During a jailbreak, Carbon's 1905 Jail was destroyed, resulting in the need for a more substantial calaboose. Built in 1921 this unadorned square plan building is composed of reinforced concrete walls and a steel door. The structure had no lights . . . — — Map (db m161976) HM
Organized in 1890 by I.N. Reeves, the Carbon Methodist Church met in the Section House of the Texas Central Railroad and a mercantile store until a sanctuary was erected in 1914. This structure was rebuilt in the 1920s after a fire. The building . . . — — Map (db m161971) HM
Organized under a brush arbor soon after the founding of the town of Carbon, this congregation traces its history to 1885. The Rev. W.B. Cobb served as first pastor of the church, which began with twelve charter members. Through the years the . . . — — Map (db m161962) HM
O.C. Britton opened Cisco’s first college in 1909, with a campus established on 212 acres of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad Survey. The school closed after the onset of World War I, and the site was used by a series of three later colleges . . . — — Map (db m113520) HM
The Texas and Pacific Railway built the Delmar depot near here in 1880 before rail activity shifted to Red Gap (later Cisco). A new community named Dothan formed and gained a post office in 1902. Jim and Manirval (Short) Dunaway, who settled here in . . . — — Map (db m113527) HM
The Rev. C.G. Stephens, founder of Red Gap community (1 mi. W), joined the Rev. W.B. Cobb in 1878 to organize the Red Gap Baptist Church. Forerunner of the First Baptist Church of Cisco, the Red Gap congregation had 13 charter members who met in a . . . — — Map (db m113524) HM
Scene of daring Santa Claus Bank Robbery, Dec. 23, 1927.
During Christmas festivities, costumed Santa and three fellow bandits looted bank of $12,200 cash, $150,000 in securities. They escaped through gun battle with two little girls as . . . — — Map (db m113523) HM
When the town of Cisco was platted in May 1881, land at the corner of Eighth Street and Avenue G was set aside for use by a Presbyterian congregation. In August of that same year, local residents Lillie Hightower, Mrs. F.F. Lattimer, Mrs. J.A. Lee, . . . — — Map (db m113521) HM
The Rev. Lamb Trimble, a Methodist circuit rider, organized this church at Red Gap (two miles west) in 1880. The four charter members met in the home of M.V. Mitchell, a sheep rancher. The congregation moved to Cisco one year later when the city was . . . — — Map (db m113525) HM
Dolphin William Bint (1845-1883) came to the United States from England in 1876 and settled in Eastland County in the Red Gap community. While on a journey to Fort Worth to buy lumber for their home, his wife gave birth to a stillborn son. His . . . — — Map (db m113526) HM
First hotel owned by Conrad Hilton, who proceeded to become “The World’s Foremost Innkeeper”.
Built in 1916 by H.L. Mobley, a northerner, who sold out (1919) during Cisco’s great oil boom to Hilton, then a 32-year-old . . . — — Map (db m113519) HM
Settled in the 1870s, the Scranton community grew to include a post office, stores, a cotton gin, blacksmith, school and academy. In Oct. 1896, Joseph Jackson Ray and Sarah Frances (Morgan) Ray donated land for a Baptist church and graveyard. The . . . — — Map (db m80071) HM
A private, co-educational school organized in 1903 to augment Scranton Public School (opened 1887).
Scranton, a small farming-ranching community, was only 13 years old when citizens founded the academy, by public subscription. The school . . . — — Map (db m79954) HM
The Bankhead National Highway, from Washington, D.C. to San Diego, California, was the nation’s first all-weather, coast-to-coast highway. The southern road skirted the western mountains and was largely free from ice and snow, so it could be used . . . — — Map (db m113522) HM
The town of Desdemona was a well established frontier community by the 1870s; a post office opened there in 1877. J.S. and Rosa Jones deeded one acre from the D.W. Funderburgh land survey for a "public graveyard" in 1880. The earliest marked grave . . . — — Map (db m181880) HM
This church was organized by nine charter members in 1872. Religious observances began with brush arbor meetings organized in the summer of 1872 by the Rev. Johnnie Northcutt. Early settlers traveled by wagon, horseback, buggy, and on foot to meet . . . — — Map (db m201941) HM
A few miles to the southwest. Largest far western "Family Fort" used throughout Civil War. Started by C.C. Blair, 1857 settler. 1861-1865 occupants were Wm. Arthur, Blair, J.M. Ellison, Jasper, Jim and Tom Gilbert, W.C. McGough, W.H. Mansker and . . . — — Map (db m181883) HM
Joe Burkett, who with his brother and father discovered and cultivated the original Burkett pecan tree in 1900, was a school teacher, county official, and state legislator. He and his wife Fannye Pullig Burkett built this home in 1919 and 1920. It . . . — — Map (db m310217) HM
Front
Camp Salmon
C.S.A.
Guarding the frontier during the Civil War, this camp was located 17 mi. west, 6 mi. north. Established as part of a chain of posts a day's horseback ride apart stretching from Red River to . . . — — Map (db m105459) HM
Built in 1920 by C.U. Connellee, the “Father of Eastland”, this theatre hosted numerous road shows, musical performances, and plays, and was a noted showplace for many years. Purchased by Interstate Theatres in 1946, the building was . . . — — Map (db m113561) HM
The evolution of Eastland banks reflects local economic conditions and global influences. Soon after the Texas and Pacific Railway reached town in October 1880, a Mr. Berry of Stephenville opened the first bank in Eastland in Jacob Alexander's dry . . . — — Map (db m105256) HM
First known Eastland area inhabitant was Frank Sanchez (d. 1867), who grazed herds here in the 1850s. The United States in 1853 established Army posts at Fort Phantom Hill, in present Taylor County, and Fort Belknap, in present Young County, giving . . . — — Map (db m105242) HM
County seat, Eastland County. Named for William M. Eastland—Texas War for Independence hero who was in Mier Expedition against Mexico, and was executed in "Black Bean" lottery at Rancho Salado in 1842.
Most noted early local people were . . . — — Map (db m105247) HM
The Texas Legislature created Eastland County in 1858, but sparse settlement delayed organization until 1873, when Merriman (8 mi. NE) became the first county seat. Charles Connellee and Jack Daugherty platted the new town of Eastland near the . . . — — Map (db m105245) HM
Erected by Civic League in memory of those from Eastland Co who made supreme sacrifice in World War
Lewis Alexander Dulin • Dennis George Perdue • Winter Daniels • James Lee Miller • James B. Wright • EdgarA. Bailey • Ernest Clyde Dunnam • . . . — — Map (db m113563) WM
First Christian Church organized in Eastland in 1878 under the Rev. Cyrus Scarborough. There were a number of important Eastland leaders, including city founders, among the church’s early membership. In 1886, the congregation moved from the county . . . — — Map (db m105243) HM
Methodist worship services were held in Eastland County as early as 1865. Soon after the town of Eastland was laid out in 1875, Methodists began meeting in a small log house. The congregation was organized and served for a time by the Rev. Melville . . . — — Map (db m113564) HM
North Carolina native Larry Hargus (1810-87) and his wife Mary (Corder) (1824-1910) came to Eastland County in 1879. In 1881 they bought the original tract of their farm at this site from C.U. Connellee, a founder of Eastland. Members of the Hargus . . . — — Map (db m97804) HM
At this site, on Tuesday night, Nov. 19, 1929, Marshall Ratliff was hung from a utility pole guy wire until dead before a crowd of about 1,500 people. Ratliff was also known as the Santa Claus Robber for his dressing as Santa Claus and leading a . . . — — Map (db m113560) HM
Eastland County has a symbol - Old Rip, the horned toad who refused to die! He was placed in the cornerstone of an Eastland County Courthouse when it was built in 1897, and removed when it was torn down 31years later for construction of the present . . . — — Map (db m248523) HM
The Eastland County oil boom, 1917-1922, prompted construction of many of Eastland's substantial public and residential structures. Prairie Oil and Gas Company began oil exploration in the county, and in 1919 erected housing in this area for their . . . — — Map (db m310218) HM
Under an 1891 legislative act, Texas created a court of appeals system. These courts are part of the judicial branch of the Texas government and are located at a level above trial courts but below the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of . . . — — Map (db m310215) HM
The Bankhead National Highway, from Washington, D.C. to San Diego, California, was the nation’s first all-weather, coast-to-coast highway. The southern road skirted the western mountains and was largely free from ice and snow, so it could be used . . . — — Map (db m105259) HM
Home of Charles U. Connellee (1851-1930), who opened much of West Texas to settlement. Coming as a surveyor from Kentucky in 1874, he platted town of Eastland and promoted it as a county seat.
He built lower story of his home in 1876, of lumber . . . — — Map (db m201792) HM
In 1869 John T. Townsend brought this bell and all his family's possessions to Eastland County from Bowling Green, Kentucky in a covered wagon. The 640-pound 36-inch diameter bell - cast in 1850 by the L. M. Rumsey Co. of St. Louis, Missouri - was a . . . — — Map (db m248519) HM
Verle was one of five children born to Don E. And Nanny L. Rodgers. He graduated from Gorman High School in 1927, attended Weatherford Junior College, Hardin-Simmons University and McMurry College in Abilene, and Texas Tech. He and Buryl Blackwell . . . — — Map (db m162535) HM
Much of Eastland County's medical history can be traced to the work of two brothers, George and Edward Blackwell. George (1882-1955) attended Baylor Medical College and Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, where Edward (1890-1956) . . . — — Map (db m162325) HM
Early 20th century development of the automobile led to major road system improvements throughout the United States. Senator John H. Bankhead of Alabama sponsored the 1916 Federal Aid Road Act, which supplied matching funds to states to upgrade . . . — — Map (db m93962) HM
When baby Georgia A. Barnes was interred on William Nolen's land in 1878, there was a one-room schoolhouse on this site. A three-year-old girl was buried here in 1884, and in 1886 William Nolen donated two of his 160 acres for the formal . . . — — Map (db m295820) HM
Local Baptists met in private homes for many years between the nomination of Merriman as the county seat in 1874 and the organization of the Merriman Baptist Church in 1892. The charter members were Edmond Duncan, Fannie Duncan, Josie Duncan, Ozella . . . — — Map (db m97768) HM
According to local tradition this site was established as a community graveyard about 1873, the year Eastland County was organized and one year prior to the community of Merriman’s selection as county seat. Although there are many unmarked . . . — — Map (db m97769) HM
The Texas Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division lists this field as the third oldest operating airport in the state. The earliest documentation for an airplane landing in Ranger was on November 24, 1911, when Robert G. Fowler landed his . . . — — Map (db m98129) HM
Larry J. Rodgers
KIA - 17 March 68
Vietnam Combat Veterans 1959-1975
Melvin J. Alexander • Jerry Anderson • James L. Barnes • Fred M. Barrett • John Barrett, Jr. • Charles E. Bonney • Billy C. Brister • A. Rankin Britt • Phillip . . . — — Map (db m98395) WM
Boom of high excitement and strategic importance. When oil demand was high during World War I, Texas Pacific Coal Company General Manager W.K. Gordon, a believer in deep drilling, persuaded his company to make the venture that started Ranger’s oil . . . — — Map (db m98130) HM
The J.H. McCleskey No. 1 Discovery Well of the Ranger Pool was drilled by Warren Wagner under the supervision of W.K. Gordon of the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company, July 2 - October 17, 1917. Initial production was three million feet of gas. . . . — — Map (db m98133) HM
The Texas and Pacific Coal Company struck oil at 1,000 feet about 10 miles east of Ranger in 1915. This event raised the hopes of area ranchers, farmers, and businessmen struggling to survive an economic slump brought on by severe drought and boll . . . — — Map (db m221444) HM
The Bankhead National Highway, from Washington, D.C. to San Diego, California, was the nation’s first all-weather, coast-to-coast highway. The southern road skirted the western mountains and was largely free from ice and snow, so it could be used . . . — — Map (db m98132) HM
This standard cable tool rig and pumping unit came from the Ranger McCleskey Sand Unit, Well Number 19, located approximately 3 miles west of Ranger, Texas. This well was drilled by John Markham in September 1919. It was completed at a depth of 3459 . . . — — Map (db m98131) HM
Rising Star was only a sparsely settled community when schoolteacher James Irby organized this congregation in 1879. The Rev. L.S. Chamberlain of Sipe Springs led the first service, which was attended by Irby, his wife Sallie, and Dennis Bond, in a . . . — — Map (db m89575) HM
Tradition holds that Captain A.M. Curry suggested the name for the Pioneer community, established in 1883. Bill Smith became its first postmaster in 1885. The burial here of Mrs. S.A. Briggs (believed to be Catherine P. Owsley Briggs) in 1879, . . . — — Map (db m79952) HM
In Memory Of The Men Of
The Pioneer Community
Who Gave Their Lives
For God And Country
World War I
Sam Marshall • Noah Ross
World War II
Earl Botts • Foster Cash • Raymond Dillard • Buster Fleming • Billie Flippin • Marion . . . — — Map (db m79951) WM
First settlers—families of Andrew Agnew, Isaac Agnew, Fletcher Fields, David McKinley, Allis Smith and W.W. Smith—arrived in a wagon train from Gregg County, Jan. 6, 1876. Area was known for hardships: Indian raids, vigilante activities, . . . — — Map (db m89572) HM
In Memory of
the Veterans who so
courageously
sacrificed to insure
freedom for all
Americans
Pillars of Stone
Pillars of our
community
We honor our
Veterans
Placed
in the Year of
our Lord
2004
In the . . . — — Map (db m89573) WM
