History
CCC Camp Site
A part of the national Civilian Conservation Corps program of the New Deal era, Camp Sam Houston in Madisonville was a soil conservation camp. Begun in July 1935 and occupied by workers one month later, the camp provided jobs for 196 men. Members of the camp worked with area farmers and ranchers, demonstrating techniques of soil erosion control and pasture management.
History
Daniel Larrison
(1784-1845) A fur trapper by trade, Daniel Larrison was an early Anglo Texas settler who received a Mexican land grant in 1833, which included the area later organized as Madison County. Born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, Larrison served under Zachary Taylor in the War of 1812. He married Sarah Emmaus Greenwood in 1815. In total, they would have twelve children.
History
El Camino Real _ The Old San Antonio Road
First blazed in 1691 by Captain Don Domingo Teran de los Rios first provincial governor of Texas in an expedition officially directed by Father Fray Damian Massanet O-F-M apostolic missionary and explorer in Texas. The general route was northeast from the Rio Grande to the San Antonio River thence across the Guadalupe, San Marcos, Colorado, Brazos, and Trinity rivers to the missions in east Texas.
History
Greenbrier Cemetery
Lillis Jane and James C. Colwell deeded one acre of land at this site for a community school in 1884. When their four-year-old daughter, Callie Lorena, died in 1888, part of the school property was set aside for a cemetery. A two-room schoolhouse stood beside the cemetery from about 1890 until the 1940s, when Greenbrier began to decline.
History
Hayes Cemetery
HAYES CEMETERY IRISH NATIVE PATRICK HAYES ARRIVED IN TEXAS CA. 1836 BY WAY OF NEW YORK AND MARYLAND. SHORTLY AFTER HIS ARRIVAL HE ENLISTED IN THE TEXAS ARMY AND FOUGHT IN THE WAR FOR TEXAS INDEPENDENCE. AFTER BEING HONORABLY DISCHARGED FOR HIS SERVICE, HE MOVED TO THIS AREA. IN THE FOLLOWING YEARS HAYES AMASSED LARGE TRACTS OF LAND THAT HE USED FOR COTTON FARMING AND HORSE BREEDING.
History
Madison County
Formed from Grimes, Walker, and Leon counties. Created January 21, 1853 and organized April 4, 1853. Named in honor of James Madison 1751-1836, "Father of the Constitution," fourth president of the United States. County seat, Madisonville.
History
Marian Anderson High School
In 1880, Madisonville's first school for African American students was established on the northeast side of town in a one-room schoolhouse. Spencer Davis served as the first teacher. In 1885, the school was moved to this site, on land donated by the Rev. Neal Mccloud, who taught the school's 40 students. Other early teachers included Ministers.
History
Robbins Ferry
First known as Paso Tomas (Thomas' Ford) at the crossing of the San Antonio and La Bahia roads over the Trinity. Ferry established about 1821 by Joel Leakey. Named in honor of NATHANIEL ROBBINS who operated it many years. Acquired about 1852 by Elisha Clapp whose descendants operated it until 1930 when Clapp's Ferry Bridge was constructed.
Architecture
Shapira Hotel
Russian-born Jewish immigrants Jake Shapira (d. 1903) and his wife Sarah owned a boarding house at this site which burned in 1903. The following year Sarah had this Victorian hotel built. The structure reflects Eastlake styling and features fishscale and diamond shingling. One of the most lavish buildings in the region, the Shapira Hotel was an early center of business and social activity.
History
Site of Trinidad
Later known as Spanish Bluff A fort and town as early as 1805 Captured by the Magee-Gutierrez Expedition in October, 1812. Near here the survivors of the Battle of the Medina were executed in 1813. Inhabitants of the town were butchered by order of the Spanish commander and the town desolated. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Military
Truman Kimbro
(1918-1944) Madison County native Truman Kimbro was born in Cottonwood (6 mi. W), and attended school in nearby Center. Drafted into the army in December 1941, he arrived in Europe in October 1943 with the 2nd Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was among the allied forces that landed on Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944.
History
Willowhole Cemetery
This community was settled in the 1850s and named for a nearby spring-fed hollow. The cemetery served as a community graveyard for the town, which until the early 1900s contained businesses, schools, and churches. The first recorded burial here was that of Mary J. Burts in 1866. A cemetery association was founded in 1917 about the time annual July 4th picnics began.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
