Site of Scyene Meeting Place
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In the 1840s, settlers held public meetings under a tree at this site. Beginning in the 1850s, several successive 2-story frame buildings stood here and housed Masonic Lodge, church, elections, and social activities. Scyene Meeting Place housed one of the first public school sessions in Dallas County. In her girlhood, outlaw Belle Starr was a pupil in that school. In 1872, Texas & Pacific Railroad bypassed Scyene and the town dwindled. Yet the Woodmen of the World and other groups continued to meet in the community building, and school was held here until 1927. Bicentennial project donated by Mesquite Historical and Genealogical Society
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Settlers in 1840s Dallas County first gathered under a tree at this spot, and by the 1850s a succession of two-story frame buildings hosted a Masonic lodge, church services, elections, and one of the county's earliest public schools. Among its pupils was the young Myra Maybelle Shirley, later infamous as the outlaw Belle Starr. When the Texas & Pacific Railroad bypassed Scyene in 1872 the town dwindled, yet the community hall kept hosting fraternal groups and classes until 1927.
Why it matters
Scyene's meeting hall illustrates how a single frontier building could serve as school, church, and civic center — and how a railroad's route could quietly decide which Texas towns would live or fade.
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Related people
- · Belle Starr
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Pleasant Mound Methodist Church
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This congregation grew from a shared frontier meeting house in the farming hamlet of Scyene, a two-story building that doubled as store, Masonic lodge, and school where several denominations worshiped side by side. The Methodists built a log sanctuary in 1876 and relocated to the Pleasant Mound community in 1878, replacing their buildings repeatedly as membership grew. The tradition of shared worship gave way to separate congregations after 1900, but neighbors still gathered for annual homecomings for decades.
Rylie Cemetery
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In 1878 John Armstrong Rylie gave this land in southeast Dallas County for a settlers' school, and it began serving as a cemetery a decade later with a burial in 1889. Over the years more than 400 people were laid to rest here, among them the earliest families of the Rylie Prairie community and their descendants, including at least one Civil War veteran. A local association formed in 1962 to care for the grounds, keeping the pioneers' memory tended.
Miller Log Cabin
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