Two Rooms, Two Stories

One building, built twice, with a breezeway between. The state of Texas put a marker on it in 1936 and called it a monument to the pioneers of Parker County.

The west room came first, in 1855. It was Dan Waggoner’s headquarters ranch house. Waggoner went on to build one of the great cattle fortunes in Texas, but it started in a room about the size of a modern garage.

The east room came around 1860, and its walls are scarred with bullet holes. George McCleskey was killed here in 1873.

For years this was where Parker County came to remember itself. The Old Settlers Reunions met at this cabin, out at Holland’s Lake, and the old-timers stood in the dogtrot and told each other what they had survived.

G. A. Holland wrote a book named after this building. He said natives of this county and her adopted sons and daughters should feel proud of the heritage that is theirs. He was standing right about here when he meant it.