Historical Markers in Waxahachie, Texas

Richard Ellis Monument · 1936

Courthouse Square on Main Street

Site of a Confederate Powder Mill · 1936

Erected in 1862 by William Rowen. On April 29, 1863 it was destroyed by an explosion and its owner killed. Also killed was Joshua G. Phillips.

St. Paul's Episcopal · 1965

City's oldest church. Dedicated by pioneer Bishop A.C. Garrett, 1885. Lancet windows, doors. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965

N. P. Sims Library and Lyceum · 1968

A pioneer among privately - endowed Texas libraries. Situated in Getzendaner Park, which had been donated to the city on Dec. 31, 1895, by Capt. W.H. Getzendaner (1834-1909), and attorney, Confederate veteran, banker,…

Ellis County Courthouse · 1969

Built 1895-1897 of Texas granite, limestone, marble. Over east door, sculptor carved face of beautiful local girl he admired. Example of Romanesque Revival building, Victorian period. The architect was J. Reilly Gordon.

The Mahoney-Thompson House · 1969

Constructed in 1904 by Dennis Mahoney, contractor and builder. He came from Connecticut to Texas in late 1800s to build Trinity University in Waxahachie (now in San Antonio). Cornerstone was laid March 21, 1902. He…

Jefferson Dunaway Home · 1970

Built 1855 by Jefferson Madison Dunaway for his bride, Sarah Ann Brack. Stone for chimneys came from the nearby creek banks. Cypress wood was used in structure. Two later generations of the family have lived here: The…

Parsons' Cavalry C.S.A. · 1972

Originally comprised of men from Ellis and surrounding counties. Organized for Civil War service at Rockett's Spring (4 mi. E. of this site), Sept. 1861, unit was trained and commanded by Col. William H Parsons, Mexican…

Waxahachie Chautauqua Building · 1972

Some 25 years after Chautauqua cultural programs originated in New York State, annual Chautauqua assemblies in Waxahachie began in 1899. Large crowds from north and east Texas and Oklahoma camped here, studying…

Dunlap - Simpson House · 1974

A fine example of Queen Anne Revival architecture, this house has among its many rooms two hexagons, two octagons. It was built in 1890-91 by Judge Oscar E. Dunlap (1849-1925), a banker, political leader, chairman of…

1889 Masonic Lodge Hall · 1976

A tin cornice decorated with Masonic emblems tops this three-story brick building constructed in 1889 for Waxahachie Lodge No. 90, A.F.& A.M. The first floor was rented to retail stores, the second occupied by…

Waxahachie City Cemetery · 1976

The first burial here occurred on Jan. 1, 1852, after the death of pioneer merchant Silas Killough (b. 1805), one of the founders of this community. The original 4.16 acre tract was given in 1858 to trustees of the…

Site of Marvin College · 1977

The Northwest Texas Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church South, built a college named for Bishop E.M. Marvin at the site in 1870-71. Waxahachie Methodists and others gave land, services, and money to develop the…

Old Ellis County Jail · 1978

Due to overcrowding in the existing jail facility, this structure was completed in 1888. The Ellis County Commissioners Court awarded the contract to Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, Missouri.…

Williams-Erwin House · 1978

Erected in 1893 for Edward Williams, this Victorian home reflects the affluence of local cotton merchants during the late 19th century. Waxahachie contractor C.J. Griggs supervised the construction. Beaded boards and…

Bethel Methodist Church · 1979

In 1853 Bethel Church was begun under a brush arbor at High Springs. After meeting in a log school building at Greathouse, services were moved in 1860 to a schoolhouse at Bethel on Baker's Branch. The first…

Strickland-Sawyer House · 1980

Maggie Young Beall, a widow, built a house here in 1888. One year later is was purchased by J.F. Stickland (1861-1921), a cofounder of Texas Power and Light Company and a pioneer of area interurban lines. In 1897 he had…

Rogers Street Bridge · 1981

Located on an early Waxahachie Creek fording site that served pioneer settlers of the area, this truss bridge was built in 1889. It was manufactured by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio, and was one of…

Rosemont · 1981

This 20-room home was built in 1894 for $12,000 by Eliza and Burt Ringo Moffett, who owned a flour mill nearby. Amanda B. Cox, the mother of 14 children, purchased the residence in 1930 and her heirs occupied it until…

Trippet-Shive House · 1983

Completed in 1896 for banker and civic leader H.W. Trippet (b.1853), this residence was later sold to Walter E. Shive (b.1873), who owned a successful Waxahachie seed, grain, and coal store. Exhibiting influences of the…

Eddy O. Hawkins Home · 1984

Eddy Pennell Hawkins, a member of a pioneer Ellis County family, built the first two rooms of this home soon after he wed Netta Lewis Carson in 1878. In 1900 he enlarged it to its present three-story style, a reflection…

Hancock Building · 1984

Businessman William F. Lewis and Ellis County Judge M.B. Templeton built this Victorian commercial structure in 1890. Decorative brickwork and cast iron columns highlight the facade. William Pitt Hancock (1872-1955), a…

Joshua Chapel A.M.E. Church · 1984

Organized in 1876, this congregation was named for its first pastor, the Rev. Joshua Goins, who started many African Methodist Episcopal churches across the state. Worshipers met in an old schoolhouse until this…

Homesite of Dr. D.G. Thompson · 1985

A native Texan, Dixon Gillespie Thompson received his medical degree from Louisville Medical School in Kentucky and trained at several hospitals in the east. He married Rufa Jones in 1882 and built this residence for…

Oak Lawn School · 1985

Oak Lawn began as an elementary school for Blacks in 1887 on North Aiken Street. In 1893 the school moved to this site. By the end of the 19th Century, High School classes had been added to the curriculum. Two of the…

First Baptist Church of Waxahachie · 1986

Organized in 1861 by twelve citizens meeting in the Methodist church, the Baptist congregation elected W.H. Stokes as its first pastor. The group met in several locations until their first church building was completed…

Sardis School · 1986

Children of the Sardis Community attended school in the Methodist church building from the early 1870s until a small two-room schoolhouse was constructed near this site in 1897. By 1915 the school population had grown…

Presiding Elder's House · 1988

Built in 1901, this house served as the parsonage for the presiding elder (district superintendent) of the Waxahachie district of the Northwest Texas Conference of the Methodist Church for more than 40 years. Mrs. M.J.…

Hawkins House · 1990

Benjamin Franklin Hawkins, a member of the Peters Colony who was instrumental in the organization of Ellis County, built a one-story house here in 1851. It was incorporated into a two-story house in the 1880s, and was…

Rutherford's Crossing Bridge · 1990

Constructed in 1919 by the Texas Bridge Company at a cost of $565.00, this Warren Pony truss bridge provided transportation across Red Oak Creek for area residents. Prior to the bridge's construction, the only way for…

Ellis County Courthouse · 1993

Ellis County's first courthouse was made of cedar logs and built here in 1850. A second courthouse was built on this square in 1853 and a third in 1874. In 1894 Virginia native and San Antonio architect James Riely…

First Presbyterian Church Building · 1997

The Rev. J. A. Smiley organized the First Presbyterian Church in 1871 with 16 charter members. The first church building was erected in 1876 and replaced by this structure in 1916-17. After this congregation merged with…

First United Methodist Church of Waxahachie · 1998

In the spring of 1849, the Rev. Falacius Reynolds and nine charter members met in the cabin of E. W. and Nancy Rogers in the new settlement of Waxahachie and established a Methodist society. The congregation erected its…

Graves Cemetery · 2000

Robert Russell Graves (1814-1897) came from Alabama to Texas in 1838 with his wife Esther (Hinkle) Graves (1815-1865), their children, and her father Joseph Hinkle (1771-1859). They came to Ellis County in 1857 and…

St. Joseph Catholic Church · 2000

The earliest Catholic settlers in Waxahachie were two brothers of English and American ancestry who arrived in 1859. A German Catholic family joined them in 1870 and a number of Irish Catholic stonemasons arrived in…

Bessie Coleman · 2001

(1892-1926) Born in Atlanta, Texas, pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman grew up and went to school in a Waxahachie neighborhood a few blocks north of this site. At age 23 she moved to Chicago and first expressed her desire…

Boren Cemetery · 2001

Kentucky native Michael Boren and his second wife, Mary Ann (Ridgeway) moved to this part of Texas with their children and slaves in 1847. Hers is believed to be among the earliest graves in Boren Cemetery, as she died…

Ellis County Farm Cemetery · 2002

Ellis County Farm Cemetery This fenced area marks the boundaries of what has sometimes been called the Pauper Cemetery, one of possibly three burial grounds on old county farm land that served as the final resting place…

Central Presbyterian Church · 2003

Central Presbyterian Church Central Presbyterian Church began as a Cumberland Presbyterian church in 1853, with twelve charter members led by the Rev. Daniel G. Molloy. The congregation met in a building on land donated…

Ellis County Woman's Building (Davis Hall) · 2006

Dallas architect Bertram C. Hill designed this building, erected in 1925-26 on land deeded by Quincy Davis Getzendaner for a public park and a "rest room" for rural women who came to town with their families on market…

Getzendaner Memorial Park · 2006

Established in 1889, Getzendaner Memorial Park was originally named West End Park as part of Waxahachie’s West End addition. By the early 20th century, it became Chautauqua Park, named for the annual retreat held on its…

Paul Richards Park · 2007

This ballpark has hosted athletic events since the early 20th century. By 1914, local officials began planning for a field to attract a major league baseball team to train in Waxahachie. After various team…

McKinney-Aday Farm House · 2013

Henry McKinney (1863-1936) was born in Kemp, Kaufman County and, at the age of 20, enlisted in Company C of the Frontier Battalion of the Texas Rangers. After one year, McKinney was discharged and returned to Kemp. He…

H.P. and Mollie McCartney House · 2017

Homer Patrick (1901-1955) and mollie (Biard) McCartney (1899-1990) commissioned noted Dallas architect Charles S. Dilbeck and local contactor Fin Garvin to build their family home which was completed in Jan. 1939.…

First United Baptist Church of Waxahachie · 2018