Kaufman County, Texas
Forney 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.
Built in 1910, this home dates from a period of economic boom enjoyed by the town of Forney from 1873 until 1929. It was constructed for Georgia native Dick Parmenas Moore (1869-1943), a merchant who owned a large…
View on map ↗This church was created by the merger of two congregations. Before the town of Brooklyn was renamed Forney, the Brooklyn Church of the Presbytery of Bacon of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized in 1872. A…
View on map ↗The Forney Messenger is the oldest newspaper in continuous operation in Forney. Founded in 1896 by M. J. Cox, the first issue was printed on April 16 and contained a personal column, school news, a local church…
View on map ↗Following the arrival of the Texas and Pacific Railroad in the village of Brooklyn in 1873, the town name was changed to Forney in honor of John Wein Forney, a director of the railroad. The local Masonic Lodge was…
View on map ↗Originally built in 1873 by landowner and merchant John Alexander McKellar (1813-1875), this house was remodeled to its current appearance by his son, B. Yancy McKellar (1859-1916) about 1902. Features of the colonial…
View on map ↗A native of Kaufman County, Walter Dickson Adams (1872-1961) came to Forney in 1887. In 1893 he purchased the F. M. Adams Drugstore, a successor of the R. C. Dansby Drugstore established in 1878. He was the town's most…
View on map ↗On October 5, 1899, Edward H. R. Green drove his newly-acquired "St. Louis" automobile from Terrell to Dallas. Accompanied by the car's manufacturer, George B. Dorris, Green passed through Forney on his historic…
View on map ↗A Native American trail, sometimes referred to as the Kickapoo Trace, and early Anglo-American roads traversed this area prior to the settlement of the pioneer families of Isaac Briscoe and Jacob Sheltman in the…
View on map ↗Forney's first schoolhouse was built here about 1868, and its first general store was built nearby by pioneer settler John C. McKellar in 1871. This building was erected by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in…
View on map ↗Public education began in Forney (then named Brooklyn) about 1868 when a 16' x 16' room was built, serving as both a schoolhouse and Union church. Forney School District No. 9, formed in 1876, was part of a county-wide…
View on map ↗Designed by Dallas Architect Charles Alexander Gill and built on a lot received as a wedding gift from Yancy McKellar, this was the home of local business and civic leaders William A. and Blanche Brooks and their…
View on map ↗The grave of M. Elizabeth Collins (1813-1867), the earliest marked in this burial ground, predates the settlement of Forney. In 1880 the site was platted and formally set aside as a public cemetery for the growing…
View on map ↗William Madison McDonald William Madison "Gooseneck Bill" McDonald was born in 1866 near Johnson Point, a small community southeast of Terrell. His parents, former slaves, were George McDonald, born in Tennessee, and…
View on map ↗In the early 20th century, soon after the development of the automobile, travelers, city officials and others began planning for a network of paved overland routes. In the era before the advent of the interstate highway…
View on map ↗Duncan Graham McKellar and his wife Emma (McCullough) McKellar built this house in 1886. The McKellars were integral to the economic, social, and religious development of Forney and Kaufman County in the years between…
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