Sand Hill Community
Sand Hill, Wise County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A center of pioneer culture in North Texas, drawing crowds to meet here at good spring of water issuing from beneath hill that gave community its name. First church (Methodist) in territory to become Wise County was organized in home of Jim Brooks in 1854. Organizers, led by the Reverend W. H. H. ("Buck") Bradford, included Brooks, Charles Browder, Lemuel Cartwright, Thomas Cogdell, Benjamin Monroe, the Reverend John Roe, and Dr. Standifer. Cartwright soon built a new home and gave his original house to the church. The structure was affectionately called "Old Swayback", because its long ridgepole sagged under weight of the roof. All faiths held services there; it probably was site of first school (taught in 1855 by Eli Hoag) within the boundaries of Wise County, which was created in 1856. County's first Masonic Lodge was also organized in home of Jim Brooks. Its first gristmill and other pioneer improvements were situated in this community. Last church on this site was burned on April 3, 1970. Sand Hill Campground for years was site of social and religious gatherings. Cemetery has graves of settlers and of veterans of Civil War and other conflicts. Captain Ira Long, a celebrated Texas Ranger, is buried here.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Gathered around a good spring at the foot of the hill that named it, Sand Hill became a cradle of pioneer life in the country that would become Wise County. The first Methodist church in the area was organized in Jim Brooks's home in 1854, and a donated cabin nicknamed "Old Swayback" for its sagging ridgepole soon served all faiths as church and, by 1855, probably the county's first school. A campground, gristmill, Masonic lodge, and cemetery followed, the graveyard now holding settlers, Civil War veterans, and the noted Texas Ranger Ira Long.
Why it matters
Sand Hill shows how a single spring and a few determined families seeded church, school, and civic life on the North Texas frontier before the county even had a name.
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Related people
- · W. H. H. Bradford
- · Jim Brooks
- · Ira Long
- · Eli Hoag
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Preskitt Cemetery
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The land here was first deeded to the trustees of the Lee School community in 1885, and the following year half of it was set aside for a burial ground, with the earliest marked grave belonging to infant Pearl Hobbs in 1890. Those laid to rest include the first farm families of the 1870s and 1880s and a number of military veterans, among them Union Army veteran and early school trustee James W. Haynes. Once tied to a Baptist church that was torn down around 1930, the cemetery held some 172 known graves by the turn of the 21st century.
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