Historical Markers in Jacksboro, Texas

Butterfield Stage Line · 1936

Here ran the Southern Overland Mail Line connecting St. Louis and San Francisco with semi-weekly stage and mail service, 1858-1861. The length of the route, 2,795 miles, and the superior service maintained made this a…

Fort Richardson · 1936

As partially reconstructed in 1936. Established by the United States War Department on November 26, 1867 as a protection of the frontier against hostile Indians. Named in honor of General Israel B. Richardson, U.S.A.,…

Fort Richardson · 1936

Established November 26, 1867 by the United States Army to defend the frontier against the Indians. A mail station on the Butterfield Overland Stage Line, 1858-1861. Abandoned as a military post May 23, 1879.

Officers' Quarters · 1964

Built in 1867 of lumber cut from cottonwoods growing in nearby river bottoms. One of 5 original officers' quarters. Outlasted fort's barracks and stables, which were built of small vertical timbers (pickets). Style…

Fort Richardson Cavalry Post Hospital, 1867 · 1965

In fort built to halt Indian depredations in North Texas. One of buildings and units on inspection in May 1871 by General William Tecumseh Sherman, when news came of massacre of Warren Wagon Trail, 24 miles northwest.…

Jack County · 1965

Created 1856. Organized 1857. Named for W. H. and P. C. Jack, brothers and patriots in the Texas Revolution. Butterfield Overland Mail, 1858-1861, had 3 stage stops in county. In 1861, Jack County voted against…

Fort Richardson Hotel · 1967

Built by H. J. Hensley and L. A. Wilson, 1899, on site, old Wichita House, run by Mrs. Francis Duke. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1967. Incising on base: Preserved by Ruth Hensley Richards.

Old Hess Building · 1967

Built in 1898 by Crummel Oric Hess (1853-1945). Native sandstone. Contained the Hess furniture and undertaking business 43 years. Hess came to Jacksboro in 1882. Married Miss Lizzie Longmire in 1885. Was one of first…

Old Jack County Courthouse Cornerstone · 1967

Removed 1885 from third Jack County Courthouse when building was razed. Mounted here in 1966. Old Courthouse was of native limestone, quarried in Jacksboro. For its day, workmanship and stone of finest quality. Bell is…

Birthplace of Texas 4-H Clubs · 1968

First Texas Boys' Corn Club was founded in Jacksboro, 1908, by Tom M. Marks (1865-1906), first Jack County agent. This was a forerunner of U.S. 4-H clubs, now international, and part of the cooperative extension…

Former Gulf, Texas & Western Railroad Depot · 1968

Erected 1910, of stone from nearby quarry; Risley Brothers, contractors. A facility of Jacksboro's second railroad, built by local effort, with backing from New York bankers, R. C. Megargel & Company. Recorded Texas…

Mobilization Site of Lost Battalion · 1968

Battery F, 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Division, Texas National Guard mobilized here November 1940, for active duty. Sailed from San Francisco, November 1941, was at sea when Japanese attacked Pearl…

Oakwood Cemetery · 1968

Burial ground for over a century-- graves dating from 1859. Land was given by old settlers, 1883-1904. Maintained by Oakwood Cemetery Association, organized August 22, 1899, with Miss Alice Rogers first president.…

First National Bank · 1969

US 281 at US 380, west side of courthouse square

G. D. Cross · 1969

(1855 - 1941) Born in Arkansas. Served in Hunter's Texas Ranger Company 1873-1874, helping remove Indians from Texas. Later became merchant and farmer. Married Mary A. E. Shawver, 1881. Had 13 children. Built this…

Sewell Park · 1972

This site became Jacksboro's first park after tract here on Lost Creek was donated to city on June 25, 1921, by pioneer teacher-lumberman-rancher-public benefactor Dan Roland Sewell (1872-1957). City's first waterworks…

Jacksboro's First Railroad Depot · 1974

Built 1898 of native stone by Risley Brothers of Jacksboro, for the Chicago, Rock Island & Texas Railway, on site bought from F. F. Foscue (1819-1906), a Texas legislator, owner of Fort Richardson lands. In typical…

First Baptist Church of Jacksboro · 1976

United States soldiers still manned nearby Fort Richardson when this church was organized with seven charter members in 1875. The congregation met in the Masonic Lodge hall and county courthouse before erecting their…

James B. Dosher · 1997

James B. Dosher moved to Texas in 1847 and served in Cureton's Company of the Texas Rangers. Discharged in 1848, he married Velma Eddings in 1851. They settled in Jack County in early 1855 and worked their farm south of…

Squaw Mountain Community · 1998

Legend tells of a mountaintop skirmish between Native Americans and Texas Rangers in 1875. A woman was accidentally killed; the Rangers buried her on the mountain and named the place for her. In 1877 pioneers began to…

Cundiff Cemetery · 1999

Truce Cemetery · 2002

Hicks Cemetery · 2007

Settlers in the 1880s established a community here known as Hicks (also spelled Hix), named for a pioneer family. Cooper School served the area beginning in 1885, with J.F. Middlebrooks, P. Paxton and J.H. Gregory as…

Roberts Branch Cemetery · 2010

DURING THE EARLY 1870s, A SMALL SETTLEMENT BEGAN TO GROW IN THIS AREA, ALONG THE ROBERTS BRANCH, A TRIBUTARY OF THE WEST FORK OF THE TRINITY RIVER. THE CREEK HAD BEEN NAMED BY SETTLERS AFTER TEXAS SUPREME COURT CHIEF…