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| History
in a Pecan Shell
From a flowing spring three miles east of
its present location, the town would've been called Sugar Hill if early settler,
Jesse Morris hadn't had his way and named it Dexter after a then-famous racehorse.
The town dates
from around 1870 with the post office opening three years later. By the early
1880s the town had an estimated 300 residents – including an equal number (4)
of both blacksmiths and doctors.
Dexter’s prosperity was threatening
the dominance of Gainesville but when the Denison
and Pacific Railroad bypassed the town in favor of Woodbine, residents were disheartened.
Some even took the drastic step of moving to Ardmore, Indian Territory.
Residents that remained voted to incorporate, but having a city government did
little to stop people from leaving. Population figures from the late 1960s through
1990 showed about 70 residents remaining. The Dexter Community Church is still
in place as well as the town’s two cemeteries:
one north and one south.
Dexter
Texas Today |
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Dexter North Cemetery
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, February 2008 |
Dexter North Cemetery - Woodmen of the World
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, February 2008 |
1930s
Cooke County Map showing Dexter (NE of Gainesville
)
Courtesy Texas General Land Office | |
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