History
Abbott
In 1881, on land owned by G.M. Dodge, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas (Katy) Railroad built a line through a new town named for Joseph Abbott, a Hill County resident, lawyer and U.S. Congressman. Winston W. Treadwell soon opened a general store managed by L.C. Barnett, who built and occupied the town's first residence.
History
Abbott House
Jo Abbott and his wife, Rowena Sturgis Abbott, bought this property in 1883 and later built the house next door (west). Abbott was a county and district judge, congressman, and local banker. In 1899 this house (originally a T-plan) was on the property when it was conveyed to their banker son, James, and his wife, Nancy, at the birth of their first child.
History
Abbott Schools
The public school system in Abbott began in 1885 when a one-story frame schoolhouse was constructed on the east side of town. It housed 140 pupils and three teachers. A two-story brick structure, built at this site in 1911, served the Abbott school system for 55 years. The schools were given full accreditation about 1934, and a vocational agriculture program was begun in 1939.
History
Abbott's Grove
In the early days of Hillsboro, a grove of pecan, hackberry, elm and other trees grew along the banks of Hackberry Creek. Hillsboro residents came to the grove for community celebrations and festivities. They called it Abbott's Grove in honor of one of the city's popular leaders, Joseph Abbott (1840-1908). He and his wife, Rowena (Sturgis), built their family home on the land south of the creek.
History
Bass Fishing in Texas
In the 1950s, bass fishing started to become a popular outdoor activity for residents in Texas, sparked by reservoir building. During that decade, a massive state-wide drought occurred, leading to water shortages. Reservoirs built in response to the drought greatly expanded bass fishing opportunities. A number of other changes spurred on the popularity of bass fishing in the state.
History
Bethlehem Cemetery
In 1879, a group of farmers and businessmen established a new community, Baptist church and cemetery near the new town of Whitney. The Bethlehem community attracted nearby families who moved to be closer to the Houston & Texas Central Railway line. The first burial in the cemetery was Newt Williams, a recent transfer from Towash Baptist Church, in 1880.
History
Birome
Founded 1910. One of five International and Great Northern Railway stations in southern Hill County. Important agricultural market. Named for Bickham and Jerome Cartwright, descendants of settler Matthew Cartwright, whose 1856 land patent included this townsite.
History
Blum Cemetery
Blum Cemetery This burial ground was established about the time the town of Blum was formed in 1881 as a stop on the newly laid track of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. A. J. Davis (1840-1912), a local landowner, is said to have gifted the land, specifying that burial lots would be free. The oldest dated stone is that of nine-year-old Robert E.
Architecture
Boesch House
When Whitney town lots were auctioned in 1879, German native Edouard Boesch (1842-1911), an east Texas lumber wholesaler, shipped the first load of lumber for the new town. Three years later he moved here and bought the lumberyard of William Cameron. Boesch became one of Whitney's leading residents and served as a school trustee for fourteen years.
Quirky
Bond's Alley
Local site for politics, peddlers' shows, whittling, cockfights, fisticuffs. Named for Bond's Drug Store, located here since 1881, and sheltering in bad weather people who usually sunned in alley. Early neighbors varied from a Chinese laundry to an auto assembly shop. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1969
History
Brin House
Hillsboro attorney Robert T. Jones and his wife Mary (Abbott) commissioned William M. Keith to build this Victorian residence in 1896. In 1917 it was purchased by Louis and Rebecca (Watelsky) Brin. Born in Poland of Jewish descent, Louis Brin established a Hillsboro dry goods store at the age of sixteen and later became a prominent area merchant and civic leader.
History
Bynum School
The first school in Old Bynum community began in 1880 before the settlement had a name. After a store and a post office were built, the area adopted its name from a nearby creek. The school was moved to the new townsite on the railroad in 1905, and an independent school district was organized.
History
Carver Homestead
In 1838, Mary Beacham received a headright land grant of one league and one labor (about 4600 acres), including this property, making her first in a line of notable women associated with the site. Following multiple ownership transfers, Eliphas Spencer acquired the land and built a two-room log cabin in Dec. 1845. Eliphas later transferred title to his wife, Catherine, whom he married in 1847.
History
City of Hillsboro
In 1853, the Texas Legislature carved Hill County out of Navarro County. Named for physician and Republic of Texas Secretary of War Dr. George Washington Hill, the new county had only recently attracted Anglo settlement, following the establishment in 1848 of Fort Graham. County commissioners selected Hillsboro, originally spelled Hillsborough, as county seat.
History
Col. Leonard Williams
(1798-1854) Heroic frontiersman and soldier. Was made Colonel by his friend, President Sam Houston. After being a Comanche captive, was a diplomat and Indian agent. Settled near here, 1845. Built area's first tank, using scraper of cowhide. Wife was Nancy Isaacs. They had six children. (1967)
Architecture
Condor House
This house was built in 1906 for E. L. Condor (b. 1854), a saddle and harness maker and an early trustee of Hubbard's Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Constructed of cypress and long-leaf pine, the home features a wraparound porch, Doric columns, and a triangular pediment over the three windowed bay at the end of the porch.
History
Confederate Veterans and Old Settlers Reunion Grounds
Formed in 1901, the Confederate Veterans and Old Settlers Association of Hill County acquired 73 acres of wooded land as a site for its summer reunion. The 3-5 day encampment, held annually from 1902 to 1924, was an important social and recreational event in this locality. Many families traveled by wagon and camped at the site.
History
Cottonwood Cemetery
For serving in the Texas Revolution of 1835-36, South Carolina native Parrott W. McNeese received land in this area in 1846. McNeese and his wife, Mary (Allcorn), had three surviving children, including George Washington McNeese (b. 1840), who made his first trip to Hill County in 1861. After serving as a Confederate Army 1st Lt.
History
Covington Cemetery
Established in the mid-1800s, the Covington Cemetery honors the memory of early Texas pioneers of Hill County and their descendants. In the early 1850s, James Jackson Gathings (1817-1880) moved from Mississippi to Texas, bringing his family, slaves, and enough livestock and essentials for creating a new life on the Blackland Prairie of north central Texas.
History
Czech Settlers in Hill County
One of the most influential and numerous national groups to settle in Hill County, Czechs came to this area from Fayette County and the province of Moravia in Austria-Hungary. Many sought greater freedom due to barriers to attaining national status in the old country, political restraints, introduction of German into the schools, and compulsory military service.
History
Eureka Cemetery
This burial ground served the early residents of the agricultural Eureka community. Eureka was settled in the 1870s mostly by residents looking to farm cotton in the region's rich, blackland soil. The community did not have a cotton gin or store, depending on nearby Lovelace and Itasca, but it did have a school and Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
History
Fairview Cemetery
From unmarked graves to homemade concrete slabs to giant marble statuaries, Fairview Cemetery reflects the heritage and history of the community. Land for the cemetery was donated by Colonel J.H. Onstott, an early settler, but no records document the date. In 1900, more than thirteen acres were purchased from Mrs. Georgia Sheets.
History
Fort Graham
The Commission allocated $6,700 for the purchase of the fifty-acre site and the reconstruction of the barracks, partly from the original stone. The property is deeded to the Hill County Commissioners Court and is supervised by four trustees. The building and grounds are used for public gatherings and as a meeting place for civic organizations.
History
Fort Graham Cemetery
(3 miles northwest) Settlement in this area began shortly after Fort Graham, a frontier military post established here in 1849, was abandoned in 1853. The first recorded burial in this cemetery, named after the fort, was that of infant Charley Botkin in 1879.
History
Frazierville Community and School
Richard Cason Frazier (d. 1856) and his wife Agnes (Clark) (d. 1875) settled on a land grant here in 1852. The site was later enlarged with the addition of adjoining property from the B. M. Bryan Survey, which provided timber and spring water. A portion of the land was donated in 1883 by Richard's son John for the construction of a schoolhouse and nondenominational church building.
Elsewhere in Texas
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