Architecture
1933 Weatherford City Hall
The construction of this city hall created many jobs for the unemployed in Weatherford during the hard times of the Great Depression. Weatherford citizens passed a bond election to provide funds for a new city hall and fire station in 1933, and construction began immediately on this structure, built on land designated early in the century for city hall and fire department use.
History
Aledo United Methodist Church
Aledo United Methodist Church began in April 1878 when Methodists acquired an interest in a small frame structure named Alma Hall in Alma, an 1870s-era settlement considered the precursor to Aledo. With the advent of the Texas & Pacific Railway line across Parker County in 1879, Alma Hall was moved to a nearby settlement, later called Aledo, forming along the tracks.
History
Annetta Cemetery
Community founder A. B. Fraser was a Confederate soldier who went into exile in Central America rather than declare allegiance to the Union. The Frasers named their daughter, who was born in Honduras, Anneta. The family returned to the U. S. in 1872, settling in Fort Worth, then moved a few miles west of the city in 1876.
History
Authon Cemetery
Named for the nearby Authon Community, located on the Fort Worth-Fort Belknap Military Road, this site first served as a cemetery for the family of Kentucky native Isom Cranfill (1831-1902). The earliest burial here was that of his 15-year-old son, Linn Boyd Cranfill (d. 1871), who was killed in an Indian attack near the family home (.75 mile south).
History
Baker Community
Baker Community Settlement in this part of Parker County began in earnest in the 1850s and the county was formally established in 1855. Josiah and Nancy Catherine "Kate" Baker, their four children, Josiah's parents and Kate's mother came to this area in 1854. The community that grew up around their homestead came to be called Baker. A general store and cotton gin were early commercial ventures.
Transport
Bankhead Highway in Aledo
Commonly referred to as the "Broadway of America," the Bankhead Highway linked cities and towns throughout the nation as one of the first transcontinental highways of the 1920s. In the wake of the first World War, the American government sought to ensure proper defense and military transportation through an extensive national highway system.
History
Bethesda Cemetery
Settlers in the 1860s called this area Dry Creek but renamed it Bethesda Community in 1876 after they built a schoolhouse used for Methodist worship. John G. Leach (1846-1930) and John Marshall Coalson (1826-1897) gave land near the school for a cemetery in 1877 when Leach's daughter Minnie E. (1872-1961) seemed near death with diphtheria.
History
Bose Ikard
(July 1834 - January 4, 1929) Born a slave in Mississippi, Bose Ikard came to Texas as a child with the family of his owner, Dr. Milton L. Ikard. He remained as an employee of Dr. Ikard following his emancipation, but in 1866 joined a cattle drive to Colorado led by Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. Ikard became one of Goodnight's best cowboys and a trusted friend.
History
Campbell Memorial Hospital
In the early twentieth century, medical care in Parker County was restricted to practices of individual doctors. That changed in 1924, when Dr. E.D. Fyke purchased the twenty-eight room G.M. Bowie family home in the 600 block of North Main Street and converted it into the Bowie Memorial Hospital. Dr. Fyke ran this hospital until 1945.
History
Cartersville
Founded in 1866 by Judge W. F. Carter, Henry C. Vardy, and Thomas Parkinson, Cartersville was a thriving community for many years. At its height, the town boasted two main thoroughfares, Main Street and College Avenue. Local businesses included stores, a blacksmith shop, corn mill, flour mill, and cotton gin.
Nature
Chandor Gardens
Portrait painter Douglas Chandor began designs for his home and garden in 1934. Originally called White Shadows, the garden was renamed Chandor Gardens by his wife, Ina, after her husband's death in 1953. Carved from a caliche hillside that had been his in-laws' cow pasture, it consists of seven interlocking gardens with Oriental and English features.
History
Citizens National Bank
James Robertson (J.R.) Couts (1833-1904), a native of Tennessee, brought his family to Texas in 1858. Soon after the end of the Civil War, in which he served with a Texas frontier guard unit, Couts embarked on a long cattle drive to California. After wintering in Colorado and selling his stock in California, he returned to Weatherford in 1868 with $50,000 in gold. In partnership with John A.
History
City of Aledo
In 1849, the U. S. Army built Fort Worth to establish a line of defense against Indian raids and also to protect Indian lands from settlement. By 1855, farms, ranches and small settlements dotted eastern Parker County and the frontier encroached into hunting lands inhabited for years by Comanche and Kiowa tribes. By 1856, sufficient settlement had taken place and Parker County was created.
History
City of Springtown
In 1856, Captain Joseph Ward, a native of New Jersey, settled on a creek fed by numerous springs seventeen miles northeast of Weatherford. In 1859, Ward designed the town square and named the plate Littleton's Springs after a pioneer family. The first settlers in Springtown found about twenty-five active springs within three major areas: Smith Springs, Malone Springs and Kinnard Springs.
History
Coho and Nancy Jane Smith Farmstead Site
Early settlers to this area, who began arriving about 1849, included James and Sarah Hoggard. Their daughter, Nancy Jane, married John J. "Coho" Smith, a cabinet maker and teacher. The Smiths bought property at this site soon after their marriage in 1861. Their original one-room cabin was enlarged as the family grew, and according to local history it also served as a school.
History
Colonel Alfred G. Cooper
Seminole Florida War, 1836. Captain in Mexican War, 1846. Lt. Colonel Confederate Army, 1862. Born in Tennessee, June 22, 1817. Died February 28, 1883. (1936)
History
Dr. George and Ruth Jones House
Dr. George Martin Jones (1867 ' 1943), the third of six children of Joseph M. and Sarah Elizabeth (Gibbs) Jones, came to Springtown with his family in 1876. They settled on a farm about a mile south of town. George attended College Hill Institute in Springtown. Ruth Peterson (1870 ' 1958), the second of three children of Dr. Owen G.
Architecture
Eureka Lodge No. 371, A. F. & A. M.
Eureka Lodge No. 371, A. F. & A. M. The Eureka Masonic Lodge entered into an agreement with W. L. Hutcheson to build this two-story structure in 1897. Over the years, while the first floor housed a variety of businesses, including Hutcheson's hardware store, the lodge continued to occupy the second floor.
History
First National Bank of Weatherford
Founded in 1880, this is the fifth oldest federally chartered bank operating in Texas. It was started under the direction of Samuel H. Milliken (1846-1931), a Parker County industrialist and civic leader and a founder of the railway company that completed the first lines to Weatherford. Walter S. Fant, who worked here for 54 years, and other bankers maintained a sense of community dedication.
Industry & Science
First Plant of Acme Brick Co.
One of earliest North Texas brick factories. Built in 1891 by George Bennett. Plant site located here because of large deposits of quality shale near Brazos River. Kilns were fired with locally mined coal; later with wood; then gas. Plant used mule-drawn wagons for short deliveries; the nearby T. & P. Railway for statewide sales.
Architecture
First United Methodist Church of Weatherford
Organized in 1857, this congregation built a meetinghouse in 1867 at Walnut and Church Street. In 1886 a tornado destroyed the first sanctuary. This structure was begun three years later under the leadership of the Reverend James Mackey. The Victorian Gothic edifice with its elaborate tower was dedicated in 1893. The same type of limestone was later used in building additions to the church.
History
Fondren Cemetery
In 1854 William B. Fondren (1811-1863) and his wife Susannah (1816-1888) settled along nearby Dry Creek and the military road from Fort Worth to Fort Belknap. This family graveyard was established in the John W. Williams Survey, adjacent to Fondren's land. Gen. Edward H. Tarrant, for whom Tarrant County was named, died at the Fondren home in 1858 and was buried here for a time.
Military
Fort Wolters
Located in the counties of Palo Pinto and Parker, Fort Wolters' history dates back to the days of "Old" Camp Wolters, created in 1925 as a National Guard training area under the guidance of General Jacob F. Wolters. On October 13, 1940, the U. S. Army activated Camp Wolters as an infantry replacement center, with the support of Mineral Wells community leaders.
History
Franco-Texan Land Company Building
In the late 19th century, this building was a center for political and economic life for the town of Weatherford and for Parker County. It was built around 1870. James Robertson Couts and John A. Fain established the first bank west of Dallas in this building, after Couts made a fortune selling cattle out west. Couts operated the bank with several partners, including Henry Warren, until 1877.
History
Fred Rider Cotten
(1894-1974) Fred Rider Cotten was born to James Taylor and Sarah Ida (Rider) Cotten in Weatherford. In 1917, he completed a law degree at the Univ. of Texas. After returning to his hometown with his wife, Mary Virginia (Akard), and two children, Cotten ran the family furniture store, his swine farm, a funeral home, and Oakland Cemetery.
Elsewhere in Texas
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