Spring Creek Community
Weatherford, Parker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Settlement of this area of Parker County began in 1854, with the arrival of the T.J. Shaw family from Tennessee. They built a log cabin on the south branch of Spring Creek and the community which built up in the area was named for the creek. As more settlers arrived, the community grew to include a number of homes and farms. Jeff W. Pittillo arrived in 1855 and he and his family eventually donated land to the community for a school, church, and cemetery. A.L. Pickard brought his family and three slave families to the Spring Creek area in 1856. Congregations of the Methodist, Baptist, and Cumberland Presbyterian churches were formed. A tabernacle (built in 1914 from a 1904 brush arbor) and a 1917 schoolhouse remain in the community. The Spring Creek Cemetery contains the graves of many area pioneers. The earliest documented burial, that of Humphrey Price, dates to 1856. Also, included among the burials are a number of unmarked graves and interments of slave families, as well as the grave of Alfred G. Cooper, veteran of the Texas Revolution and the Civil War. Descendants of many Spring Creek pioneers still reside in this vicinity. (1990)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Settlement of this stretch of Parker County began in 1854 when the T.J. Shaw family arrived from Tennessee and built a log cabin on Spring Creek, giving the growing community its name. Later settlers, including families who brought enslaved people with them, donated land for a school, churches, and a cemetery, and Methodist, Baptist, and Cumberland Presbyterian congregations took root. Spring Creek Cemetery holds area pioneers, unmarked graves, burials of enslaved families, and a veteran of both the Texas Revolution and the Civil War.
Why it matters
Spring Creek captures how frontier Texas communities were built — by settler families, churches, and the labor of enslaved people whose graves still mark the ground.
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Related people
- · T.J. Shaw
- · Jeff W. Pittillo
- · Alfred G. Cooper
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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