Washington House (Sycamore Creek Ranch)
Callisburg, Cooke County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built 1867 by J. R. Washington, with lumber hauled by oxen from Jefferson, Texas. Architecture is Queen Anne period; gingerbread trim. Excellent water facilities made ranch a collection center for cattle prior to trail drives. As home of a cattle industry leader, attracted distinguished visitors, including ranchers Chas. Goodnight and J. C. Loving, and statesman Sam Rayburn. Property in one family five generations. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
J. R. Washington built this Queen Anne home in 1867 with lumber hauled by oxen all the way from Jefferson, Texas, and its abundant water made the surrounding ranch a gathering point for cattle before the great trail drives. As the home of a cattle-industry leader, it welcomed notable guests including trail-driving pioneers Charles Goodnight and J. C. Loving and, later, statesman Sam Rayburn. The property has remained in one family across five generations.
Why it matters
Sycamore Creek Ranch sits at the heart of the open-range cattle era, when Texas beef and the men who drove it north helped define the mythology of the American West.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · J. R. Washington
- · Charles Goodnight
- · J. C. Loving
- · Sam Rayburn
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Allison Cemetery
Whitesboro, TX
Allison Cemetery took shape in the mid-1800s on three acres of North Texas prairie, its oldest dated grave marking a burial in 1865. Among those resting here are a family lost to influenza in the 1850s, several war veterans, and generations of the Dennis family and their neighbors—some in graves marked only by rough stones. Still tended by descendants, it remains in use today.
Mt. Tabor Cemetery
Whitesboro, TX
Alabama natives Burrel and Harriett Scarbrough settled north of Whitesboro before the Civil War, and in 1878 Burrel deeded 8.5 acres atop a hill for a community cemetery, named Mt. Tabor for the biblical mount of the Transfiguration. The earliest dated grave belongs to I. E. Lindsey in 1868, and Burrel himself was buried there months after the deeding. Cared for by the Scarbrough family and the Sandusky community for over 140 years, its curbed plots and ornate fencing shelter veterans of four twentieth-century wars.
Callisburg United Methodist Church
Callisburg, TX
Callisburg's founder, blacksmith Samuel Callis, is believed to have been among the first members of the Methodist congregation that met in homes and a local schoolhouse as early as the 1880s. Formally organized in 1896 under the Rev. R.F. Bryant, the congregation bought this site in 1898 for twenty-five dollars, where William Campbell and his eight-year-old son built the first sanctuary. Remodeled in 1954 and joined by a relocated church-turned-parsonage in 1956, the congregation celebrated its centennial in this sanctuary in 1998.
Sadler United Methodist Church
Sadler, TX
Organized in September 1876 in a schoolhouse west of the Sadler Cemetery, this congregation began as Quillin's Chapel under founding pastor the Rev. William M. Robbins, who then rode the Dexter circuit. It was renamed Salem Methodist in 1880 and became Sadler Methodist when it moved to this site in 1895. Local contractor Joe Cariker built the present sanctuary in 1910.