Pottsboro
Pottsboro, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Caddo and Wichita Indian tribes occupied this area before Anglo settlement began in the 19th century. Among the early settlers was James G. Thompson, whose daughter, Sarah Virginia, married James A. Potts (1838-1905), a Confederate veteran, rancher, and land developer who moved to Grayson County in 1868. Recovering from a long construction delay caused by the Civil War, railroads began building lines through this area of Texas in the late 1870s. James and Sarah Potts deeded land for a right-of-way to the Denison and Pacific Railway, a subsidiary of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, in 1878. James Potts is credited with drawing up the plat for the new railroad town named in his honor. Within a decade Pottsboro boasted homes, churches, general stores, grist mills, a cotton gin, post office, hotel/saloon, and school. The town was incorporated on June 19, 1885. Pottsboro sustained serious damage from major fires in 1892, 1923, and 1924, but the citizens rebuilt and the town prospered. United States government construction of Perrin Army Air Field and Lake Texoma during the 1940s brought additional economic benefits to the town, which continues to play a vital role in the history of Grayson County.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Before Anglo settlers arrived, the Caddo and Wichita peoples occupied this stretch of North Texas. The town took shape when Confederate veteran and land developer James A. Potts, who had come to Grayson County in 1868, deeded a railroad right-of-way to a Missouri-Kansas-Texas subsidiary in 1878 and platted the townsite that bears his name. Incorporated in 1885, Pottsboro survived repeated fires and later drew new life from the 1940s construction of Perrin Army Air Field and Lake Texoma.
Why it matters
Pottsboro's story compresses the arc of North Texas history—Indigenous homelands, Reconstruction-era settlement, and the railroad boom that stamped new towns across the map.
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Related people
- · James A. Potts
- · Sarah Virginia Potts
Themes & tags
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