Town of Gunter, on Old Gunter Ranch

Duane's take

Here's how the marker tells it, and I'm takin' it straight from the source. Way up in Grayson County, there's a town called Gunter, and it carries the name of one man who left a pretty serious mark on this corner of Texas. That man was Jot Gunter.

Born in North Carolina in 1845, Jot Gunter served in the Confederate army, and when that was done, he came to Texas to practice law. Now, somewhere between the courtroom and the countryside, he found his real calling: Texas real estate. He became a prominent Grayson County businessman, and in the 1880s he established a ranch right here where this town would one day stand.

By the mid-1890s, that ranch had grown to exceed twenty thousand acres. Twenty thousand. That's not a ranch so much as a small country with good fencing.

The town that grew up in and around his world was incorporated in 1914, and the people who built it knew exactly whose name it ought to carry. They called it Gunter. A man comes down from North Carolina, reads law, builds an empire of land out on the Texas prairie, and a town decides that's worth remembering.

Seems like they got that one right.

What the marker says

Established 1880s by Jot Gunter, developer of Texas real estate, prominent Grayson County businessman. In mid-1890s his ranch exceeded 20,000 acres. Gunter, born in North Carolina in 1845, came to Texas to practice law after he served in Confederate army. The town of Gunter, incorporated in 1914, was named for him.