Kentucky Town, Texas, Grayson County . (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

First settlers appeared in 1837 although nothing resembling a community started until the late 1840s when a wagon train arrived from Kentucky.

The community began 1851 with not one but two stores and a mill. A town was platted by Dr. Josiah L. Heiston in late 1852 and although he attempted to name the town after his daughter (Ann Eliza), the matter was settled by the public who insisted on calling the place Kentuckians' Town or Kentucky Town. The name was popular in 1854 when the post office was granted. After approval by the post office the name became official.

The town had all the pre-railroad advantages of being on stage and freight routes coming from the ports of Shreveport and Jefferson, but that wasn�t to last. From a population only in double digits, Kentucky grew rapidly, in 1855 reporting thriving businesses numbering as high as twenty, three physicians and a church and two schools.

The guerilla William (Bloody Bill) Quantrill and his men used the region around Kentucky Town as a hideout during the Civil War. In the 1870s, the town was dealt the death-blow of being bypassed by the (Texas and Pacific) railroad. Later, when the Katy (Missouri, Kansas and Texas) railroad entered Texas from the north, the town missed its second chance at a railroad.

By 1883 all that was left of the town was the store / post office. The post office managed to stay open until the mid 1920s. Today the church, cemetery and a few scattered houses are all that is left.

Kentuckytown Baptist Church
Photo courtesy Mike Price, September 2009

Historical Marker:

Kentucky Town

When first settled in 1830s was known as Annaliza. Renamed by Kentucky emigrants in 1858. Unique layout gave town protection against Indian attacks. On freight and stage routes. "Sacred Harp," a robust frontier gospel style of singing and composition, began here. During Civil War was Quantrill gang rendezvous.

Kentucky Town Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Mike Price, September 2009

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