HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Doublin Inn

Dublin, Erath County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Site of pioneer outcry: "Indians a-coming! Double in!" Built by Alex Dobkins when his family and kin settled here on fertile land bought (1846) by J. R. Holland, his father-in-law. House was a stand on Fort Worth-to-Yuma stage line; also a fort until Indian raids ceased, about 1870. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

This site takes its name from a settler's alarm—'Indians a-coming! Double in!'—the cry to pull wagons together for defense. Alex Dobkins built the house here after his family settled on land his father-in-law, J. R. Holland, bought in 1846. Standing on the Fort Worth-to-Yuma stage line, the dwelling served as both a stage stand and a fort until raids in the area ceased around 1870.

Why it matters

The Doublin Inn embodies the double life of the Texas frontier, where a single building could be waystation, refuge, and fortress along the roads that carried settlers west.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related people

  • · Alex Dobkins
  • · J. R. Holland

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionTransportationFrontier HistoryLandmark

Nearby & related markers

Community of Comyn-Theney

Comyn, TX

After settlers poured into this part of Comanche County around 1875, a rural community grew up around W. F. Matheney's trading post, whose shortened name—"Theney"—stuck to the town. The Texas Central Railroad arrived in 1881, a depot took the name of railroad official M. T. Comyn, and the settlement blossomed with stores, a gin, and lodge halls. A 1918 oil pipeline tank farm briefly conjured a tent city of hundreds before construction ended and residents drifted away.

Proctor

Proctor, TX

Old Proctor, named for A. W. Proctor who gave land for its first school, moved to this spot in 1890 when construction of the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railroad halted here. In the next two decades the shipping point blossomed into a bustling center with a newspaper, hotels, churches, lodges, a high school, a celebrated baseball team, and a brass band. Two hand-dug wells in the middle of Main Street watered residents, livestock, and passing wagon trains—one still preserved as a landmark.

Texas Central Railroad

De Leon, TX

As railroad building revived after the Civil War and the 1870s depression, the Texas Central pushed westward through North Central Texas, reaching the Erath–Comanche county line in 1880. The line laid out the town of De Leon in 1881, where an official famously auctioned town lots from the back of a flatcar. With shops, offices, and a roundhouse, De Leon became the area's main shipping point for cotton and later peanuts, and the route survived into the era of "The Peanut Line."

Carlton Cemetery

Carlton, TX

Carlton Cemetery tells the story of a Texas town that rose and faded as railroads and changing agriculture reshaped rural life. Its earliest graves reach back to the 1860s and 1870s; among those buried are victims of the 1918–19 influenza epidemic and a deputy sheriff killed by bandits in 1932. Local families have tended the grounds for generations, forming a cemetery association in 1957.