Missouri Colony

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and it's a story worth tellin'. Back in 1844, a group of related families packed up their lives in Platte County, Missouri, and pointed themselves toward a stretch of North Texas that wasn't exactly overrun with neighbors. They settled in what is now Tarrant County, and among the earliest of them was a man named James Gibson, who owned this very site.

One family wasn't enough, though; by 1845, more relatives and friends had made that same long journey south and west to join them. And somewhere along the way, folks started callin' them what they were: the Missouri Colony. Now that name carries a kind of weight to it, doesn't it?

A whole community defined by where they came from, plantin' roots in a place that barely had a name yet. They raised cattle and grain, doing the hard daily work that frontier life demanded without apology. And they tended to their souls as well as their soil; a man named John A.

Freeman taught school and preached to the settlers out at Lonesome Dove. Some of those original colonists eventually pulled up stakes again, movin' on to pioneer still other frontier regions, always chasing that next edge of the map. But others stayed.

They stayed, and they built, and what they built became the northeastern section of Tarrant County; the first permanently settled area in the entire county. The ones who left carried the spirit of the Missouri Colony with them. The ones who stayed became the foundation of something that's still standin'.

What the marker says

In 1844 related families from Platte County, Missouri, settled in this area. James Gibson, one of the earliest settlers in Tarrant County, owned this site. In 1845 more relatives and friends arrived. They became known as the "Missouri Colony". The pioneers raised cattle and grain. John. A Freeman taught school and preached to the settlers at Lonesome Dove. Some original colonists moved to pioneer other frontier regions. Others remained to help build the northeastern section of Tarrant County, the first permanently settled area in the county. (1979)