Historical Markers in Gainesville, Texas

Butterfield Overland Stage Line · 1936

Gainesville was a station on the Southern Overland Mail Line (Butterfield Route), which provided semi-weekly mail and stage service between St. Louis and San Francisco, 1858-1861. The line was 2795 miles long--one of…

Cooke County · 1936

Created March 20, 1848. Organized March 10, 1849. Named in honor of William G. Cooke 1808-1847. Captain of the "New Orleans Greys," 1835; Assistant Inspector General at San Jacinto, 1836; member of the Santa Fe…

Cooke County, C.S.A./2nd Frontier Regiment · 1963

Military, defense center in Civil War. Cooke voted 231 to 137 anti-secession, yet nine military units served Confederacy from here. In constant danger of Federal or Indian attack. Col. Wm. C. Young of Cooke, with 1,000…

Gainesville · 1964

Founded 1850. Named for Gen. Edmund P. Gaines, who in 1836 aided Republic of Texas. Military supply headquarters during Civil War. Important in defense against Indian attacks and invasion. Center for agriculture,…

The Great Hanging at Gainesville, 1862 · 1964

Facing the threat of invasion from the north and fearing a Unionist uprising in their midst, the people of North Texas lived in constant dread during the Civil War. Word of a "Peace Party" of Union sympathizers, sworn…

Saint Paul's Church · 1966

Founded May 10, 1877. Bishop A.C. Garrett laid cornerstone May 12, 1884, on land given by Judge J. M. Lindsay, civic leader. English Gothic architecture. Built of brick made locally. Foundation of huge limestone slabs,…

The Houston House · 1966

Mrs. Giles (Frances Dougherty) Houston, one of the heirs to a Cooke County fortune, built this magnificent example of frontier Victorian architecture in 1898. J. G. Garrett (1858-1919), a local man credited with the…

City Hall-Fire Station, Old · 1968

Erected 1884. First floor was fire station, with ladder truck, hose wagons and horse stalls. Insignia for the three fire companies appear above doors. Second floor contained city offices. Jail or "Calaboose" was in…

The Cross Timbers · 1970

Two long, narrow strips of timber extending parallel to each other from Oklahoma to Central Texas; form a marked contrast to adjacent prairie. The more fertile East Cross Timbers begin here in Cooke County. Area was…

Gainesville Community Circus · 1975

Editor A. Morton Smith (1903-57) organized and promoted this show after a circus parody by the town's little theater group in 1930 revealed many talented amateurs. Chartered as a non-profit corporation, the community…

First United Methodist Church of Gainesville · 1976

Formed in 1852, this congregation shared its first meeting place with two other denominations and the Masonic Lodge. A frame church building was erected in 1878 on this property, donated by James M. Lindsay. The present…

Mountain Springs School · 1976

Organized in 1847 in a pioneer woman's home, Mountain Springs School was Cooke County's first school. In 1853, it was moved to a log schoolhouse near this site. In 1884, when it became part of the public school system,…

Davis House · 1982

William O. Davis (d. 1941), a veteran of the Civil War, came to Texas in 1870. Self-educated, he became a prominent local attorney and from 1876 to 1882 represented the area in the Texas Senate. An active civic leader,…

Site of Camp Howze · 1982

(One mile west) In operation from 1942 to 1946, Camp Howze served as an infantry training facility during World War II. It was named for General Robert Lee Howze (1864-1926), a native Texan whose distinguished career in…

Santa Fe Passenger Depot · 1983

By the end of the 19th Century Gainesville was established as one of the state's major rail centers. This depot was built about 1902 to handle the increased traffic on the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad. The red…

Barbed Wire in Cooke County · 1986

The development of barbed wire fencing had a revolutionary impact on the economy and settlement pattern in Texas. In 1874, Joseph Glidden of Illinois received a patent for his barbed wire. By 1875, Henry B. Sanborn had…

Booker T. Washington School · 1986

In 1880, two years before the City of Gainesville created a public school system for all its children, Island Sparks, a young mulatto, taught the Black children of the city. In 1886, the city built a frame school…

Clark, Randolph Lee (1871-1941) · 1986

A native of Fort Worth, Randolph Lee Clark worked as a cowboy on the XIT Ranch as a young man. After graduating from Add-Ran Christian University, he worked for state educational offices in Austin. He served as school…

Cooke County Courthouse · 1988

Settlement of the area now known as Cooke County began in late 1845. The county was created by the State Legislature in 1848 and named for William G. Cooke, Republic of Texas Quartermaster General and a participant in…

Bailey, Joseph Weldon · 1993

(October 6, 1863-April 13, 1929) Democrat Joseph Weldon Bailey served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1891-1901) and in the U.S. Senate (1901-1913). A colorful and controversial politician, he was known for his…

Davis, William Owen · 1997

Georgia native W. O. Davis served in the Confederate Army and was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1870. He moved to Texas, settling in Gainesville, and was soon involved in local politics and civic life. In a long public…

Fairview Cemetery · 1997

Originally the Howeth Family Cemetery, this site traces its history to 1854, when a tornado struck the Howeth family cabin near Gainesville. First buried here were Thomas and Louisa Howeth, young children of William and…

Nelson Grove Cemetery · 2000

In 1875 Mollie Nelson, the 14-year-old daughter of Robert Carroll and Mary Elizabeth Nelson, died of pneumonia and measles and was buried on her parents' property. Two years later, R C. Nelson and J. C. Stockton deeded…

Nelson Log House · 2000

Robert Carroll Nelson (1835-1914) constructed this log house for his family soon after arriving in the area in 1861. Using readily available resources, Nelson built the house of post oak logs, with a chimney and…

Spring Creek Cemetery · 2000

The earliest burial on this site is that of infant Mary C. Underwood, who died in 1875. Another infant, identified only as "Newton's child," was interred on what became known as "Stranger's Row" in 1882. The following…

Cooke County Free Library · 2001

In 1913, city librarian Lillian Gunter (1870-1926) and the XLI club (a local women's literary society) secured a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation to construct a library building for Gainesville. Gunter then…

Gainesville Junior College · 2001

With support from the Kiwanis Club and the Parent-Teacher Association, Randolph Lee Clark (1871-1941) began promoting the idea of a junior college upon his arrival in 1923 as superintendent of Gainesville's public…

Gainesville National Bank · 2001

In this block on October 21, 1882, prominent citizens and landowners J. M. Lindsay and C. C. Hemming founded Gainesville National Bank (GNB). Over the next decades, Gainesville evolved from a frontier town to a thriving…

James Menees Lindsay · 2001

(Dec. 31, 1835 - May 3, 1919) J. M. Lindsay graduated from Cumberland Law School in his native Tennessee in 1857 and arrived in Gainesville on his 22nd birthday. His political and legal career included the following…

W. T. G. Weaver · 2001

(April 25, 1832 - October 18, 1876) William Thomas Green Weaver came to Texas from Illinois in 1840 with his father and three siblings. As a young adult, he taught school for a time, studied law and was admitted to the…

Moffett Park · 2005

The owner of 90 acres in this vicinity, Missour native Ned Moffett, Sr., (1842-1924) wed Mary Stone on April 19, 1866. The couple had nine children, and early census records listed the family as Mulatto. The Moffetts…

Oak Grove Cemetery (Medallion only) · 2005

Oak Grove Community · 2005

In the 1860s, George Sanford Norrid left his Missouri home with his wife, Tabitha, and family and moved to Texas, settling in this area and offering their home for church services. In 1875, F.M. Dougherty and George…

Gainesville-Fort Sill Road · 2006

The U.S. Cavalry constructed roads to improve logistical routes in the west during the 19th century. Henry O. Flipper, the first African American graduate of West Point, was an officer in the Tenth Cavalry regiment…

Hubert H. Moss · 2006

Hubert H. Moss was born in Woodbine in 1892. After attending North Texas State Normal College, he became a teacher before leaving Cooke County to serve in World War I. After the war, Moss taught high school and became a…

J. D. "Ikard" Sugg · 2006

J.D. “Ikard” Sugg (1854-1925) Joseph D. Sugg was born in Mississippi, the youngest of 13 children. After his mother’s death, he headed west, working on a cattle drive heading north from the Red River in 1868. Later a…

Newsome Dougherty Memorial High School · 2006

In the early 20th century, the growing city of Gainesville needed a new high school but lacked funds. In 1920, W.H. and Ella Dougherty donated their mansion, which once belonged to U.S. Senator Joseph W. Bailey, and…

Clark Cemetery · 2009

This burial ground was established by the Hatcher family and others in the 1850s. By the Civil War, it became known as Clark Cemetery, named for a pioneering Cooke County family. In the 1850s, Nathaniel Miles Clark, his…

Salem Community Well · 2012

HAND DUG BY CITIZENS IN THE LATE 1800s, THE WELL WAS A GATHERING PLACE FOR THE SALEM (LATER SHADY GROVE) COMMUNITY. P.G. DOTSON DIRECTED THE WORK FOR THE BRICK-LINED WELL DUG TO A DEPTH OF 17 FEET. INTENDED TO PROVIDE…

American Paint Horse Association · 2013

Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century brought two-toned horses with them, descendants of horses from North Africa and Asia Minor. Over time, these colorful horses became a cherished staple of the western frontier.…

G. H. Ragsdale · 2013

(April 1, 1846 - March 25, 1895) Tennessee native George Henry Ragsdale came to Cooke County in 1867. He was elected to three terms as county surveyor. By observations and a self-taught education, he became an expert…

Gainesville State School · 2018

Authorized by the Thirty-Third Texas Legislature in 1913, the Texas State Training School for Girls opened on 160 acres east of Gainesville in 1916. Initially headed by Dr. Carrie Weaver Smith, the facility offered…