DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Gunsight Community, out in Stephens County. Now, the name alone ought to stop you — Gunsight. Sits right there on a wagon road that once ran from Fort Griffin clear down to Stephenville, and records put it on that road as far back as 1858.
But don't let that date fool you into thinkin' anybody was plantin' roots just yet. Settlement didn't really take hold until the 1870s, when folks started decidin' this stretch of Texas was worth sticking around for. The first recorded burial here was a man named Lewis McCleskey, laid to rest in 1877.
That's the kind of detail that roots a place in time — not a ribbon-cuttin', not a courthouse bell, but a grave. By 1880, though, Gunsight had pulled itself into something that looked a good deal like a town. A post office.
A school. Two churches. A gristmill.
A general store. And a cotton gin. Cotton farming and ranching kept the local economy moving, and then — just when you might've thought Gunsight had found its ceiling — an oil boom in the 1920s came along and boosted the whole operation.
For a spell, this place had some real momentum behind it. But then, after World War II, Gunsight began a steady decline. Steady.
That's the word the marker uses, and it carries weight. Not a flood, not a fire — just time, doing what time does to small towns out on old wagon roads. Today, what's left is a few houses, a few buildings, and the cemetery where Lewis McCleskey has been keeping the longest watch of anyone in Gunsight.
Some towns, they fade. This one left just enough behind to tell you it was here.
What the marker says
Records indicate that Gunsight existed on a wagon road from Fort Griffin to Stephenville in 1858. Settlement of the town, however, did not occur until the 1870s. The first recorded burial here was that of Lewis McCleskey is 1877. Gunsight developed as a stage stop and by 1880 contained a post office, school, two churches, gristmill, general store, and a cotton gin. The local economy, sustained by cotton farming and ranching, was boosted by an area oil boom in the 1920s. The town began a steady decline after World War II and today consists of a few houses, a few buildings, and this cemetery.