Kerr's Creek

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You know how some places get their names? Well, this one's got a story behind it that starts with a mission and ends with silence.

James Kerr — ex-Missouri state senator, not exactly the kind of man you'd expect to find swinging an axe on the Texas frontier — was commissioned to found a capital for the colony of Green DeWitt. That's a serious charge. A capital.

Not a trading post, not a waystation — a capital. So Kerr came to this creek, and he brought six other men with him, and together those seven souls built homes right here on this stream. Seven men, one big idea, one ambitious colony.

And for a time, I imagine it felt like the beginning of something. The creek took Kerr's name — Kerr's Creek — and it's carried that name ever since. But here's where the story turns quiet.

In 1826, an Indian raid struck the settlement, and it was destructive enough that the people there made the only decision that made sense. They left. The homes stood empty.

The capital that was supposed to be never quite became what it was meant to be. The creek, though — Kerr's Creek — it kept right on running, carrying the name of the man who came out here with six others and dared to build something. Some names outlast the dreams that made them.

What the marker says

Commissioned to found a capital for colony of Green DeWitt, ex-Missouri state senator James Kerr settled here. He and six other men built homes on this stream--known ever since as Kerr's Creek. After a destructive Indian raid in 1826, the settlement was abandoned.