Texas Historical Marker #12330
Nineveh Cemetery. Settlement in the community that became known as Nineveh began as some southerners moved west after the close of the Civil War. In 1886, Hezekiah Bellamy gave two acres for a school and cemetery around this site. A young schoolmaster who was a graduate of Harvard University in Massachusetts named the school and cemetery for Nineveh in ancient Assyria. The first person to be interred here was Elizabeth McNeely (1804-1890). Her granddaughter, Minnie McNeely Dukes (1885-1972), was a teacher and community leader at Ninevah, and the Dukes family has maintained the historic graveyard. The area around the cemetery gradually became known as Old Nineveh. There are about 24 graves in the cemetery, including those of members of several pioneer Comanche County families. (2000) #12330
?, De Leon, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #05251
Texas Central Railroad. Railroad construction in Texas, interrupted by the Civil War and by the national economic depression of the early 1870s, began a period of recovery in the late 1870s and early 1880s. Chartered on May 31, 1879, the Texas Central Railway was owned by the Houston & Texas Central Railway and was in competition with the Texas Pacific to build a line westward through North Central Texas. Extending from Ross Station near Waco in 1879, the Texas Central reached the Erath-Comanche County line in 1880. The Texas Central laid out the town of De Leon on April 10, 1881, and railroad official Robert M. Elgin conducted the sale of town lots from the back of a flatcar on July 7. Although the initial sale of lots was slow, the town soon developed and attracted new settlers from the Southeastern United States. Railroad offices, shops, and a roundhouse were built here, and De Leon became the area's primary shipping point for cotton and, later, peanuts and other products. Acquired by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy) Railroad in 1910, the line continued to operate until 1967, when local backers purchased part of the line and continued to provide shipping service to customers along "The Peanut Line" connecting Dublin, De Leon, and Gorman. (1994) #5251
302 N. Texas St., De Leon, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #02845
Jones Crossing. Named for "Sut" (Sutton) Jones, 1850s pioneer who lived near the ford and used his horses to aid freighters hauling heavy loads. This was on trail from Waco to scattered ranches in present Abilene-Albany area. Ford was notorious for 1870s use by horse thieves. Nearby settlers were warned to be deaf to sounds of horses "escaping" across the ford. A few robbed men objected, however, and went after stolen animals. Some of the thieves were later hanged. First spanned by a bridge in 1899, the ford is now included in Proctor Reservoir acreage. (1971) #2845
?, De Leon, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #02045
Frances Marie Sparks Brown. (October 17, 1849 - January 1, 1934) Frances Marie Sparks, a native of North Carolina and daughter of Daniel and Kezziah Sparks, married Thomas Brown in 1865. They lived in Grayson County, Texas, before moving to a 410-acre farm near here about 1876. During the 1880s and 1890s Frances served as a midwife and lay doctor for families in the area. Known as "Aunt Fanny" she often rode 6-8 miles by horseback at night to deliver a baby. Despite her husband's death in 1912 Frances skillfully managed her farm and reared 12 children while continuing to nurse many of her neighbors back to health. (1993) #2045
?, De Leon, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #01187
De Leon Peanut Company. Cotton was the major cash crop for farmers in Comanche County until the early 20th Century. The combined effects of distastrous weather conditions in 1908-09, a national economic downturn, and a major infestation of the Mexican boll weevil in 1914 caused many Comanche County farmers to abandon their decades-long reliance on cotton and turn to the more lucrative prospect of peanut farming. Because shipping peanuts to Fort Worth for processing reduced local farmers' profits, N. T. Haskins organized the De Leon Peanut Company in 1912. Its first board of directors included R. W. Higginbotham, W. H. Williams, B. T. Higginbotham, Jr., J. B. Wilson, A. E. Hampton, and W. E. Lowe. By 1914, peanuts were the leading cash crop in the county, and the company enlarged its operations to meet growing demand. A six-story main building was completed in 1917; soon the plant was processing up to ten railroad carloads of peanuts per day. The business survived an economic crisis in the 1920s and remained a strong force in the local community, which has been called "The Peanut Capital of the World." Acquired by a national company in 1967, the De Leon Peanut Company has played a vital role in Comanche County history. (1994) #1187
303 N. Texas St., De Leon, TX, United States