Colonel William G. Cooke

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one drivin' you through it. Now, picture October of 1840, the Republic of Texas is its own sovereign nation, still finding its edges, still drawing its lines on the map. And out here, in the vicinity of what would become Dallas, a man named Colonel William G.

Cooke rides in with forty other members of the Regular Army of the Republic of Texas. Forty-one soldiers, total, out in the field on a mission that sounds almost too practical to be legendary, and yet here we are, still talking about it. They camped right around here.

Forty-one men, canvas and firelight, the land wide open in every direction. What were they doing? They were locating the Central National Highway.

Not building it yet, mind you, locating it. Deciding where it ought to go. Tracing a military road through terrain that didn't ask their permission.

Now, the marker doesn't dress that up with drama, but it doesn't have to. The Central National Highway and its importance to the history of Dallas, the marker says plainly, will not be forgotten. And that's the thing about roads, they outlast the men who find them.

Colonel Cooke and his forty soldiers rode through, did their work, broke camp, and moved on. But the road stayed. And so, in a way, did they.

What the marker says

To the memory of Colonel William G. Cooke and forty other members of the Regular Army, Republic of Texas, who camped in this vicinity in October, 1840 while locating the Central National Highway. The importance of this military road in the history of Dallas will not be forgotten. (Corinth Street Viaduct, Dallas)