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RIO VISTA,
TEXASJohnson County,
North Central Texas
Highway 174
7 miles S of Cleburne
20 miles S of Fort Worth
25 miles SW of Dallas
Population:
541 (2000)
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History
in a Pecan Shell
In 1801, long before Independence, Phillip
Nolan, an American horse-trader, was killed near here. Nolan had
made several forays into Spanish Texas to capture wild horses. A marker
three miles south of town on highway 174 commemorates the event. Nearby
Nolan River was named after him.
Anadarco Indians occupied the area during the 1830s and discouraged
settlement until 1849 when Henry Briden, his wife and father-in-law
came into the area and built the first cabin in Johnson County.
First known as Grange Hall, and then Kimbell, the town was bypassed
by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad who planed to lay their
rails a mile east.
As Rio Vista, the new town drained the populations of the nearby hamlets
of Derden, Nathan, Hart, and Sullivan.
By 1900 Rio Vista had all the commercial components to make a town
thrive, but a fire in 1914 destroyed many of the businesses.
State Highway 174 was rerouted in the mid-1950s and it gave Rio Vista
an economic shot in the arm.
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Rio Vista,
Texas Forum
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