Texas Historical Marker #03374
Military Road (Ft. Belknap-Ft. Phantom Hill). Past this point extended a military road surveyed in 1849 by Colonel J. E. Johnson who was detailed by the U.S. War Department to locate the most feasible route from Red River to El Paso. From 1851 to 1854 it connected two frontier forts, Belknap and Phantom Hill, 73 miles apart. Traveled 1858 to 1861 by stages of the Butterfield line which connected St. Louis and San Francisco. #3374
SH 251, S of Newcaslte, Newcastle, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03375
Military Road (Ft. Belknap-Ft Worth). Past this point extended in 1851 a military road connecting Fort Belknap and Fort Worth. Over it passed troops, travelers, and supplies for the frontier posts. #3375
SH 251, S of Newcastle, Newcastle, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03376
Military Road (Ft. Belknap-San Antonio). Past this point extended a Military Road connecting Fort Belknap and San Antonio. Blazed in 1851 by Lieutenant Francis T. Bryan of the U.S. Army. Traveled by troops, supply trains and frontier settlers. #3376
SH 251, S of Newcastle, Newcastle, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03377
Military Roads in Texas. The routes that moved troops in early Texas often followed old Indian trails, usually were little more than deep wagon ruts. This one, the Chihuahua Road joining Ft. Clark with other southwest posts -- was widely used, 1850-1880. The Comanche War Trail, part of the Chihuahua Road, carried women, children, and horses stolen by Indians from Mexico to the north. The Spanish era opened El Camino Real (the Old San Antonio Road) in 1691 to join Louisiana to Mexico. After 1836, Republic of Texas settlers demanded forts for safety from Indians; a main 1840 supply road followed present Austin-Dallas highway. Central National Road, 1844, linked Trinity and Red Rivers. (Its rules required all trees to be cut 12 inches or less from ground). From 1848 to 1860, surveys by U.S. led to a network of military roads in west central Texas. In 1849, Capt. Randolph B. Marcy blazed a West Texas trail used by California gold hunters. Famed U.S. 2nd Cavalry made Ft. Belknap - San Antonio Road a military artery in 1850s. During Civil War, supplies moved from Mexico to Texas over the cotton road. The Indian campaigns of Capt. R.S. Mackenzie in 1870s opened trails across the staked plains; but by 1881, the railroad had begun to replace Texas' once-famous military routes. (1968) #3377
?, Brackettville, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03378
Military Telegraph Line. Established in 1874-1875 from Fort Griffin to Fort Concho, crossed here. (1936) #3378
?, Baird, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03379
Mill Pond House. Structure of great value to community in early days. Erected about 1875 by John H. ("Shorty") Brown (1817-96), one of founders of San Saba, in 1850s. This building housed machinery of gristmill (which ground corn meal, for bread) and a cotton gin. It was run by water power supplied by San Saba Springs. After mill was in disuse, city water system machinery was housed here. San Saba Garden Club restored the building after acquisition, 1956. #3379
US 190, E Commerce & S Mill, San Saba, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03380
Old Mill on the Pajalache Acequia. This mill built before 1824 on the Pajalache Acequia furnished food to early settlers and served as a resting place for travelers and Texas Soldiers en route to Bexar from the Missions. #3380
105 Mission Road, San Antonio, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03381
Miller's Store. Erected 1900-1901 by R. L. Miller and Sons. Now owned by 4th generation of family. First store established 1866. Unique bannister features wooden balls carved by the contractor "Cap" Smith. Bullet holes in awning testify to rowdy early era. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1968. #3381
?, Waelder, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03383
Millerville Cemetery. Henry and Lourilla Osborn Miller, immigrants from Missouri who settled in Cooke County, Texas, during the 1860s, bought land in this area about 1876 which they subdivided into small farm tracts and sold. Settlers who purchased the farms organized a Church of Christ and in 1877 Rufus and Ann Green Ascue Birdsell donated one acre of land a short distance north of this site for school purposes. By 1881 much of the Miller's original land holdings had been sold and a community by the name of Millerville had been established. Although local tradition indicates earlier interments here, the first recorded burial was that of Joseph Beaver, Sr., in 1877. Two acres were set aside for cemetery purposes in 1881 by Ebaline and Michael Ramfield. Ramfield descendants in the Giesecke family have continued a family tradition of land ownership in this area into the 1990s. Birdsell School, a general store, and the Millerville Church of Christ constituted the town center in the early 1900s. The cemetery served the community and contains the burial of many of the area's earliest settlers and their descendants. Maintained by an association since 1980, the cemetery represents the last physical reminder of the village of Millerville. (1995) #3383
?, Stephenville vicinity, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03384
The Millie Porter House. Built 1914 by Mr. & Mrs. J. M. Porter, pioneer settlers; Porter, an ex-cowboy, ranched near here after marrying Millie, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. J. R. Jones, 1886 settlers in Mobeetie area. Millie (1877-1957) as a child helped herd sheep; she attended Fort Worth University as a girl, University of Oklahoma at 70. She wrote valuable histories: "Put Up or Shut Up" and "Memory Cups of Panhandle Pioneers". Mr. & Mrs. Porter had six children. (Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1968) #3384
901 Main St., Wheeler, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03385
Milliken House. Built by William Dickerson Milliken, born in Paducah, Ky., Nov. 1, 1848; married Margaret Crockett Young. Children: W. D., Jr.; Samuel Ramsey, M.D.; Thomas Gillespie; Martin Horace; Maggie Bell (Mrs. Edens); Charles Young; Elizabeth Angelina; John Barnes. After going into mercantile business in Lewisville in 1877, Milliken built this house, 1878. Framing is native oak. Siding was freighted from Port City of Jefferson, in East Texas. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1969 #3385
231 W. Walters St., Lewisville, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03386
Million Barrel Tank. A project of the Shell Oil Company, the construction of this oil storage tank in 1928 was the result of an oil boom in the area. Built to accommodate crude oil until it could be shipped to refineries, the tank was constructed by crews working on a 24-hour schedule using hand operated and horse-drawn equipment. Covering eight acres of land, the tank was able to hold over one million barrels of oil. It was filled to capacity only once. Efforts to convert it into a water-filled recreation center in the 1950s were unsuccessful, and it became a museum in 1986. #3386
US 80, Monahans, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03387
Mills Building. This structure stands on the site of the 1827 Jose Maria Ponce de Leon Ranch. Anson Mills (1834-1924), who came to El Paso in 1858, acquired part interest in the property in 1859. Mills served as district surveyor until 1860. At the start of the Civil War, the Indiana-born Mills left El Paso and joined the Union Army. He remained in the army after the war and attained the rank of Brigadier General before he retired. Mills maintained his business interests in El Paso and for a time was stationed at Fort Bliss. In 1883 Mills and Judge J. F. Crosby erected the Grand Central Hotel at this location. Fire destroyed the hotel in 1896. Three years later Mills bought his partner's interest and began construction of a two-story hotel and mercantile building here. He razed that edifice in 1906 to erect this larger office facility. A 12-story reinforced concrete structure, the Mills Building was begun in 1909 and completed in 1915. The plans were drawn by well-known El Paso architects Henry C. and Gustavus Adolphus Trost, who designed numerous structures in the Southwest. Before it was extensively remodeled, the Mills Building exemplified the Sullivanesque commercial style. The Mills family owned the property until 1965. (1979) #3387
303 N. Oregon St., El Paso, TX, United States
Subjects
Texas Historical Marker #03388
Mills County. Formed from Brown, Comanche, Hamilton and Lampasas counties. Created March 15, 1887. Organized August 30, 1887. Named in honor of John T. Mills, 1817-1871, Judge of the Third and Seventh Judicial Districts in the Republic of Texas. Goldthwaite, county seat. #3388
?, Goldthwaite, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03389
Mills County Jail. Mills County Jail, 1888. First structure built by newly organized county, before county seat was chosen. #3389
US 183, at Courthouse square, Goldthwaite, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03390
Milton Faver. Established in the fifties the first Anglo-American owned ranch in the Big Bend. Three quadrangular adobe fortresses situated at the Big Springs Cibolo, Cienaga and El Morita served as a defense against hostile Apaches. (1936) #3390
?, Shafter, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03391
Milton Faver. The earliest large-scale cattleman to settle in the Big Bend, Milton (Don Meliton) Faver prospered against seemingly impossible odds to become the first cattle baron west of the Pecos. While operating a freighting business on the Chihuahua Trail, he moved his family to Presidio del Norte and opened a general store about 1855 . After accumulating a large herd of cattle in Mexico he moved his family and vaqueros to the mountain country north of Presidio and made his headquarters on Cibolo Creek in 1857. He established two other ranches at nearby La Cienega and La Morita. Springs flowed abundantly on all three ranches, providing water for livestock and agriculture. In the fertile fields surrounding the ranches, Faver devised and installed irrigation systems that supplied water for vegetables, grain, and large peach orchards. El Fortin del Cibolo, ranch headquarters, served as a supply station for the U. S. Army quartermaster division at Ft. Davis. Troops used the ranch as a point of departure for forays into Indian occupied regions to the west and north. Celebrated for his hospitality, Faver was known as a gentleman of means who lived in style. He died in December 1889 and was buried on his ranch at Cibolo. (1992) #3391
?, Shafter vicinity, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03392
Milton Faver Ranches. Milton Faver (ca. 1822-1889), a native of the midwest United States, moved to this area in the 1850s from Presidio del Norte, where he owned a general store and operated a freighting business on the Chihuahua Trail. By the 1880s, Faver controlled vast acreage in this part of the county, including most of the best permanent water sources, which he built into a formidable cattle, sheep, and goat ranching empire. Faver's three ranches-- El Fortin del Cibolo, El Fortin de la Cienega, and La Morita-- comprised the largest single-owner landholdings in the county. Structures on the ranches, including dwellings, work rooms, fences, corrals, and irrigation systems, were built with traditional adobe and stone building methods. Census and tax records show that Faver owned the largest livestock herds in the county in the late 19th century. Following the deaths of Milton Faver in 1889, his wife Francisca in 1893, and his son Juan in 1913, and after a lawsuit, the ranchlands were sold by the Faver heirs. Other pioneer ranching families in the area, including George and Juliana Dawson (niece of Francisca Faver), and J. A. Pool, Sr. and J. W. Pool and their heirs, the Greenwood family, operated ranches on the former Faver lands until the late 20th Century. (1995) #3392
?, Shafter vicinity, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03393
Miner Crawford (June 21, 1867 - November 17, 1928). Born in Benton County, Ark. In 1892, when Briscoe County was organized, won election as first sheriff; was reelected in 1894; also later served single terms, 1913-1914 and 1921-1922. First official act was arrest of two horse thieves from New Mexico; in last term he and two deputies waged a gun battle and captured a moonshine still. He bought law and order to area. Was recognized as "Bearing the Stamp of a Gentleman." Recorded, 1967 #3393
?, Silverton, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03394
Mineral Wells. A town built on water. Founded 1877 by J. A. Lynch, a settler who miraculously recovered from rheumatism after drinking the foul-tasting, but apparently healthful, water in this well. As the news spread, hundreds converged to "take" the waters, and a boom town sprang up. Its commercial slogan "crazy" arose from a deputed cure of insanity at the "crazy woman well". Although the water's curative value is likely due to dissolved epsom and glauber salts, amazing powers were attributed to it. For years Mineral Wells was Texas' leading health spa. (1969) #3394
Oak Ave, Mineral Wells, TX, United States