Texas Historical Marker #11913
City of Tom Bean. Thomas Bean, a wealthy Bonham landowner and surveyor, donated fifty acres of land in southeast Grayson County to be used for a branch railroad line from Sherman to Commerce. Bean died in 1887; in that year the city of Tom Bean was established. Nearby Whitemound, which was bypassed by the railroad, lost its post office to Tom Bean's city in 1888; many Whitemound settlers moved to the new town. Mr. Bean's estate began to sell town lots surrounding the railroad in the 1890s. The city school was moved in 1891 from a one-room structure to a two-story building with an auditorium. Several Christian denominations, including the Church of Christ, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist, established churches in town. The city charter was signed in 1897 and the first mayor was Ice B. Reeves. In the early days of the 20th century, the city boomed. Within a few years, it boasted a grain company, a furniture company, a drugstore, a newspaper called the "Tom Bean Bulletin," a saloon, a dance hall, a movie theater, and the Tom Bean Social Club. As time progressed, the sharp increase in automobile travel and transport, and the decline of cotton as the principal crop of the area, led businesses to the larger cities of Denison and Sherman. Though never again the railroad boomtown of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the community enjoyed a growth spurt in the 1950s, celebrating its centennial in 1987, the city of Tom Bean continues to thrive. (1998) #11913
?, Tom Bean, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #11559
Site of Early Grayson County Settlement - Whitemound. Named for two large white mounds of rock nearby. Settled 1849 by Henry Lackey and his 9 children, from Missouri. Town grew up around A. S. Lackey grist mill. It had a post office, churches, businesses, several doctors, and Bosworth Academy. Most residents moved away after Cotton Belt Railroad bypassed this site in 1888. #11559
?, Tom Bean, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #07370
First United Methodist Church. This congregation was organized in the mid-1880s, growing out of brush arbor meetings at the Cedar Campground near Whitemound. The original church building at Whitemound was moved, in 1906, to Tom Bean, where it burned in 1924. Methodists worshiped in the Presbyterian church until it was destroyed by a tornado a short time later. A new edifice was built, serving both denominations until 1972. In 1974, the sanctuary was moved here, and the heritage of the old Perrin Air Force Base Chapel was preserved when it was added to the facility. #7370
?, Tom Bean, TX, United States