Nolan County, Texas
Sweetwater is home to 18 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.
Organized 1922, the Sweetwater Hereford Breeders Association and Auction Sale (now Sweetwater Area Hereford Association) is considered Texas' third oldest group formed to promote this fine beef breed. First Officers:…
View on map ↗Site of World War II drama. Here girls, like male cadets, learned to fly United States Army Air Forces planes. WASPs had civil service status rather than military. Of the 25,000 applicants, 1,830 were accepted; 1,074…
View on map ↗Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) trained here in military aircraft during World War II, from February 21, 1943, through final graduation day, December 7, 1944. Avenger Field first served as a training base for…
View on map ↗Nomadic Indians crossed this region before Anglo-American pioneers arrived here in the 1870's. The first settlers were buffalo hunters such as I.S. (Tuck) Focht, who later became a rancher and businessman, and cattlemen…
View on map ↗In 1882 R.A. Ragland (1858-1938) came to Sweetwater as one of the town's first lawyers. He served as city commissioner, school board member and county attorney. In partnership with R.C. Crane he set up a law office and…
View on map ↗Community leader R.A. Ragland (1858-1938) had this structure erected in 1901 as a one-story building with a random pattern of hand-hewed limestone. He added a second floor in 1906. Charles McFarland bought the building…
View on map ↗C.E. Gilbert, who founded the "Abilene Reporter", established the "Sweetwater Advance" in 1881, the year Nolan County was organized. Later published as the "Nolan County Review", it was purchased in 1906 by John W.…
View on map ↗Organized on December 11, 1881, by the Reverend Peter Turner (1812-1892), a native of England, this church served settlers of the pioneer railroad town of Sweetwater. The congregation's first church building, a frame…
View on map ↗Designed by the Page Brothers architectural firm of Austin, this auditorium was constructed for the City of Sweetwater in 1926-27. The building's Spanish Colonial Revival style is reflected in the use of arches, ornate…
View on map ↗The oldest marked grave in this public burial ground is that of an infant, Purl Ray Scott, who died in 1880. It predates the founding of the town of Sweetwater of the Texas and Pacific Railroad by one year. Handcrafted…
View on map ↗Robert Mosby Simmons (1887-1955), noted civic leader and president of the Sweetwater Cotton Oil Company for many years, originally built this house as a one-story structure in 1919. In 1934-35 he hired architect Anton…
View on map ↗Samuel Dale Myres began his career as an apprentice saddle-maker in Cleburne. He moved to Sweetwater in 1898. A highly skilled craftsman, Myres was soon know for his superior workmanship. He served as mayor of…
View on map ↗Construction of the Texas and Pacific Railway began in East Texas in the early 1870's. By 1880 the line was expanding westward. It reached Sweetwater in 1881, with the first train arriving on March 12 of that year.…
View on map ↗Built in 1916 by Walter Wright Davis (1879-1933) and his wife Florence Weathers Davis (1880-1968), this house represents a transition from a craftsman style bungalow to a Colonial Revival style structure. The exposed…
View on map ↗Jacqueline Cochran, one to the most famous women pilots of the Twentieth Century, persistently lobbied U.S. Army Airforce General Henry "Hap" Arnold to establish a flight training program for women during World War II.…
View on map ↗Rancher and banker Thomas Trammell (1848-1919) was called the "Father of Sweetwater." He hired noted California architect John Young to design this house. Trammell, who helped bring railroads to Sweetwater, knew of…
View on map ↗(0.6 miles east) At 6:05 a.m. on Friday, April 20, 1945, twenty-five Army Air Corps officers and enlisted men left Midland Army Air Field in a C-47 transport plane en route to Berry Army Air Field in Nashville,…
View on map ↗Ira Mose Newman, born in 1887 to a prominent Nolan County ranching family, was a leading area businessman, with interests including real estate and banking. He was an active civic leader, an award-winning trapshooter…
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