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Marker Title: The Old Buffalo Road
Address: SH 25
City: Electra
Year Marker Erected: 1970
Marker Location: From Electra take SH 25 about 12 miles
Marker Text: Named for its traffic in buffalo hides and bones, this
north Texas road gave subsistence to pioneers while aiding in mass "harvest"
of the American bison. As long as buffalo survived (providing food,
shelter and clothing) the Indians were lords of the plains. Recognizing
this, the authorities encouraged hunting. Harvested hides were taken
to market over this road. The buffalo and Indians gone, permanent settlers
arrived. In adverse years (while a man tried to get a start at farming,
ranching or storekeeping), bones were salvaged and sold for grocery
or seed money. This old road was route of hundreds of wagons taking
buffalo hides to market before 1878 and hundreds of wagons taking bones
to Wichita Falls and Henrietta before 1890. The road came east from
the plains, near south line of Foard and Wilbarger counties to Guide
Mound; then three miles east (near this marker) and south to Wichita
River bridge; then to the county line three miles west of Holliday.
Next it passed the north edge of Holliday, and south of Lake Wichita,
then crossed at the Old Van Dorn crossing five miles south of Jolly.
Pioneers also called it "Great North" Road or "Good Creek"
Road. It proved invaluable to economy and mapping of area.
Marker Title: Burkburnett ("Boomtown USA")
Address: SH 267, W of IH 40
City: Burkburnett
Year Marker Erected: 1966
Marker Location: On SH 267 just west of IH-44 exit ramp in Burkburnett
Marker Text: One of the most famous Texas towns. Name was given to post
office at request of President T.R. Roosevelt after his 1905 wolf hunt
with rancher Burk Burnett in this area. Townsite was laid out in 1907
by Joseph A. Kemp and Frank Kell, surveyors and promoters of Wichita
Falls and Northwestern Railroad. First oil discovery was Chris Schmoker
No. 1, in 1912. A 2200-barrel gusher was brought in on S.L. Fowler
farm about a mile from this site, July 29, 1918, by a company formed
by Fowler, his brother, W.D. Cline and J.I. Staley. In 3 months 200
wells had been completed in Burkburnett townsite -- a forest of derricks.
Money and oil flowed freely. A bank capitalized at $25,000, got monthly
revenue of $10,000 from a well drilled at its back door. The town's
population jumped from 1500 to 15,000 in a year. Boom area was extended
by finds on properties of Burk-Waggoner Company and by Kemp-Munger-Allen
operations to the southwest. Town was made world famous in 1941 by the
movie "Boomtown", filmed from a popular story entitled "Lady
comes to Burkburnett". Economy is dependent on agriculture and
oil. An important neighbor is Sheppard Air Force Base. (1966)
Marker Title: Tom Lloyd Burnett
Address: 400 block of West Alameda
City: Iowa Park
Year Marker Erected: 1981
Marker Location: 400 block of West Alameda, Iowa Park
Marker Text: The son of noted rancher Burk Burnett, for whom the nearby
town of Burkburnett (18 miles northeast) was named, Tom L. Burnett (b.
1871) became one of the leading area cattlemen. Trained on his father's
6666 (four sixes) Ranch, Tom later owned the local Triangle Ranch, as
well as range land in Cottle and Foard counties. A prominent civic leader
and philanthropist, he was known for his friendliness to Indians, including
the famous Chief Quanah Parker. His support of area rodeos earned him
the nickname, the "Rodeo King". Tom Burnett died in his residence
at this site in 1938.
Picture from the book, Early Texas Oil, by Walter Rundell, Jr.
Marker Title: Clayco #1 Oil Well
Address: SH 25
City: Electra
Marker Location: (Not located) from Electra take SH 25 about one mile
north to oil field on west side of road, on private property
Marker Text: Clayco No. 1 Woodruff-Putnam, 1628 feet. Here flowed oil
April 1, 1911, opening one of the world's greatest oil fields. Crew
- Hal Hughes, Sam Turnbo, S.C. "Dad" Massengill, Lamar Weathersby,
Clabe Moody, Richard Harper, Ed Beeler, A.F. Dennison, R.T. Craig
Marker Title: First County Officials
Address: 6th & Lamar
City: Wichita Falls
Year Marker Erected: 1970
Marker Location: In front of the Wichita County Courthouse 6th and Lamar,
Wichita Falls
Marker Text: First Anglo-Americans settled in Wichita County in 1856.
The county was named for Indians, and Indian troubles delayed local
organization until 1882. The first officials were: Judge, James S. Akers;
Attorney, Robert E. Huff; Sheriff, F.M. Davis; County and District Clerk,
W.E. Brothers; Assessor, James H. Banta; Surveyor, A. Warren; Treasurer,
John A. Williams; Inspector of Hides and Animals, B.M. Saxon; Commissioners--Precinct
No. 1, Thomas J. Williams; Precinct No. 2, Joseph McFarland; Precinct
No. 3, M.B. Bynam; Precinct No. 4, E.G. Bullard. (1970)
Marker Title: Near Homesite of Mabel Gilbert
Address: SH 1177 at Perkins Reservation Boy Scout Camp
City: Burkburnett
Marker Location: From Burkburnett take SH 240 south about 2.7 miles.
Take FM 1177 east about 3 miles to Perks Reservation Boy Scout Camp.
Marker Text: (1797-1870) First permanent settler in this area. Born
in Tennessee, he was a steamboat captain. Came to Texas 1837. Built
mills and was first navigator of Trinity River headwaters. After filing
for land in this vicinity in 1856, he built cabin near this spring and
dug trench around homestead to keep out buffalo herds. His daughter
Hettie was first white child known to have been born in the county (1860).
Indian raids drove family away repeatedly. Twice married, Gilbert had
19 children. Peach trees he planted here were for years a landmark used
by incoming pioneers.
Marker Title: Bridgetown
Address: SH 240, W of Burkburnett
City: Burkburnett
Year Marker Erected: 1977
Marker Location: From Burkburnett take South 240 about 5 miles West
to Marker
Marker Text: When the northwest extension of the Burkburnett oil field
opened in 1919, prospectors thronged this area. Bridgetown sprang up
at the Texas end of a mile-long Red River toll bridge built for oil
field traffic. It became the largest and wealthiest of 12 communities
that mushroomed in this area during rivalry among major oil companies
and independent producers. Lease values rose from $10 to $20,000 an
acre. A city of tents, shanties and a few substantial structures, Bridgetown
had a long main street with a Mission church at one end and a saloon
at the other. Its post office opened July 15, 1920. The population in
the early 1920s was estimated at 3,500 to 10,000. Litigation over riverbed
oil rights caused the U.S. Supreme Court to station a receiver in the
town. He was Frederick A. Delano, uncle of future president Franklin
D. Roosevelt. With aid from Texas Rangers, Delano and other leaders
invoked law and order. In a few years oil yields diminished, and the
jail, theaters, dance halls, and gambling houses vanished. By 1929 only
100 inhabitants remained. By 1931 the bridge was down, the post office
closed in 1935. Afterward the site of the makeshift oil "capital"
reverted to range and agricultural uses. (1977)
Marker Title: Home of Monroe Dodson
Marker Location: Not Located
Marker Text: (1844-1927) Tennessean and former Union soldier under Gen.
Grant. Came to Texas 1867, here 1878. First permanent settler here.
Helped build church, school, Masonic Lodge. His cattle brand (Half Circle
D) was the second registered in the county. Married twice, he had eleven
children.
Marker Title: Site of Gorsline's Fashion Livery Stable
Address: 720 Indiana St.
City: Wichita Falls
Year Marker Erected: 1979
Marker Text: In 1889 Edgar B. Gorsline (1859-1933) and his wife came
to Wichita Falls from Indiana. For two years Gorsline operated a grocery
and bakery. He opened the Fashion Livery Stable at this site in 1892.
Horses and rigs were rented and horses boarded. Carriages were sent
to meet all trains and transportation for funerals were provided. Before
the automobile era, the Fashion Livery Stable furnished vital services
for residents and visitors to Wichita Falls. Gorsline sold the stable
in 1907 and the structure at this site was razed in 1908. (1979)
Marker Title: John Gerham Hardin
Address: Davey & Williams Drive
City: Burkburnett
Year Marker Erected: 1970
Marker Location: At Hardin Park, Intersection of Davey Drive and Williams
Drive, Burkburnett
Marker Text: Pioneer settler, financier and philanthropist. Came to
Texas in 1876 and to this area in 1879, living at first in a dugout.
Operating a store and owning extensive lands, he amassed a fortune that
he left as a rich legacy for Texas children. He gave six million dollars
to Buckner Orphans Home, Baylor Hospital, Baylor University, Mary Hardin-Baylor
College, Abilene Christian College, Howard Payne College, Hardin Junior
College, Hardin-Simmons University and local churches and schools. This
park was one of his gifts to children. (1970)
Marker Title: Simon Peter Hawkins
Address: FM 369 & Charlotte St.
City: Burkburnett
Marker Location: Charlotte Street, .6 miles East of FM 369, Burkburnett
Marker Text: A pioneer leader in Wichita County, Simon Peter Hawkins
was born in Crockett County, Tenn. He married Sara A. Hardin (1852-1937)
in 1869. They had eight children. With his brother-in-law John G. Hardin,
Hawkins moved his family to Johnson County, Texas, in 1875. Seeking
better land, the men found lush grass in present Wichita County and
settled their families on the north side of Gilbert Creek. After fire
destroyed the Hawkins' dugout home, the family moved about 1/4 mile.
South of this site, Hawkins signed a petition for establishing Wichita
County. He voted in the first county election and served on the first
county grand jury. He helped organize the First Baptist Church, the
first Masonic Lodge and the first school in this area. Hardin bought
a store patronized by Indians and cowboys. The cowboys called the colony
Nesterville. When the post office was established in 1882, it was renamed
Gilbert. Hawkins served as mail carrier, making two trips weekly to
Wichita Falls. After the railroad arrived, settlers in Gilbert moved
about one mile to the new townsite of Burkburnett. When oil discoveries
turned Burkburnett into a boomtown, Hawkins and his wife moved to Mineral
Wells. He died there and was buried in the Burkburnett Cemetery. (1978)
Marker Title: Town of Iowa Park
Address: SH 370
City: Iowa Park
Year Marker Erected: 1969
Marker Location: SH 370, next to Iowa Park Fire Station, Iowa Park.
Marker Text: One of many small towns that sprang up ahead of the railroads
as they crossed Texas in the 1800s. Located on the Fort Worth and Denver
City Line, this town was first named Daggett's Switch in 1885 for a
prominent rancher and railroad official. F.W. & D.C. contractor
Gen. G.M. Dodge (already famous as builder of the Union Pacific) spearheaded
the founding of Iowa Park by actively promoting a town on land he owned
here. Many people from the Midwest--especially Iowa--were recruited
to settle the infant town. Land promoters D. C. and A.J. Kolp, from
Iowa, drew up a plat which featured many parks, in 1888. After this
first period of rapid growth, Iowa Park settled down to more than 20
years of prosperity based on a thriving farm economy. Lightning struck,
however, in 1918 when oil was discovered on a farm south of here. Speculators
flooded the city and land prices sky-rocketed. The Iowa Park Producing
and Refining Company was chartered in 1921 and operated until 1932.
The boom itself gradually exhausted the resources here and was over
by 1925. In 1924 the Wichita Valley Agriculture Experiment Station was
built and is still functioning. A steady farm economy prevails again
today.
Picture from the book, Early Texas Oil, by Walter Rundell, Jr.
Marker Title: Kadane Discovery Well
Address: SH 25, S of Electra
City: Electra
Year Marker Erected: 1978
Marker Location: From Electra take SH 25 about 14 miles south. Marker
is located on west side of highway.
Marker Text: Oil development in this part of Wichita County began in
1919 from shallow depths in the KMA Field. As the original wells went
dry, and a severe national Depression blighted the country in the 1930s,
the oil industry sought new production. The Mangold family, owners of
land at this site, offered liberal terms for deeper exploration, but
at first found no driller willing to take the risk on the scant capital
then available. Finally veteran operator George E. Kadane (1881-1945)
and sons Edward, Jack, and Mike had the courage to drill in this area
of negative geologic readings. On Nov. 11, 1937, they struck oil at
a depth of 3800 feet, bringing in Mangold No. 1 as a gusher. The discovery
effected an extension of the KMA Field. This spot was labeled "Kadane
Corner" on local maps. Other operators rushed in, starting a new
Wichita County boom. Along with a rapid rise in population came new
housing construction, new industries, new jobs, and an era of financial
growth. In 1942 a test well on the Griffin Ranch came in at 4300 feet.
Final development of the field resulted in more than 2000 producing
wells in an area of 75,000 acres. Over a 40-year period, the field has
Marker Title: Receiver Bridge
Address: SH 240, W of Brukburnett
City: Burkburnett
Year Marker Erected: 1981
Marker Location: From Burkburnett take SH 240 about 6 miles west
Marker Text: A natural border of the Louisiana Territory when it was
acquired by the United States in 1803. The Red River later served as
a boundary between the states of Texas and Oklahoma. The exact location
for the line of separation was challenged in 1920 soon after an extension
of the Burkburnett oil field led to increased drilling activity in the
area, including the banks and the bed of the stream. Since the Red River
meandered, causing wide flood plains, the state of Oklahoma initiated
a suit to determine ownership of the land. By authority of the United
States Supreme Court, the disputed land was temporarily placed under
the jurisdiction of the federal government. Frederick A. Delano, whose
nephew Franklin Delano Roosevelt later became president of the United
States, was named as the receiver in charge of the property. As part
of his plan of supervision, he had a one-lane wooden bridge (2.5 miles
North) built to the center of the river, providing access to the drilling
sites. The boundary between the two states was set as the south bank
of the Red River in 1923. It was not until four years later that a special
commission completed the actual survey work. The bridge was partially
destroyed later during a 1935 flood. (1981)
Marker Title: The Red River
City: Burkburnett
Marker Location: At point of entry into Texas, at Red River Bridge;
inside Burkburnett city limits. Not Located
Marker Text: Named for the red soil across which it flows; the main
stream is 1,360 miles long, and for 440 miles the river forms the Texas-Oklahoma
boundary. For years this was an international boundary. The 1819 treaty
with Spain established the course of the Red River to the 100th meridian
as part of the boundary between the United States and New Spain. Until
after the 1845 annexation of Texas, this river did not lie entirely
within the United States. During the colonial period, the waterway and
the crossing here became a main gateway into Texas. In the mid-19th
century, brisk steamer traffic went on at eastern end of the river.
A military expedition under Captain Randolph B. Marcy in 1852 explored
the Red to its upper reaches in land held by wild Indians. In 1921,
the Burkburnett oil boom here led to a dispute between Texas and Oklahoma
over ownership of the valuable riverbed. The Supreme Court in 1921 and
1923 upheld the south bank as the Texas border. This site is 25 miles
west of important old Fort Sill crossing on the major military road
that once linked the Oklahoma Fort to outposts on the Texas frontier.
The bridge here, opened to traffic in 1927, is the second free bridge
to span the Red River. (1968)
Marker Title: George Alonzo Soule
Address: 614 Ohio Street
City: Wichita Falls
Year Marker Erected: 1979
Marker Location: 614 Ohio Street, Wichita Falls
Marker Text: Before coming to Wichita Falls George Alonzo Soule (1840-1913)
owned a freight and stage line in Jacksboro and Fort Griffin. After
the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad came through here, Soule brought
his wife Lilla and Family in 1883. He opened a stage line and livery
stable at this site near the business section. He hauled freight and
passengers to Oklahoma and as far west as Quanah and Benjamin. Occasionally
he was robbed by highwaymen. After railway transportation increased,
Soule closed the stageline and ran livery barns here, in Harold, and
in Vernon until 1912. (1979)
Marker Title: Tenth Cavalry Creek
Address: SH 240 at Tenth Cavalry Creek crossing
City: Burkburnett
Year Marker Erected: 1969
Marker Location: From Burkburnett take SH 240 west about 12 miles to
Tenth Cavalry Creek crossing
Marker Text: First called Getty's Creek, this stream was renamed by
cowboys and settlers who found near its mouth, on Red River, remains
of a military outpost garrisoned by the U.S. Tenth Cavalry from 1873
to 1875. Most of the Negro soldiers and white officers stationed there
had previously served in the Federal army during the Civil War (1861-1865)
and at Fort Sill, in Indian Territory. This staked timber outpost was
attacked by Indians; legend says that all the officers, men and horses
killed in the battle were buried in a common grave somewhere along this
creek.
Marker Title: Van Dorn Trail
Address: FM 1206, about 4 miles from FM 368
City: Iowa Park
Year Marker Erected: 1969
Marker Location: From Iowa Park take FM 368 south (road will turn several
times) about 6 miles to FM 1206, take FM 1206 about 4 miles to school.
Marker Text: First important wagon road in Wichita County. Blazed by
Brevet Major (later general) Earl Van Dorn in September 1858 with 200
men of the crack 2nd U.S. Cavalry. Just ahead of him went young L.S.
"Sul" Ross (Governor of Texas 1887-91, and president of Texas
A & M College, 1891-98) with 100 Indian scouts from the Brazos reservation.
Loyal Tonkawa Chief Placido guided Ross and his party. After opening
the trail, Van Dorn camped on Otter Creek, in present Oklahoma, for
over a year. He routed the Comanches in a battle near Rush Springs (70
miles east), although he and Ross were wounded in the fighting. In 1859
Van Dorn won another decisive victory over the Comanches in Ford County,
Kansas, famous persons in this battle were Kirby Smith (later a noted
Confederate general) and Fitzhugh Lee (later governor of Virginia).
They had recently ridden up the west branch of the trail. The 15-army
wagons which brought supplies to the men leveled a trail much used by
pioneer settlers who came afterward. The trail ran from Fort Belknap,
near Newcastle, Texas, to Camp Radzminski on Otter Creek, north of Frederick,
Oklahoma. At Van Dorn Crossing the road branched off to Montague County
for supplies. (1969)
Picture from the book, Early Texas Oil, by Walter Rundell, Jr.
Marker Title: Wichita County
Address: US 281 & Rathgeber
City: Wichita Falls
Year Marker Erected: 1936
Marker Location: US 281, 1.7 miles south of Wichita Falls, just northwest
of intersection with Rathgeber Road.
Marker Text: Formed from Young Land District; created February 1, 1858;
organized June 21, 1882; named for the Wichita Indians who formerly
resided here; county seat, Wichita Falls
Marker Title: Wichita Falls Bank Robbery of 1896
Address: 800 Scott St.
City: Wichita Falls
Year Marker Erected: 1978
Marker Location: 800 Scott Street (8th street entrance) Wichita Falls
Marker Text: On the afternoon of February 25, 1896, two cowboys, Foster
Crawford and Elmer "Kid" Lewis, robbed the City National Bank,
then located at Ohio and 7th Street (2 blocks east). They killed cashier
Frank Dorsey, took about $410 cash, and fled on horseback. A posse of
citizens and Texas Rangers captured the pair that night hiding in a
thicket outside of town. The next day, after the Rangers departed, the
anger of the townspeople turned to violence. On the night of February
26, a mob dragged the prisoners from the jail and lynched them in front
of the bank building. (1978)
Museum Name: Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center
Mailing Address: 2 Eureka Circle
City: Wichita Falls
Zip Code: 76308
Area Code: 940
Phone: 692-0923
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