Historical Markers in Burkburnett, Texas

Burkburnett ("Boomtown USA") · 1966

One of the most famous Texas towns. Name was given to post office at request of President T. R. Roosevelt after his 1905 wolf hunt with rancher Burk Burnett in this area. Townsite was laid out in 1907 by Joseph A. Kemp…

The Red River · 1968

Named for the red soil across which it flows, the main stream of the Red River is 1,360 miles long, and for 440 miles the river forms the Texas-Oklahoma boundary. For years, this was an international boundary. The 1819…

Tenth Cavalry Creek · 1969

First called Getty's Creek, this stream was renamed by cowboys and settlers who found near its mouth, on Red River, remains of a military outpost garrisoned by the U.S. Tenth Cavalry from 1873 to 1875. Most of the Negro…

Home of Monroe Dodson · 1970

(1844-1927) Tennessean and former Union soldier under Gen. Grant. Came to Texas 1867, here 1878. First permanent settler here. Helped build church, school, Masonic Lodge. His cattle brand (Half Circle D) was the second…

John Gerham Hardin · 1970

Pioneer settler, financier and philanthropist. Came to Texas in 1876 and to this area in 1879, living at first in a dugout. Operating a store and owning extensive lands, he amassed a fortune that he left as a rich…

Near Homesite of Mabel Gilbert · 1970

(1797-1870) First permanent settler in this area. Born in Tennessee, he was a steamboat captain. Came to Texas 1837. Built mills and was first navigator of Trinity River headwaters. After filing for land in this…

First National Bank of Burkburnett · 1971

City's oldest business institution, organized May 15, 1907. Joseph A. Kemp, one of townsite owners, was president; John G. Hardin, merchant (and later oil magnate and executive of this bank), vice president; H. D.…

Bridgetown · 1977

When the northwest extension of the Burkburnett oil field opened in 1919, prospectors thronged this area. Bridgetown sprang up at the Texas end of a mile-long Red River toll bridge built for oil field traffic. It became…

Ghost Town of Clara · 1978

Herman Specht migrated in 1870 to Galveston from Germany. In 1884 he married Clara M. Vogel Lange (1853-1912), a wealthy widow. Adding to earlier property holdings in Galveston, he began buying extensive tracts of land…

Simon Peter Hawkins · 1978

(1849 - 1930) A pioneer leader in Wichita County, Simon Peter Hawkins was born in Crockett County, Tenn. He married Sara A. Hardin (1852-1937) in 1869. They had eight children. With his brother-in-law John G. Hardin,…

Receiver Bridge · 1981

A natural border of the Louisiana Territory when it was acquired by the United States in 1803. The Red River later served as a boundary between the states of Texas and Oklahoma. The exact location for the line of…

Samuel Burk Burnett · 1991

A native of Missouri, Samuel Burk Burnett came to Texas with his family soon after the Civil War. He married Ruth Loyd of Fort Worth in 1870, and in partnership with her father, Martin B. Loyd, established the famous…

Site of Cooper School and Church · 1994

Arkansas natives James (J. D.) and Dora Cooper established an early farmstead here about 1900. In 1910 J. D. Cooper persuaded the county to create a school district for the community of Cooper which had developed in the…

Trinity Lutheran Church · 1999

Herman and Clara (Vogel) Specht platted the Clara townsite in 1886, and the community rapidly swelled with German immigrants. The Rev. Francis M. Rudi of Wichita Falls began to conduct Lutheran worship services in the…

Fowler Discovery Well · 2004

(400 yards north) In 1918, cotton farmers Shields and Cassie Fowler considered leaving their land due to oppressive drought conditions. Aware of small but successful oil finds in the area, however, Cassie suggested they…

Northwest Extension Oilfield · 2005

Oil exploration and production in this area was minimal until April 17, 1919, when the Bob Waggoner Well No. 1 blew in at 4,800 barrels per day. It was the first well in what became known as the Northwest Extension…

First Methodist Church of Burkburnett · 2008

Burkburnett township’s Methodists began attending church services on Sixth street in the early 1900s, in a one-room frame building that was a combination school, church, and social gathering place. M.W. and Lula Majors,…

Journey's End Cemetery · 2009

100' N of 612 Floyd Street

Central Baptist Church · 2010

In 1924, fourteen individuals met at the Bradley’s Corner Community Center for the purpose of organizing a missionary Baptist church. The Reverend J.L. Walters served as the church’s first pastor. After a short period…

Clara Cemetery · 2010

CLARA CEMETERY ESTABLISHED 1888 HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2009

Burkburnett Memorial Cemetery · 2012

Established c. 1883 Historic Texas Cemetery – 2011

Charley Lee Coe · 2012

On February 6, 1923, Charley Lee Coe made a great sacrifice. Charley was an oil field driller and lived with his wife, Helen (Rosencrants), and three children in Newtown and then in Burkburnett. On the day he was to…

Burnett Horse Ranch · 2013

In the 1870s, Samuel Burk Burnett started the 6666 (four sixes) ranch in Wichita County. Cattle operations were near the center of the county. Drought in the 1880s led Burnett and other ranchers to lease thousands of…

Burkburnett Masonic Lodge 1027 · 2015

The Burkburnett Masonic Lodge no. 1027 AF & AM was chartered in 1910, only three years after the city’s founding. J.A.D. Smith, W.O. Willingham and S. Hawkins were among the founders. Eastern Star formed in 1921. By the…

Booker T. Washington Elementary School · 2017