Old Hico
Hico, Hamilton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This site on Honey Creek marks the beginning in 1856 of the settlement of Hico. Earliest families to locate here were those of John Q. Anderson, M. A. Fuller, J. G. Barbee, James R. and Henry Fuller, Isaac Steen, Isaac and Thomas Malone. In 1860 John R. Alford, a merchant, became the first postmaster. Rocks from ruins of the old mill were used in the erection of this memorial.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On the banks of Honey Creek in 1856, a cluster of pioneer families founded what became Hico, in the Central Texas cross timbers. Settlers such as the Andersons, Fullers, Malones, and Steens broke the first ground, and merchant John R. Alford became the first postmaster in 1860. When the community later shifted, the rocks of the old mill's ruins were gathered up to build this memorial to the original townsite.
Why it matters
Old Hico marks the birthplace of a Texas town and the frontier gristmill at its heart, recalling how a creekside mill and a handful of families could anchor an entire community.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John Q. Anderson
- · John R. Alford
Related events
- · Founding of Hico (1856)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
John Rankin Alford
Hico, TX
Arriving in Hamilton County in 1860, Tennessee-born John Rankin Alford settled on Honey Creek, sold goods from his wagon, and ran cattle before helping the growing settlement win a post office, which he named Hico after his boyhood Kentucky home and served as first postmaster. He soldiered in a Texas frontier regiment during the Civil War, survived the Battle of Dove Creek, and in 1875 became a physician who practiced into his eighties. When the railroad arrived in 1880, Alford moved with the relocating town and opened a drug store, remaining a civic pillar until his death in 1928.
William Berry Smith
Iredell, TX
William Berry Smith came to Texas from North Carolina in 1834, served as a soldier in the Texas War for Independence, and went on to fight as a veteran of the frontier Indian wars. He lived to the age of 84, dying in 1876, and was honored with this state marker in 1957.
Millerville Cemetery
Stephenville vicinity, TX
Henry and Lourilla Miller, Missouri immigrants who came to Texas in the 1860s, bought land here about 1876 and sold it off as small farms, seeding the community of Millerville. Settlers organized a Church of Christ and a school, and by the early 1900s a store, church, and Birdsell School formed the town's heart. The village is gone now, and this cemetery—with its earliest recorded burial in 1877—is its last physical trace.
Fairy Cemetery
Fairy, TX
This community was first called Gap, then Martin's Gap after a traveler named Jim Martin was reportedly killed by Indians, before residents chose the name Fairy in 1884 to honor Fairy Fort Phelps, the petite daughter of pioneer settlers. Fairy and her father taught local children in their home, and her family gave land to area churches. The cemetery holds pioneer settlers, dozens of victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic, a Texas Ranger, and veterans reaching from the Civil War through the Korean War.