Site of Wardville
Cleburne, Johnson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1/4 mile south of marker) First county seat of Johnson County, chosen in Aug. 1855, and located on an 80-acre donation from William O'Neal. Named for Thomas William Ward (1807-72), a Republic of Texas soldier and second commissioner of General Land Office of Texas. The first courthouse, 16 feet square, was built by O'Neal of logs overlaid with clapboards, at cost of $49. When Wardville was found to violate Texas constitution's requirement that a county seat by within 5 miles of center of county, it was abandoned (1856). Ironically, later county line changes made it near the center.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1855 the newly organized Johnson County chose Wardville as its first seat of government, on land donated by settler William O'Neal, and named it for Thomas William Ward, a Republic of Texas soldier and land commissioner. O'Neal built a tiny 16-foot log courthouse for just $49. When officials realized the town violated a constitutional rule requiring the county seat to sit within five miles of the county's center, Wardville was abandoned in 1856 — only for later boundary changes to place it near the very center after all.
Why it matters
Wardville's brief life captures the trial-and-error of frontier county-building in antebellum Texas, where geography and law shaped where communities could take root.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Thomas William Ward
- · William O'Neal
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Johnson County
Cleburne, TX
Johnson County was created in 1854 and named for Middleton T. Johnson, a South Carolina native and former Alabama legislator who became a leading figure in early Texas, serving in the Texas Rangers and fighting in the Mexican War and the Civil War. The county seat moved twice before settling at Camp Henderson, a Confederate recruiting camp beside noted springs, which in 1867 was renamed Cleburne to honor the Confederate general Patrick Cleburne. The frequent moves reflect the unsettled, fast-changing character of the North Texas frontier.
Site of the Old City Spring
Cleburne, TX
This reliable spring drew explorers, soldiers of the Confederate Camp Henderson, and early settlers who traveled many miles to wash, haul water, and visit. Enterprising boys "toted" buckets to town merchants at a nickel apiece, and though the brick-lined pool was often dipped dry, the spring always refilled it. It supplied Cleburne until the town's first city well finally tapped the same source.
Dotey-Kirkham House (Little Old House)
Cleburne, TX
In the years just after Cleburne was founded, this modest white clapboard cottage rose within easy reach of City Spring on West Buffalo Creek, close enough to carry water home by hand. It was first the home of Martha Elizabeth 'Aunt Pat' Featherston Dotey, sister of the noted local educator W. B. Featherston. The Kirkham family took ownership in 1912 and kept it for more than half a century, adding a stone workshop out back for T. P. Kirkham's hat-making trade. Recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1965, it survives as a small window into a young frontier county seat.
Market Square
Cleburne, TX
In 1898, unwilling to wait on public funds, eleven Johnson County men donated this land to the county 'forever' as a place to trade. It carried on the tradition of 'First Monday,' the monthly trading day that had drawn country folk to town since the 1890s. Cattle, produce, and neighborly gossip changed hands here for generations.