Town of Lancaster

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Town of Lancaster, Dallas County: so let's get into it. Now, every town has a founding story, but Lancaster's got a few extra threads worth pullin'. It starts with a man named A.

Bledsoe, born 1801, out of Kentucky, who would one day become Texas State Comptroller. But before all that, he was just a man looking for a place to put down roots. He settled in this locality in 1846.

He wasn't entirely alone in that decision. The elder Rawlins family, that's Mrs. Mildred Parks Rawlins, born 1789, and her people, had come to this same stretch of North Texas back in 1844.

And Bledsoe's own son-in-law, Roderick A. Rawlins, born 1833, was part of that extended constellation of kin. With the Rawlins' cooperation, Bledsoe got to work.

Around 1852, he established this town; and when it came time to name it, he looked back to Kentucky. His grandfather had founded a town there by the name of Lancaster, and so Lancaster it became here too. Now, a name is just a name until you build something under it.

And build they did. Stores went up. A school.

Churches. A grist mill. A tannery.

A cotton gin. A carding mill. All of it taking shape within or near a one-square-mile townsite.

That's a lot of enterprise packed into a tight little square of Texas prairie. Then came the Civil War, the 1860s, and Lancaster found itself contributing to the Confederate cause in a particular way. A pistol factory.

Right here in town. Operated for the Confederacy. That's not the kind of detail you stumble across every day, and the marker doesn't linger on it, so neither will I; but it's worth letting that sit for a moment.

After the war, the town kept growin'. By 1876, a well on the Square was providing water for citizens and visitors alike. Then 1888: the first railroad arrived.

Another one rolled in just two years later, in 1890. Two railroads in two years has a way of changing a town's sense of itself. And then there was Randolph College.

This was an enterprise of Randolph Clark, one of the founders of Texas Christian University. The college operated right here in Lancaster from 1898 to 1900. After it closed, other schools made use of that same college plant.

Until 1912, when it burned. Fire, it turns out, had a recurring relationship with Lancaster. The college wasn't the only thing that went up in smoke.

Sections of the Square itself were destroyed by fire in 1877, again in 1889, and again in 1918. Three times the flames came for the heart of this town. Three times Lancaster rebuilt around that square.

Through most of its first century, Lancaster was a farmers' market town; its fortunes rising and falling with the yields and prices of cotton. Good harvest, good year. Bad harvest, lean year.

That's a particular kind of precarious living, and an entire town knew it in their bones. Since 1950, though, something shifted. A broader economy took hold, and the population increased.

A town that had survived a Confederate war, three waves of fire, and a century of cotton prices found itself growing into something new. Founded by a man from Kentucky who named it after his grandfather's town back home, Lancaster, Texas has been keepin' its own story since about 1852.

What the marker says

Founded by A. Bledsoe (1801 - 1882), from Kentucky, joined by his son-in-law, Roderick A. Rawlins (1833 - 1910), and Mrs. Mildred Parks Rawlins (1789 - 1875). The elder Rawlins family came to this locality in 1844. Bledsoe, later to become Texas State Comptroller, settled here in 1846. With the Rawlins' cooperation, he established this town about 1852, patterning and naming it after the Kentucky town founded by his grandfather. Stores, a school, churches, a grist mill, tannery, cotton gin, and carding mill soon were built in or near the 1-square-mile townsite. During the Civil War (1860s), a Confederate pistol factory was operated here. After 1876, a town well on the Square provided water for citizens and visitors. The first railroad arrived in 1888, another in 1890. Randolph College, an enterprise of one of the Texas Christian University founders, Randolph Clark, operated here 1898 - 1900. Other schools used the college plant until it burned in 1912. Fires also destroyed some sections of this Square in 1877, 1889, and 1918. During its first century, Lancaster was a farmers' market town -- its fortunes fluctuating with yields and prices of cotton. Since 1950, a broader economy prevails, and the population has increased. Marker Donor: Lancaster Historical Society