Texas Tourist Attractions Hometown Offbeat Texas Travel

ABBOT – Singer Willie Nelson was born here in 1933.

ABILENE – Model Megan Ewing was born here in 1984.

ACTON – Elizabeth Crockett, second wife of Davy Crockett is buried here in the Acton Cemetery. She died in 1860.

AMARILLO – Born here in Amarillo were: actress/dancer Cyd Charisse in 1923, and actress Carolyn Jones in 1929.

ANSON – Singer Jeanne C. Riley was born here in 1945.

AQUILARES – Actor Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez was born here in 1925.

ATLANTA – Aviator Bessie Coleman was born here in 1892,

AURORA – Aurora’s claim to fame is the reported burial site in Aurora Cemetery of an alien pilot that crashed here in his “airship” in 1897. Serial killer Ricky Green is buried here in the back section, left corner under a tree He was executed in 1997. GO THERE

AUSTIN – Born here in Austin were: baseball player Bibb Falk in 1899, actor Zachary Scott in 1914, golfer Ben Crenshaw in 1952, actor Ethan Hawke in 1970.
u In the early morning of August 1, 1966, former Eagle Scout and U.S. Marine, Charles Whitman, 25, stabbed his 24-year-old wife, Kathleen to death, and shot and killed his mother. He then stocked a footlocker with two rifles, two pistols, a sawed off shotgun and food and water. Whitman carried the footlocker to the 27-story tower on the campus of the University of Texas. Entering the tower, he shot and killed the woman at the visitor's registration desk. He next killed a mother and her two children who were sightseeing. From the 27th floor observation deck, he began shooting at random for the next 80 minutes. When the police finally shot and killed Whitman, 16 people were dead, and 31 were wounded. The observation deck was closed after the shootings and was not reopened again until 32 years later in 1998.
u The Congress Avenue Bridge here houses the world's largest urban population of Mexican free-tailed bats. Starting in late February, up to 1.5 million bats take up residence inside the bridge's expansion and contraction zones as well as in long horizontal grooves running the length of the bridge's underside, an environment ideally suited for raising their young. Every evening around sunset, the bats emerge in search of insects, an exit visible on weather radar. Watching the bat emergence is an event that is popular with locals and tourists, with more than 100,000 viewers per year. The bats migrate to Mexico each winter.
u Rogers Hornsby, baseball Hall of Famer, is buried here in Hornsby Bend Cemetery.
u Buried here in the Texas State Cemetery. at 907 Navasota are:
– Stephen F. Austin. He was a leader in the fight for Texas independence from Mexico.
– John Connally, governor. He was in the car when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. He is in Republic Hill, Section 2, Row P, Number 9.
– Miriam "Ma" Ferguson. She was elected governor of Texas in 1924 in place of her husband, who been impeached for corruption.
– Barbara Jordan, U. S. Congresswoman. She is in Republic Hill Section 1 Row N Number 6.
– William Wallace, Indian fighter. He is in the Republic Hill Section 2 Row K Number 1.
u Buried here in the Evergreen Cemetery are:
– Dick "Night Train" Lane, football player.
– Willie Wells, baseball player. He is in Section J Lot 135 Space 13.
u Buried here in the Austin Memorial Park are:
– Bibb Falk, baseball player for the Chicago White Sox. He replaced "Shoeless Joe" Jackson in 1920. He is in Section 1, Lot 305, Grave 11.
– James Michener, author of Tales of the South Pacific, Hawaii and Texas. He is in Block 11 Lot 1.
– Zachary Scott, actor. He is in Block 4, Lot 187A, Space 12.
u Atheists Madalyn Murray O'Hair and her son Jon and granddaughter Robin are buried here. Madalyn helped ban prayer from public schools. All three were kidnapped, killed and dismembered in September 1995.

BALLINGER – Composer David Guion is buried here in the Evergreen Cemetery. He wrote the song Home on the Range. He is in Section 3, Row 10.

BASTROP – Actress/comedian Margaret Trigg was born here in 1964.
u On October 8, 1942, the body of Judge C. B. Maynard’s 9-year-old daughter Lucy was found in a pasture three miles from town – she had been strangled. The next day, Private George Knapp of nearby Camp Swift was questioned about the killing. He admitted that he saw Lucy walking home from school and offered her a ride. He drove around Bastrop for some time with her in the car. When she became frightened and started screaming, he strangled her with his hands and then threw her into the pasture where she was found. A court martial was ordered at which he was found guilty and sentenced to hang. The execution took place on the morning of March 19th, 1943 at Leon Springs Military Reservation, 20 miles NW of San Antonio.
UPDATE – Lucy Rivers Maynard was buried in the large Maynard family plot in Fairview Cemetery.
* Actress Margaret Trigg is also buried here in Fairview Cemetery in the large Trigg family plot. She died in 2003 at age 39.
* The former Maynard house still stands in Bastrop.

BEAUMONT – Baseball player Frank Robinson was born here in 1931.
u The first oil gusher in North America was here in 1901.
u Buried here in the Forest Lawn Cemetery. at 4955 Pine St. are:
– Babe Didrikson Zaharias, athlete. A three-time U.S. Open golf champion, she also won two track medals at the 1932 Olympics. She is at the intersection of Blocks C, I & K.
– J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, singer. He was killed in a plane crash along with singers Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on February 3, 1959. His record Chantilly Lace was a hit in 1958. He is in the Lily Pool Garden, Block C, Lot 31, Space 3. He grew up here in Beaumont.

BENBROOK – Vernon and Irene Castle were a husband-and-wife team of ballroom dancers of the early 20th century. They are credited with invigorating the popularity of modern dancing. Vernon served as a pilot during World War I for the Royal Flying Corps and later as a training instructor for American pilots. In 1918, while conducting flight maneuvers at Benbrook Field, his plane crashed, killing him instantly. When Irene died in 1969, she was buried next to him in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. There is a large monument to Vernon Castle near the site of his crash here in Benbrook. .

BIG SPRING – Actor Davey O'Brien was born here in 1912.

BLOOMINGTON – Actress Gale Storm was born here in 1922.

BONHAM – Born here in Bonham were: baseball player Joe Morgan in 1943, and outlaw John Wesley Hardin in 1953. One of the west's most vicious killers, he claimed to have killed forty men. Hardin County was named after a relative, Judge William B. Hardin.

u U.S. Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn is buried here in the Willow Wild Cemetery.

BROWNFIELD – Basketball player Sheryl Swoopes was born here in 1971.

BROWNSVILLE – Singer Kris Kristofferson was born here in 1936.

BROWNWOOD – Baseball player Jim Morris was born here in 1963.
u Author Robert Howard is buried here in the Greenleaf Cemetery. He wrote "Conan the Barbarian." He killed himself in 1936 at age 30, on the day his mother died. To get to his grave, stay on the road that enters the Cemetery. His grave is off to the right about halfway back.

BRYSON – Water was so precious in this little town in February 2006, that elementary school students have to wash their hands with pre-moistened wipes instead of turning on the restroom faucets. Folks haven't turned on their lawn sprinklers for three years. And some people have abandoned their swimming pools, draining them, filling them in with dirt or letting the water go stagnant. The problem: The sole source of water for Bryson's 550 residents is one small well that is pumping a drought-constricted 38 gallons a minute. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will build a six-mile pipeline to another community's water supply, and the project should be completed by June, 2006.

CALVERT – Former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley was born here in 1917.

CANYON – Singer Buddy Knox is buried here in the Dreamland Cemetery. He had a hit record in 1957 called Party Doll. His headstone in Section X, Lot 18, is in the shape of a guitar, with a gold record on it for Party Doll.

CARTHAGE – Singer "Gentleman Jim" Reeves is buried here at the Jim Reeves Memorial Park.

CELESTE – Baseball player Monty Stratton was born here in 1912. Jimmy Stewart played him in the 1949 film The Stratton Story.

CEMENT CITY – Outlaw Bonnie Parker attended Cement City High School here in 1926. The Thomas Edison Jr. High School is now on the site at 2940 Singleton Blvd. Bonnie, 16, married Roy Thornton and they lived two blocks from her mother and grandparents home on Olive Street. (Cement City was a suburb of Dallas).

CHERINO – Actress/dancer Ann Miller was born here in 1923.

CHRISP – Singer Ernest Tubb was born here in 1873. (Other sources say it was in Wallis).

CLEBURNE – Actor/radio announcer Del Sharbutt was born here in 1912.

COLLEGE STATION – The first college football game play-by-play was broadcast here on November 25, 1920. Texas A&M beat Texas 7-0.
u The George H. Bush Presidential Library and Museum is located here. Buried here is Robin Bush, 3-year-old daughter of George and Barbara. She died of leukemia in 1953.

COMANCHE – Baseball player Tex Carleton was born here in 1906.
u On May 26, 1874, outlaw, John Wesley Hardin, was celebrating his 21st birthday here when Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb told Hardin he was going to arrest him. Hardin then invited Webb into a saloon for drink and turned his back to Webb and started for the saloon's doors. At that moment, someone shouted to Hardin, "Look out!" In one movement of incredible speed, Hardin whirled about, cross drawing his six-guns as he turned, and fired as he faced Webb whose gun had just cleared his holster. Hardin was hit in the side, but he sent a bullet into Webb's head. He was the 40th man to be killed by Hardin, according to his own count.

CONROE – David "The Bubble Boy" Vetter is buried here in the Conroe Memorial Park. He suffered from an immune disease, called Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID). The disease required him to live his life in a sterile environment that coined the name, "The Bubble Boy." He died at age 12.

CORPUS CHRISTI – Born here in Corpus Christi were: actor Dabney Coleman in 1932, and actress Farrah Fawcett in 1947.
u Singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez was killed here on March 31, 1995. She is buried here in the Seaside Memorial Park.

CORSCICANA – Actress Mary Brian was born here in 1908.

COTTONDALE – Gangster George "Machine Gun" Kelly is buried here in the Cottondale Cemetery. He died of a heart attack in Leavenworth prison on July 17, 1954.

CRYSTAL CITY – During World War II, Crystal City was home to the largest alien internment camp housing American civilians of German, Italian and Japanese ancestry, as well as enemy aliens of similar backgrounds. Additionally, Japanese, Italian and German civilians from South America were interned here.
u Known as "The Spinach Capital of the World, a statue of Popeye stands on East Dimmit Street

DALLAS – Born here in Dallas were: actress Bebe Daniels in 1901, actor Tommy Bond in 1927 (He was "Butch of Our Gang), actress Linda Darnell in 1931, baseball player Ernie Banks in 1931, singer Trini Lopez in 1937, golfer Lee Trevino in 1939, actress Sharon Tate in 1943, actress Morgan Fairchild in 1950, musician Stevie Vaughan in 1954, actor Robby Benson in 1956, Olympic athlete Michael Johnson in 1967, writer Owen Wilson in 1968, singer Jessica Simpson in 1973, and actor Brooke Burns in 1977.
u Bandit Belle Starr married outlaw Jim Reed here in 1869. Reed was later killed in 1874.
u Mass killer, Richard Speck, attended high school here in 1947. He raped and killed eight nurses on one night in Chicago on July 14, 1966.
u President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed here on Elm Street in Dealey Plaza, by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963.
u The Texas School Book Depository building where Oswald shot from a sixth floor window, is at 411 Elm Street. Now the Dallas County Administration Building, glass walls now enclose the small area at the window where Oswald fired the fatal shots.
u Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and killed here by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963.
u On January 6, 1933, Bonnie & Clyde were ambushed here in the home of Lillie McBride at 507 (801?) County Ave. Lillie was the sister of Raymond Hamilton, a member of the Clyde Barrow gang. Clyde shot and killed a deputy sheriff before he and Bonnie escaped in their car. In 1999, the home was located at 3111 N. Winnetka, just around the corner from the Barrow Filling Station.
u Floyd Hamilton's house is located at 3018 N. Crossman, and the Hamilton family house is located at 1201 Singleton Blvd. He once worked at the Trinity Portland Cement Company at 1701-09 Santa Fe Building.
u Clyde Barrow attended the Cedar Valley School here.
u Clyde Barrow grew up in the Barrow home and service station on the west side of town. Clyde's mother died in the home on August 14, 1942, and his father died there on June 19,1957, at age 84. The Barrow home and service station, located at 1221 Singleton (1620 Eagle Ford Rd.) was a tortilla factory in 1995.
u Clyde Barrow once worked at the United Glass and Mirror Co. at 2416 Swiss Ave. and the A&K Auto Top & Paint Co. at 2604-08 Main Street.
u Bonnie & Clyde robbed the Simms Oil Refinery at 2407-35 Eagle Ford Road in 1932.
u The suit that Barrow was buried in was purchased at Schneider Brothers Clothing at 616 Main.
u Clyde Barrow is buried here next to his brother Marvin "Buck" barrow, at the Western Heights Cemetery at 1617 Fort Worth Ave. 30,000 people filed by Clyde's casket in the Sparkman-Holtz-Brand Funeral Home here in Dallas. A single headstone marks the graves of the Barrow brothers.
u Bonnie Parker grew up in the Parker family home at 1406 Cockerell Street, in Dallas. Bonnie's mother died there in 1946. The home was demolished in the 1960s for a Sears office building
u Bonnie Parker attended grade school on East Chauk Hill Road. The street runs north and south between Singleton (formerly Eagle Ford Road) and Davis, two miles to the south. The building is still here.
u Bonnie's mother Emma, and her brother Hubert "Buster" once lived at 2430 Douglas.
u Bonnie's Grandmother, Mary Kruase, lived at 2908 Eagle Ford Rd.
u In 1928, Bonnie worked at Louis Cafe at 903 South Harwood.
u Bonnie once worked at Hargraves Cafe at 3308 Swiss Avenue.
u Bonnie Parker is buried in the Crown Hill Cemetery. here at 9700 Webbs Chapel Rd. On Friday, May 25, 1934, thousands lined Forest Avenue around the McKamy-Campbell Funeral Home to view Bonnie's body. Bonnie was originally buried in the old Fish Trap Cemetery. Bonnie's mother ignored her wish to be buried with Clyde, saying, "Now that she is dead, she's all mine. I don't want her buried with Clyde. He had her while she was alive."
u In 1913, Andrew McGrew, a one-legged black hobo died after falling off a freight train near Marlin, Texas. He was taken to a funeral home in Marlin and embalmed. When no one claimed his body, a traveling carnival purchased it and displayed McGrew as "The Amazing Petrified Man – the Eighth Wonder of the World." When the carnival folded in 1968, McGrew remained in storage until a Dallas widow, Elgie Pace, discovered him. She wanted to give him a decent burial but was unable to afford it, so she nicknamed him "Sam" and kept him in the basement of her home. In 1973, a black undertaker volunteered to give McGrew a funeral. Several months after he was buried here in Dallas, folk singer Don McLean wrote a song, The Legend of Andrew McGrew, and a headstone was purchased for his grave which reads, "Andrew McGrew, The Mummified Man. Born 1867, died 1913, buried 1973."
u Buried here in the Calvary Hills Cemetery. at 3235 Lombardy Lane are:
– Tom Braniff, founder of Braniff Airlines. He is on the circle near the Christ on cross statue.
– Cuellar Family, founders of the El Chico Restaurant chain.
– Conrad Hilton, hotel owner. He is in Section D.
– Oswald Jacoby, bridge player and author. He is in Section K Lot 7 Grave 1.
u Buried here in the Sparkman Hillcrest Cemetery. at 7405 West Northwest Highway are:
– Mary Kay (Wagner) Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics. She is in the North Mausoleum Section H 2C.
– Dusty Boggess, Major League baseball umpire. He is in the Court Of The Flowers Lot 50 Space 3.
– Maureen Connolly, tennis player. She is in the Monument Garden E, Block 18, Lot 4, Space 5.
– Les Elgart, bandleader. He is the Garden of Prayer, Block 10, Lot 27, Space 2.
– Greer Garson (Fogelson), actress. She is at the Fogelson Triangle (Ground Burial). Follow the main entrance road straight towards the back.
– Pinky Higgins, baseball player and manager.
– H.L. Hunt, oilman.
– Tom Landry, Thomas, Dallas Cowboys football coach.
– Mickey Mantle, baseball player. He is in the Mausoleum, Saint Mark NE-N-C-13-A, bottom crypt.
– Eugene McDermott, founder of Texas Instruments.
– Randy Moss, son of a actress Jane Withers.
– Clint Murchison, owner of the Dallas Cowboys. He is the Meadow Of Reflection - East Side (under a tree).
– John Tower, politician.
– Jack Wilson, football player who played with the Los Angeles Rams.
– Morris Zale, co-founder of Zale Jewelers. He is in the Temple Shalom.
u Outlaw Raymond Hamilton, a member of the Bonnie and Clyde gang, is buried here in the Elmwood Memorial Park. He was executed on May 11, 1935.
u Amateur Abraham Zapruder is buried here in the Temple Emanu-El Cemetery. He took the film footage of the actual assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22,1963 with his 8mm camera. He is in Block 52, BB East 1/2.
u Buried here in the Restland Memorial Park are:
– Heinz Becker, baseball player. He is in the Wildwood Urn Garden, – Jerry Gray, bandleader. He is in the Abbey in Niche 48 on the east wall.
– Frank Lane, Major league baseball executive and manager.
– Harvey Martin, football player.
– Steve Ramsey, football player. He is in the Last Supper Section, Lot 156D, Space 1.
– Donald Regan, former U. S. Treasury secretary.
– Tex Schramm, president and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys for 29 years.
u Buried here in the Emanu-El Cemetery. are:
– Herbert Marcus, co-founder of Neiman-Marcus Department store. He is in Kings SW, D-22-A, Mausoleum.
– Carrie Neiman, co-founder of Neiman-Marcus Department store. She is in Plot 108.
u Actor Harry Monty (Hymie Liechtenstein) is buried here in the Shearith Israel Cemetery. He was a Munchkin in the movie The Wizard of Oz. He is in Section L , Row 18, Lot 16.
u Buried here in the Laurel Land Memorial Park are:
– Ennis Haywood, football player.
– William Oliver Swofford, singer.
– F. D. Tippit, Houston patrolman. He was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963, He is in Section 62, Lot 1, Space 7.

DECATUR – Actor Guinn "Big Boy" Williams was born here in 1899.

DEKALB – Actor Dan Blocker was born here in 1929.
u Singer Rick Nelson, his girlfriend, Helen Blair, and members of his Stone Canyon Band, were killed when their plane crashed in a cow pasture near here on December 31, 1985. Nelson's plane was once owned by Jerry Lee Lewis.
u Actor Dan Blocker is buried here in Dekalb Cemetery. at 646 Front Street. He was Hoss Cartwright on TV's Bonanza.

DEL RIO – Buried here at the Whitehead Museum are:
– Judge Roy Bean, western law man.
– Sam Bean, Western Marshall and son of Roy.

DENISON – Born here in Denison were U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1890 (at 208E. Day), and actor John Hillerman in 1932.

DENTON – Born here in Denton were: actress Ann Sheridan in 1915, and Miss America Phyliss George in 1949.
u On December 2, 1929, Clyde Barrow and his bother Buck, stole a safe from the Motor Mark garage here on Oak Street.

DILLEY – Dilley is the self proclaimed watermelon capital of Texas

DING DONG – Ding Dong, population 22, is on the Lampasas River eight miles south of Killeen in southwestern Bell County. Ding Dong was named because of two early settlers in the town; their names were Zulis Bell and Bert Bell. According to historical accounts, they opened a store and hired an artist, Cohn Hoover, to make a sign for their store. The Bells instructed the sign painter to make a sign with two bells on it; inside the bells would be their names and the words "Ding Dong" would be coming out of the bell. Over time a community grew around the store, and the community took on the name of the words coming out of the bell: Ding Dong. GO THERE

DUBLIN – Golfer Ben Hogan was born here in 1912.

EAGLE FORD – The Sam Bass gang robbed a Texas & Pacific train here on April 4, 1879. (Eagle Ford was located just outside Dallas).

EASTLAND – Outlaw Josiah Scurlock is buried here in the Eastland Cemetery. He rode with Billy the Kid during the Lincoln County Wars in New Mexico.

EDNA – Burlesque stripper Candy Bar (Juanita Dale Slusher) was born here in 1935. She died of pneumonia on December 30, 2005 in Abeline, Texas.

ELDORADO - The Temple of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints is located four miles outside of Eldorado. Polygamists, they believe that men need a minimum of three wives

ELMENDORF – Joseph Ball was a serial killer who murdered as many as 25 women, including his second and third wives. In the late 1920s, Ball opened the Sociable Club Inn near here on Highway 181. Behind his club, he had a large cement pool in which he kept five large alligators. He employed a steady stream of beautiful barmaids, all of whom became his mistresses. They came and went so often that the local constable became suspicious, especially when popular Hazel Brown and Minnie Gotthardt disappeared in 1938. When police questioned Hall, 44, at the Inn about Hazel and Minnie, he pulled a gun, gave the police a crooked grin, put the revolver to his temple and squeezed the trigger, blowing off the top of his head. Police later found hunks of human flesh floating in a water barrel behind the Inn, and in the pool with the alligators. The handyman admitted that he witnessed Hall murder many young women, chop up their bodies, then feed them to the alligators.

EL PASO – Born here in El Paso were: actor Guy Kibbee in 1886, actress Irene Ryan in 1903, screenwriter Gene Roddenberry in 1921, Supreme Court Judge Sandra Day O'Connor in 1930, actress Debbie Reynolds in 1932, and newsman Sam Donaldson in 1934.
u On July 19, 1895, gunfighter John Wesley Hardin was shot and killed here in the Acme Saloon by Marshall John Selman. Selman shot Hardin in the back of the head, the bullet came out above the left eye.
u After a fist fight with his wife, Suzy, 33, James Bradley, 48, shot her six times here in their home on February 15, 1995. He chopped her body into 21 pieces with an ax, spray painted them bright gold, gray, and baby blue, then he scattered the parts around El Paso and southern New Mexico. Her fingertips were found not far from her home. Suzy was identified after police televised a picture of her head, its eyes wide open as it rested on a cloth. Bradley was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2025.
u Calamity Jane lived here from 1884 to 1889. While here, she married Clinton Burke, a hack driver, in August 1885. She gave birth to a daughter here on October 29, 1887.
u Buried here in the Concordia Cemetery.are:
– John Wesley Hardin, outlaw. He was shot and killed by Marshall John Selman on August 19, 1895.
– John Henry Selman, marshall. He shot and killed John Wesley Hardin in 1895 and he himself was killed in a gunfight on April 6, 1896.
u Basketball player Reece "Goose" Tatum is buried here in the Fort Bliss National Cemetery. He was a member of the Harlem Globetrotters. He is in Plot D, Grave 2668.

FABENS – Jockey Willie Shoemaker was born here in 1931.

FARMERSVILLE – Tex Watson, member of the Charles Manson gang, and killer of actress Sharon Tate, was a football and track star here in high school.

FLORESVILLE – Governor John Connally was born here in 1917.

FORRESTON – Actor Denver Pyle is buried here in the Forreston Cemetery. He played "Uncle Jesse" in TV's The Dukes of Hazzard.

FORT STOCKTON – Paisano Pete, an 10-foot, 22-foot long statue of a roadrunner, stands at Main Street and U.S. 290

FORT WORTH – Born here in Fort Worth were: actress Adrienne Ames in 1909, bandleader Tex Beneke in 1914, author Patricia Highsmith in 1921, actress Martha Hyer in 1924, actor Fess Parker in 1925, actor Spanky McFarland in 1928, singer Roger Miller in 1936, auto race driver Johnny Rutherford in 1938, and movie critic Rex Reed in 1940.
u Bonnie & Clyde stayed here in room 305 of the Stockyard Hotel in 1933. The 52-room hotel at 109 E. Exchange Avenue has now been restored.
u Assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is buried here in Rose Hill Memorial Cemetery. at 7301 E. Lancaster. Oswald shot and killed President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Oswald was himself shot and killed by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963. Only his widow, mother, and brother, were present when he was buried here in an isolated section of the Cemetery.
u Buried here in the Oakwood Cemetery. at 701 Grand Ave. are:
– Euday Bowman, composer. He wrote the song 12th Street Rag.
– Jim "Longhair" Courtright, marshall. He was shot and killed in a gunfight by Luke Short on February 8, 1887.
– James "Deacon" Miller. He was one of the men who killed Pat Garrett in 1908 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Miller was lynched in Ada, Oklahoma for killing a rancher. His wife Sallie and her mother are buried in the same plot.
– Luke Short. Part owner of the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas in 1876. His friends included, Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. Short died in Guida Springs, Kansas in 1893.
u Ben Thompson, the most fearless and dangerous gunfighter in Texas, is buried here in Oakwood Cemetery. at 1601 Navasota. On March 11, 1884, Thompson was ambushed and killed by an old enemy in a San Antonio variety theater. Residents carried his body here to Section 1, Lot 71, in a cortege of sixty-two vehicles. He was the city Marshall here near the end of his career.
u Buried here in the Greenwood Memorial Park are:
– Tom "Rattlesnake" Baker, baseball player. He is in the Garden of Love Lot 952 Space 2.
– Tex Beneke, bandleader.
– Ben Hogan, golfer. He is in the Mausoleum, Court of Wisdom, Crypt 178.
– Ray Renfro, baseball player. He is in Adoration Lot 347, Space 1B.
– Rod Roddy, announcer on the TV show The Price is Right for 17 years. He is buried behind the grave of his mother Doris in section Peace 44. His headstone is large and made of pink granite and marked RODDY.
– Charles Tandy, founder of the Tandy Corporation.
– Jackie "The Rabbit" Tavener, baseball player. He is the Mausoleum - Court Of Wisdom Crypt 18 Tier D.

FREDERICKSBURG – An old abandoned railroad tunnel here is the home for approximately 3 million Brazilian free-tailed bats who awake from their daytime sleep and emerge from the tunnel everyday about dusk from May to October to hunt for food. The Old Tunnel is located iapproximately 13 miles north of Comfort and 11 miles south of Fredericksburg.
u Admiral Chester Nimitz was born here in 1885.
u President Lyndon Johnson grew up near Fredericksburg. The LBJ ranch is still nearby.

FREER – The world’s largest rattlesnake statue is located here.

GAINSVILLE – Animal trainer Frank "Bring-em-back-alive" Buck was born here in 1888,

GALLOWAY – Singer "Gentleman Jim" Reeves was born here 1923.

GALVESTON – Born here in Galveston were: boxer Jack Johnson in 1878, actor Elliott Dexter in 1870, actress Sara Haden in 1897, aviator Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan in 1907. (In 1938, he took off from New York headed for Los Angeles but landed in Dublin, Ireland instead), and actress Valerie Perrine in 1943.
u The worst natural disaster in United States history was caused by a hurricane that hit Galveston on September 8, 1900. Over 8000 people were killed.
u A flood killed 275 people here on August 17, 1915.
u Buried here in the Old Galveston City Cemetery. are:
– Sara Haden actress. She played "Aunt Milly Forrest" in the Andy Hardy films.
– Charlotte Walker, actress. She was the mother of Sara Haden. She is in the City Yard.

GATESVILLE – Football player Clyde "Bulldog" Turner is buried here in the Greenbriar Cemetery. He is in the right front corner of the cemetery.

GIDDINGS – Gunslinger Bill Longley is buried here in the Giddings Cemetery. Just before he was hanged here for murder on October 11, 1878, he told the crowd, "I deserved this fate It is a debt I have owed for a wild and reckless life. So long everybody!" He was escorted to the gallows by 50 Infantry Troops and an additional 100 guards. The judge who sentenced him is also buried here. Longley killed 32 people in the years after the Civil War. His story was made into the TV series The Texan In 2001, the descendants of Longley had his grave opened and his remains examined to verify that it was indeed Longley – it was! His casket contained a Catholic religious medal and the remains of a celluloid flower that he was known to have had with him on the scaffold. The graveyard is just west of town on Hwy 290 and has unpaved entrances on Hwy 290 and it is safer to enter from the street that borders on the east.

GLEN ROSE – Baseball player Roy "Peaches" Davis was born here in 1905.

GOODNIGHT – Legendary cattle baron Charlie Goodnight is buried here in the Goodnight Cemetery.

GOOSE CREEK – Actor Gary Busey was born here in 1944.

GRAND PRAIRIE – Bonnie & Clyde used an abandoned farmhouse here for a hideout in 1933. (Grand Prairie was located just outside Dallas).

GRAND SALINE – Aviator Wiley Post was born here in 1898.

GRAPEVINE – On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1934, Bonnie & Clyde and Henry Methvin drove east on Highway 114 and turned north on Dove Lane, six miles west of Grapevine. They parked their 1934 Ford sedan, and while Methvin stood guard, Bonnie and Clyde took a nap. About half an hour later, two state troopers pulled up next to the car. As the officers approached, Methvin opened fire on them and killed one of them instantly, and fatally wounded the other. Clyde gunned the motor and they escaped down the highway. On August 12, 1996, a 6-foot monument was erected on the spot where the troopers, E. B. Wheeler and H. D. Murphy were killed. (Grapevine is just west of Dallas).
u Raymond Hamilton, a member of the Clyde Barrow gang was captured near here without a struggle on April 5, 1935.

GREENVILLE – Born here in Greenville were: actor John Boles in 1895 and baseball player Burt Hooten in 1950.
u Baseball player Monty Stratton is buried here in the Memory Land Memorial Park. Jimmy Stewart played him in the 1949 film The Stratton Story. He is in Section 4, Lot 419.

HAPPY – Singer Buddy Knox was born here in 1933. He had a hit record in 1957 called Party Doll.

HENDERSON – Actress Sandy Duncan was born here in 1946.

HEREFORD – Actor Ron Ely (Tarzan) was born here in 1938.

HENRIETTA – Clyde Barrow and his gang stole a Model A Ford here on November 29, 1929.

HILLISTER – Football player James Wolf is buried here in the Hillister Community Cemetery.

HILLSBORO – Born here in Hillsboro were: actress Madge Bellamy in 1900, and track athlete Rafer Johnson in 1935.
u Clyde Barrow and his gang robbed a gas station/gift shop here on April 30, 1932. Raymond Hamilton, one of he gang, shot and killed the owner John Bucher by accident.

HONDO – Baseball player Clint Hartung was born here in 1922.

HORN HILL – In January of 1870, gunslinger John Wesley Hardin rode into Horn Hill to attend a circus. When one of the circus roustabouts ridiculed Hardin, Hardin told him to shut up. The roustabout hit Hardin in the face and both men went for their guns, but Hardin shot the man dead before he ever drew his gun.

HOT WELLS – Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Mary Kay Ash was born here in 1915.

HOUSTON – Born here in Houston were: comedian Ted Healey in 1896 (He gave the Three Stooges" their start), actress Ann Harding in 1901, film producer Howard Hughes in 1905, actor Don "Red" Barry in 1912, oil well fire fighter Red Adair in 1915, actress Kathryn Grant Crosby in 1933, auto race driver A. J. Foyt in 1935, politician Barbara Jordan in 1936, singer Kenny Rogers in 1938, football player Lance Alworth in 1940, singer Billy Preston in 1946, actress Jaclyn Smith in 1947, actress Phylicia Rashad in 1948, singer Barbara Mandrell in 1948, dancer Debbie Allen in 1950, actor Randy Quaid in 1950, actor Dennis Quaid in 1954, actress Lisa Hartman in 1956, religious fanatic Davis Koresh in 1960, actress Shannon Elizabeth in 1973, and actress Hilary Duff in 1987.
u The intersection of Clinton and Fidelity is located here.
u Buried here in the Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery. are:
– Larry Blyden, actor. He is in Section 27, Lot 444.
– Ted Daffan, musician/composer. He wrote the song Born to Lose. He is in Section 20, Lot 244, Space 6.
– Dickey Kerr, baseball player. He is in Section 29, Lot 667.
– Gus Mancuso, baseball player. He is in Section 55 Lot 100.
– LeRoy Melcher, founder of the U-tote'm convenience stores in Texas.
– Loel Passe, Houston Astro's baseball announcer. He is in Section 410 Lot 112 Space 3.
– Karla Fay Tucker, murderer. She was executed in 1998.
u Buried here in the Glenwood Cemetery at 2525 Washington St. are:
– Joseph Culinan, founder of Texaco. He is in the Little Hillside Section.
– Maria (Ria Langham Gable) Franklin. Houston socialite and second wife of Clark Gable. They were married from June 19, 1931 to March 7, 1939.
– Howard Hughes. A recluse in his last years, he weighed ninety pounds and had shrunk two inches at the time of his death. He died on a airplane on his way to Houston, and owned no clothes except drawstrings shorts, pajamas, and a couple of bath robes. His relatives had to buy him a new suit to bury him in. He is in the Oakdale Section.
– Ross Sterling, founder of Exxon Corp.
– Gene Tierney, actress. She is in Section E-1.
u Buried here in the Memorial Oaks Cemetery are:
– Hugh Devore, former Notre Dame and Green Packers football coach. He is in Section 2 Lot 157 Space 4.
– Hoot Evers, baseball player.
– Leon Jaworski, Watergate prosecutor.
– Johnny Keane, former St Louis Cardinal manager. He is in the Mausoleum, West corridor, crypt 118E.
– Joan Lowery Nixon, mystery writer.
– Howie Pollet, baseball player.
u Boxer Cleveland Williams is buried here in the Paradise North Cem
u Criminal William Daniel Jones is buried here in the Brookside Memorial Park. He was a member of the Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow gang. He was shot and killed in 1974. He is in the Garden of the Apostles S. Matthew Section, Lot 468, Space 3.

HUBBARD – Baseball player Tris Speaker is buried here in Fairview Cemetery. He is in Section 1, Block 2.

HUMBLE – A train wreck killed 22 people here on December 13, 1922.

HUNTSVILLE – Clyde Barrow served two years here on the Eastham Prison Farm in 1929.
u Sam Houston is buried here in Oakwood Cemetery. at 9th and Avenue I. He was the first president of the Republic of Texas and commanded Texas forces in victory over Mexico.

HUTCHINS – The Sam Bass gang robbed a Houston & Texas train here on March 18, 1878. (Hutchins was located just outside Dallas).

INDIAN CREEK – Author Katherine Anne Porter was born here in 1890. She wrote Ship of Fools. She is buried here in the Indian Creek Cemetery.

ITALY – Major League baseball player Charles Arthur Shires was born here in Italy on August 13, 1907. He attended high school in Waxahacie where he was a baseball and football star.
One of the great self-promoters in baseball history, and baseball’s first bad guy, Shires enjoyed a short but colorful career in the big leagues. With his gregarious and combative personality, Shires often argued with his managers and teammates. He promoted himself by calling himself Art "The Great" Shires. While in the minors he hired his cousin to be his chauffeur and when they got to another town, he would put signs all over the car announcing that he was going to play that night and then drove the car and the signs around town.
As a first baseman, he hit .341 for the Chicago White Sox as a rookie in 1928. In his first game with the White Sox on August 8, 1928, he collected three singles and a triple off Boston's Red Ruffing. At the time, he reportedly had a wardrobe of 50 suits, 100 hats, 40 pairs of spats, a half-dozen tuxedos and attire for golf, riding and yachting. .
In the 1929 off-season he actually began a boxing career. Fighting as Art "the Great" Shires, he won several celebrated bouts, including one match against a member of the Chicago Bears. After demanding $25,000 contract for the 1930 season (he settled for $10,000).He later was traded to the Washington Senators, where he made speeches about the evils of politicians in the nation's capital. Along with his boxing exploits (his final record was 5-2 with five knockouts), Shires organized barnstorming tours with a semipro basketball team, worked in vaudeville, acted in two movies, sold insurance, moonlighted as a bouncer, managed a minor league ball club, lost a small fortune in real estate and endured a very ugly and publicized divorce,
His actions for being a character on and off the field earned him the reputation of a jerk through his headline grabbing remarks, disdain for authority, and publicity stunts.
In the ring, he appeared in gaudy trunks and a red robe that had "Art The Great" in bold white letters on the back.
After the 1929 season, Shires threw himself a homecoming parade. He hired an entire band when he got off the train in Dallas to make the 30 mile trip to his home in Waxahachie. With large painted signs reading The Great Shires," he paraded down Main Street.
During a trip to New York, it was reported, he attended a musical. As he walked down the aisle to his seat. the audience began clapping and cheering. So he bowed to the left and to the right. The only problem was that the applause wasn't for him. It was for actors Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Crawford who were also making their way to their seats.
After one of his fights, Shires told the press, "I came along at just the right time for you. During the last year there hasn't been much to write about - the inauguration of a president, the Graf Zeppelin, the stock market crash, a few catastrophes here and there, but there wasn't much doing at all until I showed up."
In December 1929, he told a group of admirers, "Now, ladies and gentlemen, if perchance you haven't heard of the "Great One" before, it's me, myself, in person. Look me over. I'm the guy who forced Ty Cobb out of baseball and Jack Dempsey out of the ring. You may get the idea them guys didn't like me? You're right, they didn't. Cobb quit cold when he saw me in the big leagues,
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound red-headed first baseman's temper was well documented and quite often landed him on the front page of the sports section. Along with a lifetime batting average of .291, Shires busted up teammates, umpires, the club secretary, hotel detectives and opposing players. He twice kayoed his manager Lena Blackburne in locker room fights. A UP reporter wrote in February 1929, "Shires is rated as the best man in the league with his fists."
After his first fight in which he knocked out "Mysterious" (AKA Diving Dan) Dan Daly in the first round, he thought about changing his title and calling himself "King Arthur. The self-proclaimed author, lecturer, vaudeville actor, and singer told reporters that one of his favorite songs was "I May Be Wrong But - I Think I'm Wonderful."
Injuries would eventually catch up with Shires, and it was one to his knee that ended his final baseball season in 1932 while with the Boston Braves. He attempted to work his way back up to the big time with the minor league Toledo Mudhens, but his heart was never fully into it.
Shires rode out the Depression era as a professional wrestler in the Southwest. An automobile accident in 1937 left him with a damaged back, but he continued working as a wrestler and referee. Fifty pounds overweight and hobbling on old baseball knees, Shires boasted that wrestling needed him the way baseball needed Ruth. Besides, he added, it paid better than managing a minor league team.
In 1948, Shires famous temper got him in trouble one more time, when he beat and kicked William "Hi" Erwin, a former player for the Columbus Red Birds during a drunken argument. Erwin died nine weeks later. Shires was arrested and charged with murder. After a lengthy trial, Shires was cleared of the charges, escaping with a $25 fine for aggravated assault.
With a nasty divorce and murder trial behind him , he faded off into the sunset and helped to manage a small restaurant in his hometown
Shires died in Italy, Texas of lung cancer at the age of 60, on July 13, 1967, and is buried in the Italy Cemetery.
Tour Italy Here

JASPER – Murder victim James Byrd Jr. is buried here in the Jasper City Cemetery. Byrd was the black man who was beaten to death in 1998 by three white men, chained to a truck by his ankles and dragged for about two miles until he was dismembered and decapitated. In May, 2004, his tombstone was found broken with an obscenity and racial epithet carved into a metal plate on the bottom of the stone.

JOHNSON CITY – U. S. President Lyndon B. Johnson was born here in 1908. He is buried here in the Johnson Family Cemetery., 35 miles west of Austin. Johnson's boyhood home is at Ninth Street and Avenue G.

KARNACK – First Lady Bird Johnson was born here in 1912.

KATY – Actress Renee Zellweger was born here in 1969.

KAUFMAN – Circus Clown Clarence Stroud was born here in 1907.
u Bonnie & Clyde robbed a hardware store here on March 22, 1932. Bonnie spent three months here in the city jail after getting caught. She wrote her "suicide" poem while here in jail. (Kaufmann is just outside Dallas).

KILGORE – Singer Alice Lon was born here. She was Lawrence Welk's Champagne Lady.

KINGSTON – Actor/war hero Audie Murphy was born here in 1924.

KLEIN – Born here in Klein were singer Lyle Lovett in 1957 (his great-great- grandfather Adam Klein founded the town), and actress Sherry Springfield in 1967.

KOSSE – In January of 1870, Gunslinger John Wesley Hardin shot and killed a thief who tried to rob him here in Kosse.

LAKE JACKSON – Singer Selena Perez was born here in 1971.
u Jalapeno pepper jelly first went on sale here in 1978.

LANCASTER – Bonnie and Clyde robbed the Henry and Sons Bank here of $4,000 on February 17, 1934.

LANGTRY – Judge Roy Bean, the strangest judge in the west, died here in the back room of his shack on March 16, 1903.

LARUE – Baseball player Carl Reynolds was born here in 1903.

LITTLEFIELD – Singer Waylon Jennings was born here in 1941.

LLANO – Bonnie & Clyde once hid out here in the Dabbs Railroad Hotel at 112 E. Burnet Street. The hotel was still there in 1998.

LONGVIEW – Baseball player Charlie Neal was born here in 1932. He is buried here in the Grace Hill Cemetery.
u Singer Alice Lon is buried here in the Rosewood Park Cemetery. She was Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady." She is in the Chapel Mausoleum,

LOYAL VALLEY – Gunman Johnny Ringo was a constable here in 1878.

LUBBOCK – Born here in Lubbock were: football player Bobby Layne in 1927, singer Buddy Holly in 1936, singer Mac Davis in 1942, and actress Jill Goodacre in 1965.
u Buddy Holly was born at 1911 Sixth Street (now a vacant lot). He lived at 3315 36th Street when he was 13. He lived at 3204 1st Street, and at 1906 24th Street while in high school.
u Buried here in the City of Lubbock Cemetery here at 2011 E. 34th St. are:
– Singer Buddy Holly. His grave is 100 yards from the main gate, beside a dusty road, just north of the office. He lies next to his mother and father. He and Singers Ritchie Valens, and the "Big Bopper," were killed in a plane crash on February 3, 1959.
– Bobby Layne, football player. He is Block 15 Lot E 1/2 8.

LUFKIN – Clyde Barrow and his gang robbed the Magnolia Service Station here on May 5,1932.
u Singer J. Frank Wilson is buried here in the Lufkin Cemetery. He was a member of the Cavaliers singing group.

MARSHALL – Born here in Marshall were: civil rights leader James Farmer in 1920, football player Y. A. Tittle in 1926, and boxer George Foreman in 1949.

MART – Songwriter Cindy Walker was born near here in 1919. She wrote You Don’t know Me, and In the Misty Moonlight.

MESQUITE – The Sam Bass gang robbed a Texas & Pacific train here in Mesquite on April 10, 1878.

MEXIA – Model Anna Nicole Smith was born here in 1967.

MIDLAND – Born here in Midland were actress Bessie Love (Juanita Horton) in 1898, first lady Laura Bush in 1946, actress Kathy Baker in 1950, Governor Jeb Bush in 1953, actor Woody Harrelson in 1961, and singer Curt Massey.
u U.S. President George Bush grew up here at 1412 W. Ohio Ave.
The home where the family lived from 1951 to 1955, was restored in 2006.

MILLCREEK – Gunman Bill Longley was born here on October 6, 1851.

MISSION – Born here in Mission were: actor Kermit Maynard in 1902, politician Lloyd Bentsen in 1921, and football coach Tom Landry in 1924.

MONAHANS – Golfer Kathy Whitworth was born here in 1939.

MORALES – Burlesque stripper Candy Barr was living here in a small house when she died in 2005.

MOSCOW – Gunslinger John Wesley Hardin killed his first man (a slave) here in November of 1868. Hardin was 15 years old.

MULESHOE – Actor Lee Horsley was born here in 1955.

MURCHISON – Author and animal activist Cleveland Amory is buried here on his Black Beauty Ranch next to his cat “Polar Bear.”

MURVAL – Western singer/actor Tex Ritter was born here in 1905. He was actor John Ritter's father.

NACOGDOCHES – Clyde Barrows mother, Cumie, was born here.

NEW LONDON – An explosion in a school here on March 18, 1937, killed 413 people.

NOCONA – Songwriter Redd Harper was born here in 1903,

OATMEAL – An annual Oatmeal Festival is held here in August.

ODESSA – Actress Barbara Payton went to Odessa high school here in the late 1930s.
u The world's largest (8-feet tall) jack rabbit is located here on Lincoln ve.

OLD EVERGREEN – Gunman Bill Longley killed his first man here at age 15 in 1866, when he observed a black lawman riding through the streets, waving a rifle and cursing at whites, including Longley's own father. Longley ordered the former slave to stop waving his gun around. When the lawman moved too slow, Longley shot and killed him. Whites hid the corpse and Longley was never prosecuted. Instead, he became a local hero.

ORANGE – Football player Bubba Smith was born here in 1945.
u Musician/singer Clarence “Gate Mouth” Brown grew up here.

PALMER – Clyde Barrow's father was born here in Palmer.

PALO PINTO – Baseball pitcher Charlie Robertson is buried here in the Palo Pinto Cemetery. He pitched a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox against the Detroit Tigers on April 30,1922.

PARIS – Bandit queen Belle Starr was once jailed here.
u Frank James worked in a dry goods store here in his later years.
u Explorer John Chisum is buried here near his boyhood home.
u A replica of France's Eiffel Tower stands 65 feet tall at Love Civic Center.

PASADENA – A plastics plant explosion killed 22 people here on October 23, 1989.
u Serial killer Dean Corll is buried here in the Grand View Cemetery. He murdered 27 men and boys from 1970-1973. He himself was murdered on August 8, 1973.

PECOS – The world's first rodeo was held here on July 4, 1883.
u Outlaw Clay Allison is buried here in Pecos. Allison was killed on July 1, 1887, as he was returning from Pecos where he had purchased supplies for his ranch., When a sack of grain fell off the pile, h tried to grab it, and he fell from the wagon. As he tried to retrieve the sack from under the wagon, the horses suddenly jerked forward, and one of the wheels rolled over him crushing his head and almost decapitating him. He was 47. His tombstone reads, "He never killed a man that did not need killing."
u Outlaw Robert Allison is buried here in the Pecos Park Cemetery.

PERRYVILLE – Singer Ray Price was born here in 1926.

PETROLIA – Actor Reed Hadley was born here in 1911.

PLAINVIEW – Born here in Plainview were: cowboy actor Sunset Carson in 1922, and singer Jimmy Dean in 1928.

PLANO – Bicyclist Lance Armstrong was born here in 1971.
u The Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum is located here at
2231-B West 15th Street.

PLEASANT MOUND – On August 31, 1933, Bluitt Burkely, 19, and his brother, Thurman, 18, both black, were arrested for the murder of a white couple, Kathryn Prince, 21, and her escort, Mace Carver, 27. The pair were last seen alive as they walked home from the Oak Cliff Baptist Church. The Burkley brothers approached them from behind and shot them in the back of their heads. Within 24 hours, the two men were arrested and were brought to the home of William McCutcheon, where they signed confessions. When the farmers of Pleasant Mound learned that the killers were two black men, the lobby of the tiny jail at Main and Hudson Streets was filled to overcrowding. Sentiments against blacks ran deep in the South at this time, and the word "lynch" was now on everyone's lips. Deputy sheriffs milled through the crowd reminding people that matters were well in hand. Five months later, the brothers were found guilty of murder by a jury, and on February 9, 1934, they were executed.

PORT ARTHUR – Born here in Port Arthur were: athlete Babe Zaharias Didrikson in 1911, actress Evelyn Keyes in 1919, artist Robert Rauschenberg in 1925, and singer Janis Joplin in 1943.

PORT NECHES – Songwriter Lee Hazelwood grew up here. He wrote the song “These Boots Are Made For Walking.” He died in Henderson, Nevada in 2007 at age 78.
u Tex Ritter, singing cowboy, and father of actor John Ritter, is buried here in Section 8 of the Oak Bluff Cemetery at 101 Block Street. His hit songs included Jingle,Jangle, Jingle, Jealous Heart, Boll Weevil, Wayward Wind, You Are My Sunshine and High Noon.

POTEET – Singer George Strait was born here in 1952.B.
u Poteet calls itself the "Strawberry Capital of Texas.”

QUITMAN – Actress Sissy Spacek was born here in 1949.

RED OAK – Baseball player/manager Pinky Higgins was born here in 1909.
u Roy Thornton, husband of outlaw Bonnie Parker, robbed a store here in 1929.

RED RIVER – U.S. vice president John Nance Garner was born here in 1868.

REFUGIO – Baseball player Nolan Ryan was born here in 1947.

ROCK SPRINGS – A tornado killed 74 people here on April 12, 1927.

ROGERS – Choreographer Alvin Ailey was born here in 1931.

ROUND ROCK – Outlaw and train robber Sam Bass and his gang were killed here during a robbery on July 21, 1878. The spot where they were killed was in the grass on the south side of Round Rock Avenue, just west of May Street. It was Sam's 27th birthday.
u Buried here in the Round Rock Cemetery. on the north side of Sam Bass Road, 1/2 mile west of IH 35 are:
– Seaborn Barnes, outlaw and member of the Sam Bass gang. He was killed in the gunfight on July 19, 1878.
u Sam Bass, outlaw. He was killed here during an attempted bank robbery on July 19, 1878. He is on the west side of the cemetery near the fence.
u A. W. Grimes, Deputy Sheriff. He was killed by Seaborn Barnes in the gunfight on July 19, 1878.
u Round Rock was named the 8th safest city in America in 2005.

ROUTE 66 THROUGH TEXAS - Tour Route 66 from Shamrock to Glenrio. Visit and see the towns and atttractions on this one-of-a-kind photo tour. GO THERE

ROWENA – Outlaw Bonnie Parker was born here on October 1, 1910. The Parker family attended the First Baptist Church here. When her father, Charles, died in 1915, the family moved to Cement City.

SAN ANTONIO – Born here in San Antonio were: actress Laura Hope Crews in 1879, actress Florence Bates in 1888, Margaret Shelby in 1900 (she was the mother of actress Mary Miles Minter), actress Susy Parker in 1933, comedienne Carol Burnett in 1933, actress Joan Crawford in 1908, actress Paula Prentiss in 1939, Marine/talk show host Oliver North in 1943, and author Whitley Strieber in 1945.
u Davy Crockett and 187 other men, including Jim Bowie and William Travis, were killed here during the Alamo siege from February 23 to March 6, 1836.
u Buried here at The Alamo are:
– Jim Bowie, frontiersman, co-commander of the Alamo.
– Davy Crockett, frontiersman and defender of the Alamo.
– William Travis, commander of the Alamo.
u Cult leader, Marshall Applegate is buried here in Mission Park South Cemetery on the southeast corner of Mission Rd. & Southeast Military Dr. Applegate and 38 members of the Heavens Gate religious cult, killed themselves in Rancho Santa Fe, California on March 25,1997. Marshall, 66, is buried next to his parents. The em. is located at 3401 Cherry Ridge Rd..
u Buried here in the Mission Burial Park North are:
– Oscar Fox, composer. He wrote the song Whoopee Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Dogies. He is Block 7, Lot 132.
– Rube Waddell, baseball player.
u Buried here in the San Jose Burial Park are:
– Montgomery Barrett, cartoonist. He created the comic strip Jane Arden. He is in Block 9 Section 1 W 1/2 Lot 307 Grave 5.
– Heloise Reese, journalist. She wrote the column Hints From Heloise. She is in Block 4, Section 2, Lot 12, Grave 1.

SAN SABA – Actor Tommy Lee Jones was born here in 1946.

SAN BENITO – Singer Freddie Fender was born here in 1937.

SANDERSON – In 1881, Billy Wilson, outlaw and member of the Billy the Kid gang, was convicted murder and was sent to prison in New Mexico. He managed to escape and fled here to Sanderson where he lived under his real name, Anderson. He married and raised a family, operating the Old Cottage Bar. He became so popular, that he was elected sheriff in 1898. On October 14, 1905, Anderson was shot and killed by a drunken cowboy named Ed Valentine. So incensed were local residents, that they lynched Valentine.
– Ole Hobek, outlaw. He and partner Ben Kilpatrick were killed when they tried to rob a Southern Pacific train east of Sanderson on March 13, 1912. He is buried with Kilpatrick in a common grave in the northeast corner of the cemetery.
– Ben Kilpatrick, outlaw. He was at one time a member of Tom "Black Jack" Ketchums gang and also the "Wild Bunch."

SARATOGA – Singer George Jones was born here in 1931.

SCEYNE – Belle Starr (Myra Belle Shirley) moved here with her family in 1863 at age 15. While living here in 1867, she became pregnant by her lover, Cole Younger, and gave birth to a daughter, Pearl Younger. (Sceyne was just outside Dallas)

SEMINOLE – Singer Tanya Tucker was born here in 1958.

SHERMAN – Singer Buck Owens was born here in 1929.
u On October 11, 1932, Clyde Barrow and his gang robbed the Little Food Store of $60 here at the corner of Valen Street and Wells Avenue. During the robbery, Barrow shot and killed Howard Hall, the manager.
u On May 15, 1896, a tornado measuring F5 on the Fujita scale struck Sherman. The tornado had a damage path 400 yards wide and 28 miles long, killing 73 people and injuring 200. About 50 homes were destroyed, with 20 of them being completely obliterated.
u On May 3, 1930, George Hughes, a black farm laborer, was accused of raping a white woman outside of Sherman. In addition, he was accused of shooting at two sheriff's deputies who attempted to capture him. Following his surrender, the man was indicted by a grand jury in Sherman, and went on trial on May 9. Despite warnings from the Texas Rangers that violence was likely should the trial be held in Sherman, Hughes was tried in the Grayson County seat. A mob of angry white people surrounded the courthouse and, after threatening violence, set it on fire. While the structure burned, the accused rapist was trapped in the courthouse's fireproof vault, the flames preventing his rescue. The mob then burst through the concrete lining of the vault with dynamite. The body was taken by the mob and burned in the center of Sherman's black district. A period of rioting and violence against local blacks followed before order was restored.
u On February 18, 1851, a band of Indians massacred seven members of the pioneer Oatman family near Gila Bend , Arizona. The Indians carried off Olive Oatman, 14, and her sister Mary Ann, 10 to thier camp where they became slaves. Olive lived with the tribe until she was rescued in 1856 Olive married John Fairchild in 1865 and they moved to Sherman in 1872 where they bought a large house at the corner of South Travis and Moore Streets. One of the wealthiest persons in town, John had the house staffed with servants and they worshiped at the Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church. Over the years her tattoos had become faint but could still be seen. On visits to town, she always wore a hat and a dark veil, pulled across her chin.
Olive died in her sleep on March 21, 1903 at age 66. Funeral services were held in the Fairchild house by the rector from Saint Stephen's and the pastor of the Sherman Presbyterian Church. John buried her in the East Hill Cemetery on Lamar Street and marked her grave with a large granite monument. Before her coffin was lowered into her grave, he had it enclosed in an iron container to keep the Mohave Indians from taking her body. John died on April 25, 1907 at age 77 and is buried beside her.
u Baseball player Bog Muncrief is buried here in the Cedar Lawn Memorial Park. He is in Section B (Good Shepherd), lot 216, grave 1.
u Sherman was named after General Sidney Sherman, the Texas Republic cavalry officer credited with the famous slogan, “Remember the Alamo!”
u Sherman was rated No. 6 on the Healthy Cities list, by Organic Style magazine in 2003.

SMILEY – In September 1871, gunslinger John Wesley Hardin shot and killed Green Parramore, a black Union soldier here in the general store. Parramore had been hunting Hardin for a previous killing.

STONEWALL – U. S. President Lyndon B. Johnson was born here in 1908.
u Lyndon Baines Johnson is buried here on the LBJ Ranch.

SWEETWATER – In 1876, Bat Masterson, 22, stole Melvin King's girlfriend, Molly Brennan from him. When King found them together one night in a saloon here, he opened fire on Bat. Molly threw herself in front of Bat to protect him, but a bullet passed through her body, killing her instantly, and lodged in Bat's pelvis. But as he fell, Bat fired back and killed King. Bat suffered a slight permanent limp from his wound, and forced him to walk with the aid of a cane.

TASCOSA – Billy the Kid, Frank James, Bat Masterson, Charlie Siringo, and Pat Garrett, came here often in what was once the toughest town in Texas.

TATUM – On a Saturday night in 1957, at a small cafe here, a bunch of black teenagers danced to the jukebox. Outside, Perry Ross, a young white man, was driving by when he got an urge he'd never had before. Holding the steering wheel with his left hand, he laid his automatic rifle across the open window and fired as he drove by at 85 mph. He killed 16-year-old John Earl Reese and wounded two girls. Fifteen months went by before authorities indicted Ross for murder with malice. At the trial, one of Ross' attorneys asked the jury to just "call it a bad day and let the boy go on in life." The jury found Ross guilty of murder without malice, and recommended that a five-year prison sentenced be suspended.

TAYLOR – Cartoonist Tex Avery was born here in 1908. He created the cartoon characters Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny.

TELICO – Outlaw Clyde Barrow was born on a farm six miles from town on March 24, 1909.

TEMPLE – Born here in Temple were: football player Sammy Baugh in 1914, actor Rip Torn in 1931, and football player Mean Joe Greene in 1946.
u On October 28, 1932, Bonnie & Clyde drove up in front of a home here at 606 South 13th Street, where they spotted a Model A roadster in the driveway and decided to steal it. While Clyde was trying to get it started, Doyle Johnson came out of the house and tried to stop him. As they struggled, W.D. Jones a member of the gang, shot and killed Johnson.

TERRELL – Inventor Robert Dennard was born here in 1932. He invented the computer DRAM.

TEXARKANA – Born here in Texarkana were: pianist/composer Scott Joplin in 1868, film director Josh Logan in 1908, baseball player Eddie Mathews in 1931, and politician H. Ross Perot in 1934.

TEXAS CITY – Baseball player Andy Hassler was born here in 1951.
u A ship explosion here on April 4, 1947, killed 516 people, injured 3,600 and destroyed most of the town.

TIOGA – Singer/actor Gene Autry was born here in 1907.

TOWASH – Gunslinger John Wesley Hardin shot and killed Jim Bradley, the town bully here on Christmas Day in 1869.

TRINITY CITY – When gunslinger John Wesley Hardin came here to Trinity City in July of 1872 to visit relatives, he got into a gunfight with a local gunman Phil Sublett. He killed Sublett, but he himself was seriously wounded.

TYLER – Born here in Tyler were: musician Dooley Wilson in 1894, and football player Earl Campbell in 1955.
u Religious fanatic David Koresh is buried here in the Last Supper Section of the Memorial Park Cemetery.

UVALDE – Actress/singer Dale Evans was born here in 1912.
u Buried here in the in the Uvalde Frontier Cemetery. at the Intersection Of No. Park & Florence St. are:
– J.F. "King" Fisher, popular sheriff and former outlaw. He was shot and killed in San Antonio by gunman Ben Thompson in 1884. The entire town of Uvalde met his body when it arrived here at the depot. He was buried in a tear-shaped coffin.
– John Nance Garner U. S. Vice President. He died here at 333 N. Park Street in 1967.

VERNON – Born here were trombonist Jack Teagarden in 1905 and singer Roy Orbison in 1936.

WACO – Born here in Waco were: actress/singer Texas Guinan in 1884, Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski in 1905, baseball player Schoolboy Rowe in 1910, singer Willie Nelson in 1933, comedian Steve Martin in 1945, Heloise in 1951, (author of Handy Hints) , baseball player Al Jackson in 1935, and actress Jennifer Love Hewitt in 1979.
u Pharmacist Charles Alderton invented Dr. Pepper here in 1895. He is buried here in Lot 425 in Oakwood Cemetery.
u David Koresh and his Branch Davidians religious group were living here on their 77-acre compound, ten miles outside of Waco, on April 19, 1993, when the FBI and the ATF ordered them to come out and surrender. When they refused, tanks were used to blow holes in the compound walls, then tear gas was sprayed into the buildings. A few hours later, the buildings roared into flames. Rather than be taken alive, the Davidians doused the walls and floors with kerosene and burned themselves alive. Of the 72 bodies recovered after the blaze, 17 were children. 20 adults and two children were found to have died of gunshot wounds. Koresh had been shot to death by one his followers.
u Many Branch Davidian victims are buried here in the Mount Carmel Center on the Branch Davidian Compound.
u Clyde Barrow and two other inmates escaped from the McClennan County jail here on March 9, 1930. They used a gun that Bonnie Parker had smuggled into them.
u A tornado killed 114 people here on May 11, 1953.
u The first suspension bridge in the United States was the Waco Bridge. Built in 1870, it is still in use today as a pedestrian crossing of the Brazos River.

WAXAHACHIE – Aviator Bessie Coleman and major league baseball player Art Shires (See Italy, Texas) grew up here.

WEATHERFORD – Born here in Weatherford were: baseball player Rip Collins, singer/actress Mary Martin in 1913, and actor Larry Hagman (son of Mary Martin) in 1931.
u Mary Martin is buried here in Greenwood Cemetery. on Water Street, between Mill & Elm. She is in Section C. Also buried here is legendary cattleman Oliver Loving.

WEST – Raymond Hamilton, a member of Bonnie & Clyde's gang, robbed the bank here in 1933.

WHARTON – TV newscaster Dan Rather was born here in 1931.
u Baseball player Carl Reynolds is buried here in the Wharton City Cemetery.

WICHITA FALLS – Dancer Tommy Tune was born here in 1939.
u Bonnie & Clyde rented a two-bedroom house here in July of 1932. They used it as a hideout while robbing stores in surrounding cities.

WINTERS – Baseball player Rogers Hornsby was born here in 1896.