Forney
Forney, Kaufman County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A Native American trail, sometimes referred to as the Kickapoo Trace, and early Anglo-American roads traversed this area prior to the settlement of the pioneer families of Isaac Briscoe and Jacob Sheltman in the mid-1840s. By 1871 a village called Brooklyn, which included a combined school, church, and lodge building, general store, saloon, and blacksmith shop, was established about one mile south of here. Brooklyn's business and housing activity shifted here after the Texas & Pacific Railroad extended its line through this area in 1873. A post office opened in 1873 and the town was renamed Forney for noted railroad official John W. Forney. By 1891 Forney had become a bustling town with more than 50 business establishments including a bank, opera house, and two hotels. Ranch and farm produce, including cotton, Bois d'Arc wood products, and the area's nationally recognized blackland prairie hay were shipped by rail at Forney and the town prospered. In the 1920s U.S. Highway 80 (The Dixie Highway) and an interurban railroad came through the town. Beginning with the Great Depression Forney's agricultural economy declined for several decades. Eventually Forney experienced a revival of growth as a bedroom community of Dallas, Texas.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Long before Anglo settlers arrived, a Native American path known as the Kickapoo Trace crossed this land, and pioneer families like the Briscoes and Sheltmans settled here in the mid-1840s. When the Texas & Pacific Railroad pushed through in 1873, the nearby village of Brooklyn shifted to this spot and took the name Forney for a noted railroad official; by 1891 it boasted more than fifty businesses, an opera house, and a booming trade in cotton, Bois d'Arc products, and prized blackland hay. After decades of Depression-era decline, Forney was reborn as a growing suburb of Dallas.
Why it matters
Forney's story traces the full sweep of Texas town-building—from Indigenous trail to railroad boomtown to modern commuter suburb.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Long before any town stood here, the rich blackland prairie east of the Trinity River was crossed by travel routes. The marker notes a Native American trail sometimes called the Kickapoo Trace, followed later by early Anglo-American roads. The Anglo settlers who arrived in the 1840s came as Texas moved from republic to statehood and families pushed onto the fertile prairie soils of North Texas.
After the Civil War, railroads changed Texas faster than anything before them. Towns lived or died by whether the tracks came through. When the Texas & Pacific Railroad built through this area in 1873, the small village of Brooklyn, about a mile south, simply moved toward the line. Its businesses and homes followed the railroad, which was a common pattern across the state in those years.
The town grew through the late 1800s on an agricultural economy based on cotton, hay and ranch produce. Its later history follows the larger Texas story: highways and interurban rail in the 1920s, hard years during the Great Depression, and growth again in the Dallas metropolitan area.
People & events
The first chapter belongs to families like the Briscoes and Sheltmans, who settled here in the mid-1840s, and to the Native people whose trail came before them. By 1871 their descendants and neighbors had built Brooklyn, with a store, a saloon, a blacksmith shop, and a single building that served as school, church and lodge hall. That multipurpose building is a good picture of how a frontier community got by on very little.
The railroad brought the big change in 1873. A post office opened, the settlement moved to the tracks, and the town took the name of John W. Forney, a noted railroad official. Naming towns after railroad men was common across the West, and it showed who held the power to make a town.
By 1891 Forney had more than fifty businesses, including a bank, two hotels and an opera house, which in a small town was a clear sign of prosperity. Farmers shipped cotton, Bois d'Arc wood products and blackland prairie hay by rail, and the hay became known across the country. The growth lasted into the 1920s, when U.S. Highway 80 and an interurban line arrived, before the Great Depression brought decades of decline.
Its place in the American story
Forney's story shows American town-building in miniature. It began as an Indigenous route, then a pioneer settlement, then a railroad town that literally moved to the tracks. It grew into a farm town with national markets, declined with agriculture, and became a commuter suburb. Thousands of American towns have followed some version of that path.
The town's products are part of the story too. Bois d'Arc, also called Osage orange, is a very hard, rot-resistant wood that prairie farmers valued for fence posts and other hard-wearing uses in a region short on timber. Blackland hay fed the horses and mules that did America's farm work and hauling before engines replaced them. Railroads let a small Texas town sell both far beyond its own county.
Forney's revival as a bedroom community of Dallas also reflects one of the biggest changes in modern America: the growth of metropolitan areas, which have given new life to many once-rural farm towns.
If you visit
Look for signs of the railroad town in Forney's historic downtown: storefronts facing the tracks and older commercial buildings from the town's busy years. The railroad line still shapes the town's layout, just as it did when Brooklyn moved north to meet it.
The town is known for its antique shops, which make an easy excuse to spend time on the old main street. Keep an eye out for the flat, open blackland prairie on the edges of town, the soil that made the place rich in hay and cotton.
Forney is a short drive east of Dallas along the old U.S. 80 corridor, so it makes a good half-day trip or a stop on the way into East Texas. Driving that stretch, you are following the same route the highway and interurban took a century ago.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · John W. Forney
- · Isaac Briscoe
- · Jacob Sheltman
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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The oldest marked grave here, that of M. Elizabeth Collins (1813–1867), predates the founding of Forney itself. When the railroad town took shape, the site was platted in 1880 as a public cemetery and later enlarged with adjoining land—early upkeep even included a short-lived experiment of grazing sheep on the grounds. Those buried at Hillcrest include pioneer settlers, community leaders, and five known Civil War veterans.
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