Mitchell County, Texas
Colorado City is home to 29 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.
In this vicinity on a bank of the Colorado October 21, 1840; A Comanche Indian village was completely destroyed and much stolen property recovered including 500 horses; 128 Indians were killed; 34 were captured; The…
View on map ↗Settled after Indians left Texas in 1875. One of 128 counties created (Aug. 21, 1876) from Bexar Territory covering West Texas to the Panhandle and El Paso. Named for Mitchell brothers, Asa and Eli, Texas War for…
View on map ↗This area, now covered by Lake Champion, was once the site of springs that originated from underground water which also supplied Champion Creek. They were called "wells" because the Seven Spring Basins closely resembled…
View on map ↗Application, The Texas Historical Building Medallion included.
View on map ↗Application, The Texas Historical Building Medallion included.
View on map ↗One of first brick houses here. Built 1883 by Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Hodgson, son-in-law and daughter of Gen. Tom Green, Texas hero. Later the home of Winfield Scott, millionaire rancher, and W.T. Scott, a promoter, T. & P.…
View on map ↗These tracks, originally formed in soft dirt, are taken from an ancient buffalo trail which once guided herds to water at Champion Creek (6 miles south). Thousands of buffalo running single file pounded trails like this…
View on map ↗Built 1890 by H.D. Shepperd. Sold, 1899 to Martin Dies, Sr. Birthplace of Martin Dies, Jr., famous U.S. Congressman. Home of colorful early-day ranch couple, G.W. and Alice Garrett Plaster, Mitchell County ranchers for…
View on map ↗1851-1902 Born in Georgia, migrated to Texas in the 1870's and joined the Texas Rangers in 1878. Was noted for his part in gun battle with outlaw Sam Bass at Round Rock, where Bass had planned to rob the bank. It was…
View on map ↗Outgrowth of 1882 worship by laymen (mostly sheep-ranching Englishmen). Organized 1883 by The Rt. Rev. A.C. Garrett, pioneer Episcopal Bishop of Dallas, who listed this as "Grace Mission", with eight communicants. With…
View on map ↗Built in 1899 by rancher F.E. McKenzie; Victorian architecture features porch columns with spool trim and decorative wood "awnings" over the windows. Sold in 1900 to A.B. Robertson, rancher; in 1912, to D.N. Arnett,…
View on map ↗Founded, 1880, at the crossing of the Colorado River and Texas & Pacific Railroad right-of-way; central shipping point and supply depot for the sprawling cattle ranches of West Texas and New Mexico. From 1880 (when A.W.…
View on map ↗(January 12, 1854 - December 21, 1930) An orphan at age 7, Green learned self-reliance early. At 19, he joined the Texas Rangers. And at 20, he enlisted in Co. A of the Frontier Battalion. In 1874, his company helped…
View on map ↗On the second Sunday of January, 1881, The Rev. O.F. Rogers, a Presbyterian minister and school teacher from Mississippi, preached the first sermon ever heard in Colorado (City). The congregation met in a saloon, only…
View on map ↗Given to city 1929 in memory of pioneer William Penn Ruddick, farmer and dairyman, and Mrs. Ruddick. History was made here even before Ruddick arrived, however. In 1840 Colonel John Henry Moore and 90 Indian fighters…
View on map ↗Railroad made this "Cattle Capital of West Texas" in 1880s. Cattlemen Frank Byler, Clay Mann, Winfield Scott, C.C. Slaughter and others brought herds here early as 1877, when last of the buffalo were being exterminated.…
View on map ↗Born in Tennessee. Brought up in Fort Worth. In 1882 joined Co. B, Frontier Battalion, Texas Rangers, under a Brother, Capt. Sam McMurry--then enforcing law in Colorado City area. Y.D. McMurry, Mitchell County Sheriff…
View on map ↗Built by Colorado Opera House Company, 1899-1900; second opera house in city, then cultural center of West Texas. Staged light opera, vaudeville, silent movies (after 1911); also hosted school programs. Converted to…
View on map ↗Born in Tennessee. Graduated from University of Louisville (Ky.). Coming in 1883 to Colorado City, rode horseback or by buggy to ranches in 100-mile radius, practicing here rest of his life. Religion, medicine, and…
View on map ↗Founded as a mission station in 1881 by The Rev. George W. Baines (1809-1882), a former President of Baylor University and in 1880s a Baptist State Convention agent. The Rev. Peter Turner, an Englishmen, organized the…
View on map ↗Cattlemen began settling Mitchell County in the late 1870s, before the arrival of businessmen and farmers. This marker stands on one of the area's important early ranches, the 96 Ranch, founded by James Durham Wulfjen…
View on map ↗A prominent rancher and banker, John C. Prude (1856-1924) came to Mitchell County before the turn of the century. In 1907 he hired J.E. (Gene) Pond to construct this spacious brick house. The wide overhangs and other…
View on map ↗Rail service to Colorado City began on April 16, 1881, when a Texas & Pacific supply train arrived with materials for the construction of a freight and passenger depot in the town. Completed the following month at the…
View on map ↗In 1905 nine men from the Lone Wolf Valley adopted plans for a community school. Named Valley View by S.H. Hart, it began under the direction of eighteen-year-old Aury Williams, the first teacher. Edmond Seymour donated…
View on map ↗Begun as a mission of the Spade Community's Liberty Baptist Church, this fellowship met as early as 1906 in the Plainview Community Schoolhouse. On May 16, 1908, an organizational meeting was held to establish an…
View on map ↗In response to the need for a water supply system for Colorado, as this town was then known, the city's governing body issued waterwork bonds in 1884. The bond money was used to build this standpipe and to lay mains…
View on map ↗In 1924, L. H. Prichard and J. Steve Anderson opened West Texas Refinery Company just west of Colorado City to process Mitchell County oil. Ownership soon changed to Standard Oil of California, which renamed the company…
View on map ↗The Texas & Pacific Railroad came to Colorado (City) in April 1881, with the first lots laid out and sold shortly thereafter. The Local Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Lodge No. 280 established a burial ground…
View on map ↗This cemetery began as a family graveyard on the farm of R.F. (1868-1927) and Addie (1872-1956) Hargrove, when their infant son died in April 1898. The Hargroves gave 2.5 acres of land surrounding their son's grave to…
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