Best service by Teresa Floyd at the Corsicana Texas location. I did a walk in at the Corsicana…read morelocation. I had received a letter from SSA over the Christmas 2025 break that I did not understand . Teresa Floyd is very knowledgeable and explained the letter. You can tell she is a passionate employee. She made my experience very pleasant and even made small talk to make me feel comfortable. My husband is retiring soon and I will make an appointment for my husband with Teresa Floyd! She deserves a bonus!!!! You got a good one Corsicana!

This marker is along US-287 heading south. It is part where the road is divided so you'll be making…read moretwo u-turns if you're heading north. There is room to pull to the side of the road to see the marker. It reads, "Georgia native Thomas C. Neel married Willia E. Latimer in 1848. The couple moved their family to Texas in 1854 and to Ellis County in 1855. They established a cotton and wheat plantation near what would become Ennis. Neel called his wife "Will" and the plantation became known as Will's Town, which later was shortened to "Wilton." A post office opened on the plantation in 1857; it served under both the United States and Confederate governments. In 1861 Neel was appointed a delegate to the Secession Convention. Later that year, he was elected to represent the 42nd District in the House of Representatives in the 9th Legislature. Shortly after that term ended, he was elected State Senator from the 19th District, but he became ill and died before he was able to serve in the 10th Legislature." It is in excellent condition. It is marker number 11863 and it was erected in 2000 by the Texas Historical Commission. [Review 794 of 2024 - 550 in Texas - 21825 overall]

Navarro County was formed from Robertson County in 1846. It is named for José Antonio Navarro…read more(1795-1871), a Tejano leader in the Texas Revolution who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. This courthouse was completed in 1905 and is in the Beaux Arts style, designed by James E. Flanders who also designed the Shackelford County Courthouse in Albany Texas and the Grand Lodge Temple in Waco, Texas. It is red burnet granite and gray brick. The clock dome was added later. The property includes a sculpture of a seated Navarro and a fireman memorial. A bugler statue is a Confederate memorial. [Round number review 800 of 2024 - 556 in Texas - 21831 overall]

We happened to be in Grandview and we were lost. The internet was a little weak and we could not…read moreuse maps to find where we were going. So we use the old-fashioned way we asked someone. As it was an odd address I looked across the street from the coffeehouse we were in and said there's the police station let's ask them. We went inside and asked and the gentleman came outside pointed which way you're supposed to go explained what we should do do in very clear terms and thanked us for stopping in and went back to his business. Real nice helpful people that's what you want in every place you go and Grandview has it

Located in front of the Corsicana Visitors Center, this marker points out a Civil War hero who…read moremoved to Corsicana and helped the town grow into a city. The marker reads, "New York native Charles Henry Allyn (1842-1918) came to Texas in 1868, after having served as a captain in the Union army during the Civil War. Capt. Allyn arrived in Corsicana with his wife, Angela (Aldrich), in 1871. As a Corsicana businessman, he assisted in the organization of the First National Bank, local savings and loan companies, and the cotton mill. Allyn served as a member of the city council before holding a two-year term as Corsicana's mayor from 1888 to 1890. Capt. Allyn was also active in civic, educational, and church activities." There is parking at the visitors center (which was closed when I was here at 8pm). It is marker number 6226 and it was erected in 1985 by the Texas Historical Commission. [Review 806 of 2024 - 561 in Texas - 21837 overall]

The Hill County Courthouse dominates the square where it's located. A classic example of the Texas…read moretradition of grand late 19th century county courthouses in the Second Empire architecture. Constructed with native limestone in a clearly symmetrical plan including Mansard roofs on the east and west wings and crowned with a seven-story central clock tower that rises above the three main floors. The county was founded in 1853 and Hillsboro has served as the county seat ever since. It is the fourth in Hill County's history, replacing a two-story brick courthouse that was built in the 1870s. This one was heavily damaged by an electrical fire on January 1, 1993 and was rebuilt that same year through community fundraising and two benefit concerts by Willie Nelson. The restored building was dedicated on April 24, 1999 with Texas Governor George W. Bush as the keynote speaker. No Southern county courthouse would be complete without a Confederate memorial and this one is particularly nice. It's in excellent condition, clearly well cared for. The courthouse is worth a stop whether you're sightseeing or road tripping and especially if you're exploring downtown Hillsboro. It's buildings like this that give small Texas towns their sense of place. Check it out. [Review 386 of 2026 - 702 in Texas - 25571 overall]

Alvarado is the oldest city in Johnson County but it is not the county seat. That's Cleburne. This…read moreis a small town that is mostly agriculture though the large Sabre Structures building is here. This marker is located in Alvarado square. It is slightly weather worn and reads, "Early settler David Mitchell established a trading post near here in the late 1840s, about the time colonists of W. S. Peters' empresario grant began to settle the area. Colonist William Balch, who settled on an area land grant in 1852, was later to become known as the "Father of Alvarado" for his efforts in having the townsite surveyed in 1854, establishing the first general merchandise stores on the square, and for donating land for a cemetery, school, and union church. The town, named for Alvarado, Mexico, soon boasted a post office, homes, businesses, and churches. A community school established about 1855 became The Alvarado Masonic Institute in 1875. "Rail lines extended through Alvarado by the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1881 and by the Chicago, Texas, and Mexican Central Railroad in 1884 spurred a local economic boom. By 1885 Alvarado had several churches, two schools, two gins, an opera house, a bank, a newspaper, and a population of about 2,000. The Masonic Institute became the Alvarado Normal Institute in 1899 and Alvarado High School in 1908-09. "A large jail/town hall erected at this site in the mid-1880s was removed in the 1920s and replaced with a garden arrangement; a gazebo was added later. (1994)" I did not spend much time in Alvarado but it seems like a nice enough place. [Review 16124 overall - 303 in Texas - 1629 of 2021.]

This simple marker is located in Alvarado's main square and reminds us of the history of the Old…read moreWest and what it must have been like back in the days. The marker reads, "Near this site in 1869, Alvarado citizens ended the lives of outlaws Benjamin Bickerstaff and Josiah Thompson. A former Confederate veteran and prisoner of war, Bickerstaff was wanted for the murder of an African American man in Louisiana shortly after the Civil War. He later joined Alvarado business owner Josiah Thompson, also a Confederate veteran, and the two are believed to have participated in numerous robberies and murders in this area, including incidents in Alvarado. When they rode together into town on April 5, 1869, organized citizens shot them numerous times. They were buried in Balch (Old Alvarado) Cemetery. (2006)" Online, there is more information and Bickerstaff is not remembered kindly. Benjamin Bickerstaff was a desperado who preyed on blacks, Unionists, and others in northeastern Texas during the Reconstruction era until armed citizens killed him in the town of Alvarado in 1869. The Civil War in Texas did not really end in 1865 but continued long afterward. [Review 16059 overall - 241 in Texas - 1564 of 2021.]