El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail, sometimes called "The Old San Antonio Road" or "King's Highway," is a National Historic Trail from the 18th-century Spanish Texas era. Highway 21 now follows the old trail in a number of places across Texas.
Early immigrants from the American colonies followed the trail starting in 1821, after Mexico received its independence from Spain; but the road was abandoned when the railroads were constructed and followed different routes that connected Austin, Galveston, and Houston that were not on the El Camino Real. Traveling on horseback, one could cover about 30 miles per day on the El Camino Real, which is still faster than a modern automobile that runs out of gas in the middle of nowhere. (And we had to wait for 2.5 hours for someone to bring us gas.)
Canton (population 3,581) was settled in 1850 and named the county seat for Van Zandt County, but when the railroad missed the town by ten miles the citizens of Wills Point moved the county seat to their community. The residents of Canton were not happy, so they armed themselves and went over to Wills Point, demanded the county records, and move the county seat back to Canton. The Supreme Court of Texas eventually decided in favor of Canton.
District Court meetings were historically held in Canton on the first Monday of each month, so area residents started meeting in the town square on the first Monday of each month to trade and barter goods and stock. Eventually, the swapping grew to include everything from pets to antiques, including a lot of "junk." The First Monday Trade Days are now the Largest Flea Market in the World with over 300,000 people attending the event each month.
Famous people associated with Canton include Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow that lived in the Dixie Hotel for a short time and Calvin Graham, who was the youngest U.S. serviceman that served in WW II. Graham was twelve years of age when he lied about his age to enter the military and served aboard the USS South Dakota. He was seriously wounded at the Battle of Guadalcanal, but was credited with saving other crew members' lives after being wounded himself. When the Navy learned his true age, they gave him a dishonorable discharge and revoked all of his disability benefits, which included disability pay, various combat decorations, a Purple Heart, and a Bronze Star. Although he tried for years to get his benefits restored, it was not until 1988 when President Ronald Reagan signed legislation that gave him an honorable discharge and restored all of his disability benefits, including combat decorations, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star.
Kaufman (population 6,490) is known for its historic town square and buildings. The Covenant United Presbyterian Church was organized in 1854 and the current building was constructed in 1877.
+
Garland with a population 226,876 is the 87th-most populous city in the United States and the 12-most populous city in the State of Texas. Over the years, Garland has made the lists of "Top 100 Places to Live" (2008), 6th "Best City for Working Parents" (2014), 7th "Best City for Saving Money" ( 2014), 5th "Best Mid-Sized City to Purchase a Home for First-Time Home Buyers" (2015), 8th "Best Run City in America" (2015), 8th "Best City in America to raise a Family" (2015), "2nd Best City in Texas for Jobs" (2017), 3rd "Best City in America for Living the American Dream" (2017), and "5th Highest Employment Growth in the Country" (2018).
I am not sure why they had one of the water towers draped in cloth, but maybe they were painting the structure.
Garland is known for cowboy hats, so we stopped by the Milano Hat Company to see if they would give us a tour. Unfortunately, they did not give public tours.
Next stop was the Resistol Hat Factory, where we found that they only offered tours to large groups with advanced reservations. However, they did have an outlet store where one could purchase various brands of hats that they manufactured and they would even size it for you onsite. Since Resistol provided all of the hats for "J..R. Ewing" on the popular "Dallas" TV series, I decided that I should probably stop in and purchase a nice new Stetson hat for myself. However, after learning the price of an nice new Stetson hat, I decided that it would not be practical to purchase a new Stetson in Texas since I probably could not get it home on the plane.
Rockwall (population 37,490) was named after a rock wall that was discovered in 1852 when three men were digging a well. It was unclear why a rock wall would be buried in a remote area of Texas, so in 1874 Geologist Richard Burleson examined the wall and concluded that the wall was "igneous occurrences." Other people examined the wall and in 1897 a shaft was dug about 35 feet deep and to everyone's surprise, a perfectly two foot square window was discovered in the wall This window cast doubt on the wall being "igneous occurrences." Additional people examined the wall and reached various conclusions. Then in 1925 archaeologist Count Byron de Prorok examined the wall and concluded that a prehistoric race had constructed the wall. This prompted Dr. R.S. Hyer, professor of physics at SMU to examine the wall and he once again concluded that the wall was a natural formation. However, this did not stop an enterprising family from opening an exposed section of the wall as "The Unsolved Mystery - Be Your Own Judge." Of course, they did charge a small fee to view the "Unsolved Mystery." Over the years there have been other claims about the wall, but using modern equipment to analyze the wall, it has now been proven that the wall is a natural occurrence.
Since most of the rock wall is located on private property, tourist are invited to view a section of the wall at the Manson-LaMoreaux-Hartman House located in the Harry Myers Park. The rock wall is located on the north side of the Manson-LaMoreaus-Hartman house, which is the oldest house in Rockwall. A sign near the wall states that the "Reconstructed Rock Wall...using stones from the rock wall discovery on her grandfather, W.W. Stodghill's farm." Also located on the site is the Hartman Windmill that was erected in 1866 over a 45-foot, hand-dug well to provide water for a cotton gin.
And for all of the conspiracy theorists, Marina Oswald, widow of Lee Harvey Oswald, lived in Rockwall!
Greenville (population 25,557) was once named "Cotton Capital of the World" when the most cotton bales compressed in a single day set a world record.
Audie Murphy, the nation's most decorated soldier of WW II, was born in a rural area just north of Greenville. During the war, he received every combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army (some more than once), plus the Belgian and French awards for heroism. At 19 years of age, he single-handedly held off an entire company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France and then led a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.
Murphy was born into a large sharecropper family. His father abandoned the family and his mother died when he was at teenager, so he left school after the 5th grade to work in the cotton fields to make money to help support his family. He was an excellent shot with a rifle and used his skill to provide food for the table.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, his oldest sister helped him falsify documents about his birthdate so that he could meet the minimum-age requirement to enlist in the military. He saw action at the Allied invasion of Sicily, the Battle of Anzio, the liberation of Rome, the invasion of southern France, that battle at Montelimar, and led his men on a successful assault at the L'Omet quarry near Cleurie in northeastern France.
After the war he became a movie actor and played himself in the movie To Hell and Back. Shortly before his 46th birthday, he died in a plane crash in Virginia in 1971.
We were told that the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum was located just off of Interstate 30 and we could not miss it. Well, we found the exit from the freeway, but it was not obvious where the museum was located. We decided to follow the service road and when we saw a large cluster of buildings we surmised that the museum must be located somewhere in the complex; so we started driving through the parking lots looking for the museum. Finally, someone noted a sign above a door that said "Audie Murphy," so we started to park the car when someone else in the backseat said: "I don't think that sign says "Audie Murphy," I think is says "Adult Ministry." Sure enough, we drove to the front of the building and it was a church. After a little more searching we discovered the correct building.
 |
| Artist Unknown |
 |
| Photographer Unknown |
Also located on the museum property is the Ende-Gaillard House that was built in 1859 and the Watkins Log Cabin that was build in 1852. The house held up better than the log cabin.
Farmersville (population 3,301) was incorporated in 1873 and by the 1900s the town had six cotton gins and two railroad lines with six passenger trains per day. By the 1930s, Farmesville shipped over 1,000 rail-car loads of "East Collin Sweets" each year and became known as the "Onion Capital of North Texas." The historic Onion Shed is located just off Main Street and is now used for community events and a farmer's market.
Celeste (population 814) is almost a ghost town with a declining population and very few businesses that remain open on Main Street. However, the one business that seems to be thriving is the Quilt Mercantile. They even provide a park bench in front of the store for men to sit at and watch the traffic go by. Pretty exciting - but that's Celeste!
No comments:
Post a Comment