil War (1861-65) on Gunsolus Creek. Without military defense during the war, families "forted up" here for protection…
View on map ↗This ornate doorway was main entrance of the three-story red sandstone courthouse built here in 1883. Carved into these columns are the names of architect J.E. Flanders, County Judge E.L. Walker, and three of four…
View on map ↗One of the oldest structures in Breckenridge, this ranch house was erected by Benjamin Tarver Brown (1831-1905), a Confederate Army Captain who came to Stephens County in 1866. He built this house in 1876, the year…
View on map ↗Banker and oilman Breckenridge Stephens Walker (1876-1929) had this three-story brick residence constructed in 1922 as a wedding present for his daughter, Pansy. Prominently sited at the top of a hill, the home featured…
View on map ↗The First National Bank of Breckenridge was organized in 1904, when Stephens County was primarily a farming and ranching area. The financial institution moved its headquarters to this building following its completion…
View on map ↗Noted historian Walter Prescott Webb (1888-1963) came with his family to Stephens County at the age of four. Over the next seventeen years, Webb received an education in frontier life that formed the basis of his…
View on map ↗(March 18, 1801-May 23, 1886) A native of Chicago, Dr. Peter Gunsolus came to this area in the 1850s. He lived and practiced medicine in Shackelford, Parker, and Stephens Counties. Gunsolus eventually settled here on…
View on map ↗Founded in 1918 and named for rancher J.W. Parks, on whose land it was located, Parks Camp was a company town built for employees of the Texas Company (Texaco). The discovery of oil on Parks' land caused an economic…
View on map ↗Founded in 1880, this cemetery was the community burial ground for South Prairie, a settlement which once included homes, a post office, blacksmith shop, mercantile, and school. The community gradually declined in favor…
View on map ↗Records indicate that Gunsight existed on a wagon road from Fort Griffin to Stephenville in 1858. Settlement of the town, however, did not occur until the 1870s. The first recorded burial here was that of Lewis…
View on map ↗Born in Connecticut in 1839, Samuel P. Newcomb made his way alone to Texas at age 17, arriving in 1857. A schoolteacher, he settled at Fort Davis on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River in Buchanan county. Newcomb held…
View on map ↗Stephens County's first courthouse, erected in 1872, was a small pine building with desks for county officials lining the walls. In 1883, a new three-story red stone courthouse with a tower replaced the original…
View on map ↗The Wayland Free School District was formed about 1883 when land was donated by a local fraternal organization for school and cemetery purposes. Early frame structures were replaced by a new brick and stucco structure…
View on map ↗Breckenridge “Breck” Stephens Walker (1877-1929) was born to E. L. and Molena Jane Yancy Walker in Stephens County and named for the town and county of his birth. With his brother B.B., Walker operated a livery and a…
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