Grayson County, Texas
Sherman is home to 71 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.
Settled in 1846. Named in honor of General Sidney Sherman 1805-1873. Commander of the left wing of the Texas Army at the Battle of San Jacinto. Member of Congress of the Republic of Texas 1842-1843. Rapid growth and…
View on map ↗(January 21, 1842 - July 18, 1913) Born in Virginia. Educated at Bethany College. In 1861 he joined Confederate army, serving in Co. K, 24th Va. Inf. Fought in Battles of Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Gettysburg…
View on map ↗(Star and Wreath) Military, defense and supply center in Civil War. 11th Texas Cav. Regt., raised in this and area counties, May 1861, removed immediate danger from North by capture Forts Washita, Coeb, Arbuckle in…
View on map ↗Erected in 1875. Third meeting place for Sherman Lodge #45 since organization Sept. 27, 1854. Center of community activity: opened a school (74 students) 11 years before first city public school. At June 21, 1862…
View on map ↗Opened law practice here, 1884. Became an assistant attorney general of Texas, 1893. Won election, 1897, to Railroad Commission; served 26 years -- 16 years as chairman. The commission had been created in 1891 to…
View on map ↗One of the oldest banks in North Texas. Replaced Sherman's "Pecan Tree Bank"; for 22 years traders hung saddlebags filled with gold on tree's branches. Bank was founded in 1872 with $150,000 capital when city was 26…
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View on map ↗Organized 1867 in log schoolhouse. In 1892 built first sanctuary; second, 1914; added Graves Recreation Hall 1958. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967
View on map ↗Established in 1875 as North Texas Female College, a finishing school for young ladies, and operated by North Texas Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Recharted 1919 as a junior college and…
View on map ↗(1873-1957) Ran for sheriff at request of citizens of Denison. Elected in 1912 and served two years. Was appointed by Governor Pat Neff to special commission in 1920's to inspect Texas prison system; named by Governor…
View on map ↗Here the Sherman Cotton Oil Company was created by John Clement Tassey between 1871-1879, to become, at one time, largest of its kind in the world. Company was at first housed in frame buildings. In 1891 a permanent…
View on map ↗Originally chartered September 20, 1909, as Sherman Overall Manufacturing Company. First machinery was secured from a glove manufacturer and placed in the Birge-Forbes Building on East Lamar Street. Company was…
View on map ↗Sherman Seamless Bag Mill was founded here in 1891, to serve the cotton industry of North Central Texas. Elected to board of directors on March 18, 1891, were C. A. Andrews, Edward Eastburn, W. C. Eubank, Thomas Forbes,…
View on map ↗In the mainstream of Texas history for more than a century, this area was, in 1837, the site of Colonel Holland Coffee's Trading Post, a landmark structure at the Preston Bend crossing of the Red River. It was a focal…
View on map ↗This school for boys, founded in 1871, was officially known as the Sherman Private School, but informally as "The Cap'n's. It was established and run by former Confederate army Captain John H. LeTellier (1842-1913), who…
View on map ↗Formerly a 3-story Victorian structure with twin cupolas. Built by Capt. L. F. Ely, who made the bricks in his city factory. Lavish interior had carpeted aisle, damask curtains and red plush seats. Benches in economy…
View on map ↗Oldest college in Texas operating under original charter. Founded in 1849 by the Presbytery of Brazos under leadership of Daniel Baker. Named for Stephen F. Austin, father of Texas. Opened in Huntsville with Sam…
View on map ↗First congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Sherman. Established in 1859 with the Rev. J. M. Binkley, pastor, the church was born of labors of circuit riders who braved this frontier area even before…
View on map ↗Settled in 1848 by Grayson County pioneers, who reclaimed land from wilderness, raiding Indians and hardships of frontier life soon created need for a cemetery, established the same year. The plots were free to any…
View on map ↗(1837-1903) Captured in Arizona at age 13 (1851) by Yanapai Indians, who massacred 6 members of family. Sold to Mojave Indians, she was treated kindly but bore mark of a slave -- blue, cactus needle tattoo on chin --…
View on map ↗A public-spirited group dedicated to preservation of history and enrichment of contemporary life. Founded in 1879, when oldtimers traveled by wagon and camped near Sherman to reminisce about days of Republic of Texas,…
View on map ↗One of the most festive events in Sherman's early history, Theodore Roosevelt's 1905 appearance here marked the first visit of a president of the United States to Grayson County. Traveling to San Antonio to attend a…
View on map ↗(1855-1940) Owned Sherman's first bakery for 35 years. Born in Schleswigholstein, Denmark. Came to United States, 1872, and to Texas, 1878. With F. W. Boedeker (whose interest he soon bought) started the Star Bakery,…
View on map ↗When Grayson County was created on March 17, 1846, by the first Legislature of the State of Texas, the act named the county seat in honor of Sidney Sherman (1805-73), an heroic leader at the Battle of San Jacinto and in…
View on map ↗Built before 1897, this Victorian house was designed by German-born John Tollouch and occupied by hardware merchant George E. Hardwicke (1855-1923) until 1899. The property was purchased in 1902 by Dupont Lyon…
View on map ↗In the late afternoon of Friday, May 15, 1896, a disastrous tornado swept Sherman, killing about 66 persons, injuring many others, and causing severe property damage. The twister touched down near here, then cut a…
View on map ↗Edward Metz (1854-1913) came to Texas from Michigan as a young man to join his brother, Charles, in a leather goods business. In the 1870s, they built a profitable trade, buying buffalo hides and other furs from Indian…
View on map ↗Chartered on Oct. 12, 1851, as a Cumberland society, this was the first Presbyterian congregation in Sherman. The Rev. W. A. Provine was founder and first pastor. One of 4 denominations meeting in the Union church…
View on map ↗Prosperous farmer-landowner Richard Bell Carr (1855-1918) and wife Susan (1858-1940) moved into town from cedar community. They employed highly-regarded contractor J. R. Barrow to design and build this dignified family…
View on map ↗In 1875 Solon Totten (1847-1932) made two horseback trips to Texas from Quincy, Ilinois, searching for better conditions for the family blacksmith business. Finding stage companies operating out of Sherman which…
View on map ↗(1808-1864) Thomas J. Shannon came to Texas in 1839 and settled in what became Grayson County in 1845. Elected first Grayson County representative to the Texas Legislature, he worked for relocation of the county seat to…
View on map ↗A native of North Carolina, John Hendrix (1798-1893) came to Texas in 1846 with his wife, Ruth (Strader) (1804-1882), their children, and seven other families. Their first camp in the area is marked by a large boulder…
View on map ↗A subscription library was established in Sherman in 1901 and housed in a rented room. In 1911, the city submitted a request to the Andrew Carnegie Foundation and received $20,000 for a library. This lot was purchased…
View on map ↗Completed in 1920, this classical revival sanctuary first served the congregation of the Walnut Street Church of Christ since 1963, when it moved to a new site, the congregation has ties to the 1850s. Members built this…
View on map ↗This congregation traces its beginnings to the late 1850s, when pioneer minister Benjamin Franklin Hall came to this area to preach and organize a church. Early meeting places included a brush arbor and a Union meeting…
View on map ↗Connecticut native Noble Allan Birge (1832-1902) came to Texas prior to the Civil War. Settling in Jefferson with his wife and children, he was the first elected sheriff of Marion County in 1860. Following his service…
View on map ↗Travis Lodge No. 117, A. F. & A. M., was chartered in 1852. This site was acquired in 1916, although this classical revival temple was not built until 1924. Designed by local architects John Tulloch and the firm of…
View on map ↗Plans began in early 1941 for a U. S. Army Air Corps installation to be located in Grayson County. This 1,160-acre site was acquired in June, and Air Corps personnel began arriving in August. The base was to serve as a…
View on map ↗Founded in 1852, only six years after Sherman was designated the county seat, this Masonic Lodge is one of the oldest continuing institutions in the community. Local Attorney Burrell Smith and fifteen other Masonic…
View on map ↗Connecticut native Charles Nathan Roberts (1836-1920) moved to Arkansas prior to the Civil War. He served as a captain in the Confederate Army, and after the war he married Emma Royston. By 1876 they had moved to…
View on map ↗This church, organized in 1875 as Saint John Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Chapel, held its initial services in a sanctuary located in a local community of freedmen known as “Brushtown”. The Rev. E.W. Moseley…
View on map ↗(September 3, 1812 - August 10, 1884) South Carolinian Aaron Mangum came to Texas with a Georgia battalion in 1835 and served under Colonel James Fannin at Goliad. Mangum took ill during an expeditionary mission and…
View on map ↗The Ninth Texas Cavalry consisted of about 1,000 mounted volunteers from Grayson, Tarrant, Hunt, Hopkins, Cass, Red River, Titus, and Lamar counties. They gathered about 15 miles northwest of here at Brogdon's Springs…
View on map ↗(September 11, 1857 - May 12, 1919) Bruno H. Zauk came to America alone at age 16 from his native Germany. He founded Sherman's first cigar factory in 1876, and became a naturalized U. S. citizen in 1880. Mr. Zauk…
View on map ↗After the Sherman Division of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas was established in 1902, plans were made to construct this building to serve the court and the postal service. U. S. Treasury…
View on map ↗Named for the famed 19th century African American orator Frederick Douglass, the Fred Douglass School was created as one of Sherman's first three public schools in 1879. Two houses one block west of this site were…
View on map ↗(January 12, 1826 - March 15, 1886) Christopher Columbus Binkley came to Texas in 1852 and became a law partner of Sherman's first mayor. He served as district judge from 1870 to 1874 and Republican national…
View on map ↗(February 26, 1833 – January 13, 1916) Jacob Monroe Binkley came to Texas from Tennessee in 1852. Before being licensed to preach in 1855 he was an effective orator for the cause of temperance. In 1859 he organized and…
View on map ↗In the mid-19th century, mail traffic between the eastern United States and the western states and territories was accomplished via Panama and Cape Horn. In 1857, Congress authorized the postmaster to contract a new…
View on map ↗(1836-1919) Missouri native Jesse "Jess" P. Loving came to Texas with his family in 1847. They settled first near relatives in Denton County, and moved to Sherman in Grayson County in 1852. Loving married Lydia Ellen…
View on map ↗From pioneer log cabins to a native Texas limestone structure, Grayson County courthouses have taken many shapes and sizes since the county's establishment in 1846. The first courthouse, a frame building on bald prairie…
View on map ↗(January 12, 1869 - October 27, 1936) Martha Ora "Mattie" Davis was born in Mississippi and moved to Texas as an infant. She earned a teaching certificate in 1884 and in 1889 married William H. Lucas. Active in civic…
View on map ↗In the early 1920s, as the Little Theater movement was developing in Texas, a group of Sherman citizens formed a community theater to present dramatic productions to local audiences. In December 1925, Sherman joined the…
View on map ↗St. Mary's Catholic Church The first recorded mass in Sherman took place in 1872, and three years later Bishop Claude Dubuis of the diocese of Galveston created a parish here and sent the Rev. Louis Granger to serve as…
View on map ↗Hall Furniture Building Former Missourian and Civil War veteran Rufus Gaines Hall established a Sherman dry goods store in 1868. The company prospered, in part because it sent 30 notion wagons to sell supplies to…
View on map ↗Mita Holsapple Hall (1885-1965) Born near Fair Dealing, Kentucky, Mita Holsapple moved with her family to Sherman as a child and graduated from Mary Nash College. Wed to Hugh E. Hall in 1919, she organized the first…
View on map ↗Site of Binkley Hotel In the 1870s, a joint stock company was organized to construct a hotel in Sherman. One of the largest stockholders was Judge C.C. Binkley, a community leader for whom the hotel would be named.…
View on map ↗The Rev. John Silliman Moore Born in Mississippi in 1840, John Silliman Moore attended college in Georgia before serving in the Civil War, where he was wounded at Seven Pines, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. In 1870,…
View on map ↗(Nov. 13, 1854 - Jan. 8, 1918) Tennessee native Thomas Randolph came to Grayson County with his family in 1859. Groomed to be a businessman, he was invited at age 19 to join C. C. Binkley at the Merchants and Planters…
View on map ↗In May 1861, a frontier unit was organized at Camp Reeves in Sherman. Drawing volunteers from Cooke, Grayson, Hopkins, Red River, Fannin, Collin, Titus and Bowie counties, the regiment began with nearly 900 men and…
View on map ↗…and 11 more Sherman markers. Find every one of them on the map in the RoadHistorical app.
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