Texas, Parmer County, Bovina
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Prior to the founding of the city of Bovina, the XIT Ranch located its southern headquarters in this vicinity. The Pecos and Northern Texas Railway built through the ranch in 1898, and the settlement became known as Bull Town because of cattle frequently found on the tracks. A community developed around the railhead, and in January 1899 the official post office name became Bovina. Due to a boom in cattle shipping, the town's population began to grow after the turn of the 20th century. Since then, the city has owned this cemetery, which was maintained for a time by the Bovina Cemetery Association.
The XIT Ranch initially used this site for burials of cowboys. Oral tradition holds that several grave markers initially bore only common names of the cowboys, such as Dusty and Big Jim. It is believed there were approximately 40 such graves, but all are now unmarked. The earliest marked grave is that of J.W. McDonald (d. 1907). Bovina Cemetery is the final resting place of veterans of military conflicts dating to World War I, as well as generations of area residents.
Historic Texas Cemetery – 2004
(Cemeteries & Burial Sites) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Prior to the founding of the city of Bovina, the XIT Ranch located its southern headquarters in this vicinity. The Pecos and Northern Texas Railway built through the ranch in 1898, and the settlement became known as Bull Town because of cattle frequently found on the tracks. A community developed around the railhead, and in January 1899 the official post office name became Bovina. Due to a boom in cattle shipping, the town's population began to grow after the turn of the 20th century. Since then, the city has owned this cemetery, which was maintained for a time by the Bovina Cemetery Association.
The XIT Ranch initially used this site for burials of cowboys. Oral tradition holds that several grave markers initially bore only common names of the cowboys, such as Dusty and Big Jim. It is believed there were approximately 40 such graves, but all are now unmarked. The earliest marked grave is that of J.W. McDonald (d. 1907). Bovina Cemetery is the final resting place of veterans of military conflicts dating to World War I, as well as generations of area residents.
Historic Texas Cemetery – 2004
(Cemeteries & Burial Sites) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Tennessee native Jeff T. Gilbreath moved his family to this area in 1905. The owner of a local mercantile store, he built this house in 1909. He sold it in 1910 to county attorney Mark Cowsert, whose family lived here until 1912. The house changed ownership a number of times before the Castro County Museum purchased it in 1976. A fine example of early 20th century vernacular housing, it features a bay window and hipped roof with gables.
This site was set aside as the Dimmitt town square in 1891, the year Castro County was formally organized. Temporary court facilities were set up in J. N. Morrison's office while the first courthouse was built. An ornate two-story structure, it burned in 1906 after being hit by lighting. A brick courthouse with a central dome, built in 1908, was dedicated at a community picnic. It served until the 1930s, but was razed to make room for the present stone building. Built with Works Progress Administration labor, Castro County's third courthouse opened in 1939.
At an 1891 meeting to discuss the selection of a Castro County seat, words were exchanged between Ira Aten, a retired Texas Ranger speaking on behalf of Castro City, and Andrew McClelland, a spokesman for Dimmitt. The inflammatory remarks led to a gunfight between the two men on December 23, five days after Dimmitt was chosen county seat. In an exchange of shots in the middle of Jones Street, Aten wounded Andrew McClelland and his brother Hugh. Aten was acquitted of the assault charges and a short time later was appointed Castro County Sheriff.
In 1876, English native John Summerfield (1885-1918) began his work locating and surveying millions of acres of land in present-day Randall, Deaf Smith, Castro and Swisher counties. One of the earth monuments he erected that year was located near this site and became a starting point for surveys in many Panhandle counties. In 1925, a group of Castro County citizens placed a concrete monument at the site, which had become known as Dameron's Corner after a local landowner. The monument was buried in 1958 when a road was cut through the area.
For 90 years, starting in 1905, Nazareth residents purchased goods here. The original wood-framed structure, built by Fred Heidgerken with living quarters above, opened its main floor to home shopping needs and the storing and selling of fresh meat and dairy products, in 1928. Ed Kern and Conrad Schulte built a new brick and concrete building, the first in town, that came to include the post office from 1937-1980. The building also hosted such social activities as weekly poker games, amateur boxing matches, a community bulletin board, and occasional liquor sales from the back door. While the store closed in 1995, social and cultural events of the community continue to be celebrated here.
The history of Holy Family Catholic Church parallels that of the town of Nazareth. The families of brothers V. A., J. A. and T. P. McCormick and other Irish families came to this area from New York in the early 1890s. The Rev. Joseph Reisdorff arrived in 1902 to establish a Catholic parish. Advertising in German-language newspapers in the U.S. Midwest, he induced many German Catholic families to settle here. Reisdorff named the new town Nazareth. An important part of the area's development, the church remains a focal point of community activities.
In 1902, Joseph Reisdorff, pastor and colonizer of Nazareth, devoted land donated by Wilhelmina Thier to be Holy Family Cemetery. First interment was the body of Anna Lackerman in August 1906. Reflecting Nazareth’s heritage, nine early tombstones bear German inscriptions. In the 1940s, additions included more property, the crucifixion statuary, pipe fencing, brick pillars, tree-lined walks, and an arched gateway. In 1985, the statue of the sacred heart of Jesus was placed in the east, and in 1995, the unborn children’s memorial in the west. In 2012, the New Jerusalem oratory was dedicated for visitors’ devotion and cemetery information. Notable interments include three priests and the only World War II death casualty, R.T. Dirks.
Historic Texas Cemetery 2011
Visited by over two million people a year, Multhnomah Falls is the second-highest year-round waterfall in the United States and one of 77 on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. Multnomah Creek, created by underground springs from Larch Mountain, feeds the falls as it plunges off steep basalt cliffs The water flow varies, but is most spectacular in the winter and spring when at its fullest the falls plummet 543 feet to the upper plunge pool, descend another 69 feet, plus an additional 8 feet in between to total a 620-foot-fall! As our nation's western cities boomed in the late 1880s, people looked for ways to escape the bustle and overcrowding. Portland residents—and eventually visitors from all over the country—traveled to the Columbia River Gorge for its scenic beauty and towering waterfalls. Regularly scheduled trains and steamships filled with tourists navigated up and down the Gorge, and Multnomah Falls soon became a favorite attraction.
At this location, from 1942 to 1943, 
This millstone, which dates prior to the American Revolution, came from Dutch Corner in Bedford County. Jim Karns found it in 1985 while doing construction work near Imlertown. The mill from which it came is unknown. This stone, which weighs about 1000 pounds, was used for grinding corn, wheat, rye, and barley into flour. Joel and Rachel (Karns) Riggle donated the stone to the museum in 2012.
From June 27-July 8, 1861 a newly formed brigade of 1,500 Union troops under Chas. J. Biddle consisting of the 5th and 13th (Bucktail Regiment) PA Reserves, and 1st PA Res. Artillery, encamped here while enroute to relieve Col. Lew Wallace’s 11th Indiana Regiment at Camp McGinnis in Federal occupied Cumberland, MD, a key Union Army railroad hub. Swampy ground, poor provisions and rampant illness resulting in two deaths, earned the site the appellation “Camp Misery and Despair”
Founded 1681 by William Penn as a Quaker Commonwealth.
The development of downtown Biloxi is a direct reflection of the economic growth of the city. During early and mid-19th century homes on small lots and hotels occupied the area. Attracted by the population density, merchants began to establish businesses along what was then the Pass Christian-Point Cadet Road, later called Howard Avenue, and Lameuse Street, concentrating near the beach and its incoming waterborn trade. The advent of the railroad in 1870 shifted economic growth northward toward the tracks. A series of devastating fires in 1889, 1894, 1900, however, destroyed the commercial-residential flavor of the area.
This plaque is dedicated to bring awareness to the surge and high water levels from Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Camille. Both storms brought about great devastation and loss of life to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf coast on August 29, 2005 at 10:00 am. The storm surge level at this location was 22 feet above mean sea level, with reported waves reaching 34.1 feet. There was approximately 125 billion dollars of damage to the coast, leaving 236 people dead and 67 missing. Hurricane Camille made landfall on August 17, 1969 at about 11:30 pm. The storm surge level at this location was 19.5 feet. There was approximately 1.5 billion dollars of damage to the coast leaving 131 dead and 41 missing.
