Bird Creek Battlefield · 1936
Named in honor of Captain John Bird who lost his life here May 26, 1839 With only 34 Texas Rangers he met 240 Indians at this point, and routed them.
View on map ↗Bell County, Texas
Historical Markers in Temple, Texas
Temple is home to 80 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.
Bird Creek Indian Battle · 1936
May 26, 1839 This marker commemorates the death of Captain John Bird, Sergeant William Weaver, Jesse E. Nash, H.M.C. Hall, Thomas Gay, and the heroic and successful battle of a Ranger force of 34 against 240 Indians.…
View on map ↗Steakley Home · 1964
The F. L. Wright Home was built on old stagecoach road in 1874, seven years before Temple was founded. It is still on original boid d'arc stumps foundation. Has original chimneys, and roof line. The builder was 1867…
View on map ↗42nd Reunion of Hood's Texas Brigade · 1967
Honored the late General John B. Hood, for whom Fort Hood was named. Meetings were in First Baptist Church. Transportation from Carnegie Library (convention headquarters) was by one of the first auto parades in Temple.…
View on map ↗Ferguson Home · 1967
Built 1907 for James E. and Miriam A. Ferguson, each later elected twice to governor's office in Texas. Mrs. Ferguson was the first woman elected Governor in any state. During their terms the Texas Highway Department…
View on map ↗City of Temple · 1968
Founded in 1881 on the Santa Fe line, Temple, like dozens of Texas towns, owed its beginning to the railroad and was, in fact, named for a Santa Fe official, B.M Temple. On June 29, 1881, a gala town lot sale, with free…
View on map ↗Pendleton · 1968
Called Pendletonville in 1880's; renamed 1904 for local resident George C. Pendleton (1845-1913), State Representative, 1883-1889 (House Speaker, 1886-1887). As Lieutenant Governor, 1891-1893, became first elected…
View on map ↗Little Flock Cemetery and Primitive Baptist Church · 1969
On land donated by J.W. and Mary Moore, owners of a pioneer gristmill and cotton gin. First burial (about 1860) was a stranger who died on a wagon trip from West Texas to Arkansas. Other old graves: fever victims and…
View on map ↗Site of 1920's Factory of the Temple Monoplane · 1970
Pioneer commercial aircraft developed by engineering genius George W. Williams, who with Roy Sanderford, George Carroll, and his brother E.K. Williams, formed Texas Aero Corporation in 1927. The firm obtained (June 23,…
View on map ↗W. Goodrich Jones (1860-1950) · 1970
Known as "Father of Forestry in Texas." Came to Temple, 1888, as a banker. Planted first tree (a pecan) in town; this led to establishing Arbor Day in Texas in 1889, through legislation introduced by Sen. Geo. W. Tyler.…
View on map ↗Log Cabin Study of Dr. Arthur Carroll Scott · 1972
(July 12, 1865-October 27, 1940) Co-founder of Scott and White Memorial Hospital, Dr. Scott used this cabin from 1920s to 1940 as a private study and retreat. In these rooms (originally two small log "corn cribs" moved…
View on map ↗Site of the Organization of the Texas Forestry Association · 1974
One of Texas' oldest conservation organiations. W. Goodrich Jones (1860-1950), who came to Temple as a banker in 1888, felt need for trees in this prairie town. He led planting drives in Temple, and in 1889 saw to the…
View on map ↗Former Site of Y.M.C.A. · 1975
In 1898, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad chartered a Young Men's Christian Association and, in 1899, erected a 3-story structure across the street from this site to furnish lodging and recreation for railway…
View on map ↗Christ Episcopal Church of Temple · 1976
Founded as a mission in 1889, this fellowship achieved parish status in 1902 and began raising money to erect this church building. After a public fund drive (1904), construction was started on the Gothic Revival…
View on map ↗C. L. Walker Home · 1978
Will Campbell, who constructed many early homes in Temple, built this residence in 1912 for C.L. Walker (1881-1940) and his wife Daisy (1884-1969). Since 1945 it has been owned by their son C.L. ("Chick") Walker, Jr.,…
View on map ↗Temple Public Library · 1978
On March 29, 1900, the Women's Literary Club and the Self Culture Club formed a city federation for the purpose of organizing a public library. Soon the first library opened in a corner of the post office building and…
View on map ↗First United Methodist Church of Temple · 1979
The Rev. E.R. Barcus served as the first pastor of the congregation, organized in 1882, one year after the city of Temple was founded. The original structure on this site was destroyed by fire in 1911. The present…
View on map ↗Omar L. Fletcher Home · 1979
Omar L. Fletcher (1887-1975), a native of Bell County, was an industrialist and civic leader. He and his father James Fletcher were the successors to a family business, started in 1881, which became Fletcher…
View on map ↗James A. Fletcher House · 1981
Bell County native James Andrew Fletcher (1858-1944) was a leading Temple businessman. In 1907, with his son Omar, he acquired a local business founded in 1881 by his brother-in-law Early Greathouse. It became the…
View on map ↗First Presbyterian Church of Temple · 1982
The first church established in Temple, this congregation was organized on October 19, 1881, under the leadership of A.A. Black, with the assistance of the Rev. C.W. Peyton and the Rev. R.M. Tuttle. The 24 charter…
View on map ↗Santa Fe Memorial Hospital, Inc. · 1982
The first hospital in Temple, this institution opened in 1891 for employees of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad. The first section of the present building, completed in 1908, replaced an earlier frame structure.…
View on map ↗Grace United Methodist Church · 1983
Founded in 1882 to serve the area's German population, this congregation originally was known as the Friedens (Peace) Church of the Evangelical Association. This sanctuary was completed in 1883 on land donated by the…
View on map ↗Joseph Dennis · 1984
Joseph Dennis (Dec. 10, 1810-Oct. 19, 1894) Tennessee native Joseph Dennis came to Texas in 1849 with his wife, Isa (Seitz), and their children. After Bell County was created from Milam County in 1850, Dennis was…
View on map ↗Maruna Meadow · 1984
This meadow is one of the few remaining sites in the area that illustrates what the first Bell County settlers saw upon their arrival. Czechoslovakian immigrants who came here in 1881 found the Blackland Prairie of…
View on map ↗Hodge Cemetery · 1985
Occupying less than one acre of land, this cemetery is named for J.W. Hodge (d.1920), who purchased the surrounding property in 1870. Burials had taken place before that date, however, as indicated by the tombstones of…
View on map ↗Wayman Chapel A.M.E. Church · 1986
George Connor, a missionary elder of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) church assigned to the Temple area, organized this congregation in 1883. A frame sanctuary was built at this site two years later, with Dock…
View on map ↗Lancaster Cemetery · 1987
Thomas Lancaster (1813-1867), a farmer and rancher who came to Bell County in 1851, set aside a plot of land on the west side of Little Elm Creek for a community burial ground. Although some burials took place here…
View on map ↗First Baptist Church of Temple · 1988
Originally known as Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, this congregation was organized on November 21, 1874, in the small Bell County town of Birdsdale (about one mile west of present Temple). The Rev. Anderson Clark…
View on map ↗First Lutheran Church · 1989
When this church was organized by the Rev. Carl Kreutzenstein in 1886 for Temple's German-speaking Lutherans, it was named Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church. Charter members included the Schmidt, Paulus, Scholz,…
View on map ↗Messer-Limmer Farmhouse · 1989
This vernacular farmhouse was built in 1895 for Mary Margaret Messer (d. 1919) by her sons and grandsons. It was purchased in 1920 by F. A. Limmer, local landowner and citizen of the nearby community of Alligator.…
View on map ↗City Federation of Women's Clubs · 1991
After Temple's first federation of women's clubs accomplished its goal of founding a library and disbanded in 1902, this organization was created in 1915 to coordinate the work of the city's women's clubs. Members met…
View on map ↗Lake Polk Park · 1991
Soon after establishing the city of Temple, the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad Company built a dam on nearby Bird Creek to create a reservoir and ready water supply. By 1900 a group of investors formed an…
View on map ↗Memorial Baptist Church of Temple · 1991
Less than a decade after its founding in 1881, Temple was fast developing as an important commercial center. Reflecting that growth, plans for this church began in the early 1890s. It was formally chartered as Memorial…
View on map ↗Ocker Brethren Church · 1994
A group of deeply devoted followers of the Unity of the Brethren faith were among the Czech immigrant families who settled in this area of eastern Bell County in the late 1870s and established the farming community of…
View on map ↗Arthur Carroll Scott, Sr., M.D. · 1997
(July 12, 1865-October 27, 1940) Born in Gainesville, Texas, Arthur Scott graduated from Bellevue Medical College in 1886. In 1892 he became Chief Surgeon of the Santa Fe Hospital in Temple. He formed a partnership with…
View on map ↗Arthur Carroll Scott, Sr., M.D. · 1997
(1865-1940) Born in Gainesville, Texas, Arthur C. Scott graduated from Bellevue Medical College in 1886 and won an internship at the Western Pennsylvania Hospital. Returning to Gainesville, he married Maud M. Sherwood…
View on map ↗Claudia Potter, M.D. · 1997
(February 3, 1881-February 2, 1970) Born in Denton County, Claudia Potter was one of eight children of William T. C. and Laura Smith Potter. A graduate of the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1904, Dr. Potter was…
View on map ↗Claudia Potter, M.D. · 1997
Born in Denton County on February 3, 1881, Claudia Potter was one of eight children of William Thomas Carr and Laura Elmira Smith Potter. Claudia Potter graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1904, the…
View on map ↗First Christian Church of Temple · 1997
When the Santa Fe Railroad organized Temple in 1880, it offered lots to any church that would erect a building on the site. In 1888 a group of Christian called an evangelist, the Rev. W. S. Lockhart, in an effort to…
View on map ↗Former Site of Scott & White School of Nursing · 1997
The School of Nursing was founded in 1904 by Dr. Arthur C. Scott and Dr. Raleigh White, Jr., as a part of their Temple Sanitarium to provide professional training for nurses. Initially a small local student body was…
View on map ↗George Valter Brindley, Sr., M.D. · 1997
(1886-1970) Born on a farm in Ellis County, George V. Brindley, Sr., graduated from the University of Texas Department of Medicine at Galveston in 1911 and joined the medical staff of Temple Sanitarium that year.…
View on map ↗George Valter Brindley, Sr., M.D. · 1997
(January 8, 1886 - October 7, 1970) Texas native George Brindley graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1911, and went to work at the Temple Sanitarium (later Scott & White Hospital). He…
View on map ↗Raleigh R. White, Jr., M.D. · 1997
Born December 10, 1871, in Tippah County, Mississippi, Raleigh R. White, Jr., was the son of the Rev. Raleigh White, Sr., and Anna Davidson White. The Rev. Mr. White had trained as a physician, but became a Baptist…
View on map ↗Raleigh R. White, Jr., M.D. · 1997
(1871-1917) Mississippi native Raleigh R. White, Jr., moved to Texas in 1882. A graduate of Tulane University Department of Medicine in 1893, White was hired by Dr. A. C. Scott as house physician for the Santa Fe…
View on map ↗Scott & White Hospital · 1997
The Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway established the town of Temple in 1881 and located the Santa Fe Railway Hospital at Temple in 1891. Dr. Arthur Carroll Scott, Sr. (1865-1940) became Chief Surgeon of the Railway…
View on map ↗King's Daughters Hospital · 1998
The Temple Charter of the International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons, a Protestant ecumenical group, was formed in 1893 to provide medical care to indigent citizens. The group, made up largely of educated…
View on map ↗King's Daughters Hospital School of Nursing · 1998
Nursing training was implemented at King's Daughters Hospital from as early as 1897, and formal two-year classes began in 1903. In 1906, the hospital revised its charter to officially include a nurses' training school…
View on map ↗Raleigh Richardson White, Sr. · 1998
(August 9, 1840 - January 11, 1919) Born to a wealthy Missouri plantation family, Raleigh R. White joined the Confederate army, against his father's wishes, at age 21. During his service White fought under Gen. Nathan…
View on map ↗Dr. John S. and Mary McCelvey House · 1999
Completed about 1906 for Dr. John S. McCelvey (1870-1964) and his fiancee, Mary Horne (1881-1960), this house was erected of concrete blocks cast on the Horne family plantation near Waco. The McCelveys built the north…
View on map ↗Stampede Creek · 2002
Stampede Creek takes its name from a horse stampede that occurred near this site in 1839. On May 26 of that year, Capt. John Bird and a Ranger force of 34 men encountered more than 200 Caddo, Kickapoo and Comanche…
View on map ↗S.P.J.S.T. Lodge No. 47, Hvezda Texasu · 2003
In January 1903, Frank Motl and J.F. Sefcik led Seaton men in forming an order of the SPJST (Slovanská Podporujicí Jednota Statu Texas), a Czech benevolent society. Members of Hvezda Texasu, the Texas "Star" Lodge, met…
View on map ↗Eighth Street Baptist Church · 2004
Soon after the establishment of Temple as a railroad town in 1882, the Rev. L.J. Mackey organized the Saint Love All Baptist Church. The early mission of the church was to serve African American railroad workers in the…
View on map ↗Moffat Cemetery · 2004
This burial ground began as a family and Masonic cemetery. Although many, possibly older, graves exist, the oldest marked grave is that of Mary Marshall (d. 1861). In 1869, eight years after Marshall's death, J.A.…
View on map ↗Wilma Carlton · 2004
Wilma Carlton was born in Columbus, Texas, on September 25, 1882, the first child of Mississippi natives Senie Needham and Thomas Jefferson Carlton. The family settled in the Pin Oak area of Milam County by 1880 and…
View on map ↗Seven Star Cemetery · 2005
Temple incorporated in 1882, the same year the Missouri, Kansas and Texas (MKT) Railway built a line through this area. This land was most likely owned by the rail company, but few records exist about the burial…
View on map ↗Seaton Brethren Church · 2006
In the middle 19th century, Moravian Czech immigrants began arriving in Texas, settling throughout the central part of the state. Descendants of the Czech religious movement known as Jednota Bratrska, or "Unity of the…
View on map ↗Temple Daily Telegram · 2007
The Temple Daily Telegram, which dates to 1907, has had a strong historical impact on the development of the area. It has ties to the earliest community newspaper, the Weekly Times, first distributed in 1881, the year…
View on map ↗Bernard Moore Temple · 2009
Temple Visitor's Center
View on map ↗Green Oaks Farm · 2009
Historic Green Oaks Farm is part of the Maximo Moreno eleven league grant of 1834. Moses (1793-1858) and Barzilla Curry Griffin (1801-1873) received land from this grant, and later transferred it to their daughter,…
View on map ↗Hillcrest Cemetery · 2009
Previously known as Williamson Branch Graveyard and Temple City Cemetery, Hillcrest Cemetery began as a rural family graveyard before eventually becoming a large, urban burial ground. Before the establishment of Temple,…
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