A Look into the Past: Downtown Stephenville

In laying out the town of Stephenville in July of 1855, two original streets were named—Floral and Green, with the square in the middle.  Therefore, Floral which runs alongside the Dinner Bell, and Green, which runs alongside the First Baptist Church, marked the boundaries of the new township.

Stephenville, at this point, was the farthest west of any settlement to be reached on the Brazos River.   It would also be recognized for its thickly wooded area and the name “Cross Timbers” would emerge.  In fact, so dense were the trees, that the name Bosque was given to the river, which means “woods” in Spanish.

Soon John Stephen would open the first store, delegating one side of it to be used as a post office, thus becoming Stephenville’s first postmaster. In the early 1900s, the mail came by horseback directly to Stephenville.  Settlers came into town to get their mail from as far away as Eastland and Palo Pinto counties.

By 1858, the population of Stephenville was estimated at approximately 766 people, with two stores and a hotel.  The hotel was located on the corner of Washington and Belknap streets.  It was primarily for buffalo hunters in the area because buffalo ranged within three miles of town. 

Other businesses followed in the years to come.  One of the most needed was a fire department.  The early firefighters were volunteers from the community. A small barn served as headquarters, only large enough to house the mules, that would be pulling a water wagon.  This soon evolved into very fast horses, trained to pull wagons already loaded with barrels of water.  When the fire whistle blew, the horses were trained to immediately run to the wagons, get information to be harnessed, and move quickly to the location of the fire.