Johnson County Pioneers and Old Settlers Reunion

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Johnson County Pioneers and Old Settlers Reunion, and friend, this one's worth the telling. Now, every great tradition has to start somewhere, and this one started with a farmer getting told no. The year was 1892, and a local farmer and newspaper correspondent by the name of John James (born 1852, gone in 1927) put an idea to some of his neighbors: let's gather.

Let's bring the people of Johnson County together for a reunion. His neighbors looked at him and, more or less, said thanks but no thanks. Initial rejection, the marker calls it, which is a polite way of saying the man got shut down.

But John James was not the shutting-down type. He rounded up some fellow newspaper writers, and together they organized a picnic out at Elm Grove. June 1893.

And the people who showed up at that picnic did something that changed things; they voted to form an organization, right then and there, to plan an official annual reunion. That first official Johnson County Pioneers and Old Settlers Reunion came fast. July 27th and 28th, 1893, out at Gathings Park, northeast of Cleburne.

More than two thousand people showed up. Two thousand. For a man who couldn't get his neighbors to say yes the year before, that is what you call a turnaround.

The reunion moved around for a while (Alvarado, Grandview, Venus, Cleburne) until the organization did what serious Texans do when they mean business: they bought land. A permanent reunion campground, right here. And in 1906, they raised the first pavilion on this very site.

Now here's where the land itself seems to have had opinions. That first pavilion was destroyed by a tornado. Gone.

The second one burned in 1965. Also gone. But 1966 brought a larger structure to replace it, and it seems the elements have held their peace since.

Decades on, this reunion has grown into something John James probably couldn't have pictured on that rejected day in 1892. More than ten thousand participants now come through for carnivals, parades, queen contests, baby contests, fiddle contests, and musical concerts. One of the largest events of its kind in all of Texas, they say, and one of the most significant cultural institutions in the whole area.

A farmer got told no. He went and built something that outlasted him by generations. That's the story, and the land right here is proof of it.

What the marker says

One of the largest events of its kind in Texas, the Johnson County Pioneers and Old Settlers Reunion traces its beginnings to 1892, when local farmer and newspaper correspondent John James (1852-1927) proposed the idea to some of his neighbors. Although met with initial rejection, James, together with some fellow newspaper writers, organized a picnic at Elm Grove in June 1893. Those in attendance voted to form an organization to oversee plans for an annual reunion. The first official Johnson County Pioneers and Old Settlers Reunion was held July 27-28, 1893, at Gathings Park northeast of Cleburne, with more than 2,000 people in attendance. Subsequent reunions were held in Alvarado, Grandview, Venus, and Cleburne, until the organization purchased land at this site for a permanent reunion campground. The first pavilion, built here in 1906, was later destroyed in a tornado, and the second one burned in 1965. It was replaced by a larger structure in 1966. Through the years, the reunion has grown to attract more than ten thousand participants to such events as carnivals; parades; queen, baby, and fiddle contests; and musical concerts. It has evolved into one of the area's most significant cultural institutions.