Cherokees in Dallas
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Ninety Cherokee Indians, led by Chief Bowles, immigrated to this area from Arkansas Territory in 1819, but were driven out 2 years later by hostile Indians who resented the intrusion. Remnants of group signed Treaty of Sept. 29, 1843, agreeing to respect the Republic of Texas and its settlers. 1968
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1819 some ninety Cherokees led by Chief Bowles migrated from Arkansas Territory into this part of North Texas, only to be pushed out two years later by other Native groups who resented the newcomers. Remnants of the band later signed an 1843 treaty pledging to respect the Republic of Texas and its settlers.
Why it matters
The episode marks the turbulent Cherokee presence in early Texas, part of the larger displacement and diplomacy that defined Native life during the age of American expansion.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Chief Bowles
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old City Park
Dallas, TX
The springs on this ground drew Native peoples long before a settler acquired the property in the 1840s, and the same water later helped make Dallas the crossing point of two major railroads in 1871 — the spark for the town's explosive growth. In 1876 the city set aside ten acres near the springs as its first public park, a leafy center of fountains, a zoo, and a wading pool that a heritage society would later reclaim as a museum of restored historic buildings.
Giving Community Thanks
Dallas, TX
This marker traces the tradition of public thanksgiving in Texas, from Native peoples and a 1541 service by a friar of Coronado's expedition to Sam Houston's 1842 call for the Republic to give thanks. In Dallas, a rabbi, a priest, and Protestant ministers launched a shared community thanksgiving service in 1907, an early act of interfaith goodwill that led eventually to the 1968 founding of downtown Thanks-Giving Square.
Preston Road
Highland Park, TX
Long before wagons rolled, this route ran as a pre-Columbian Indian trail. In 1841 the Republic of Texas staked it out as a road from Austin to Fort Preston at the best ford on the upper Red River, giving it the name it still carries. In the decades after, drovers pushed longhorns up Preston Road from the Trinity crossing at Dallas toward the Oklahoma line.
Big Spring
Dallas, TX
Big Spring bubbled up in the White Rock Creek valley for uncounted generations, drawing Native peoples to its waters long before Anglo settlers arrived. John Beeman claimed the site in 1842 as the first family to settle permanently in the county, and in 1843 Sam Houston camped here with his Indian-treaty delegation en route to Bird's Fort. Over the next 160 years the spring passed through three pioneer Dallas families — Beeman, Bryan, and Pemberton — before the city bought it in 2003 for the Great Trinity Forest.