Preston, Texas
Encyclopedia
Preston, Texas, also known as Preston Bend was a prominent town located on the Red River
in North Texas. It grew in the 19th century at the intersection of several military and trade roads and was an important crossing on the Shawnee cattle trail
. Preston lost prominence after the MK&T railroad
passed the town to the east, leading to a decline in traveler and cattle drive traffic. It is now a ghost town and the former town site, located near Pottsboro
, Grayson County
, Texas
, is submerged beneath the waters of Lake Texoma
.
farther to the west. One of the first American settlers in the area was John Hart, who cultivated land at the bend possibly before 1826. He left the area just after 1830 after being attacked by Indians during a trapping expedition on the Washita River.
During the 1830s the United States relocated the Five Civilized Tribes
from the Southeastern United States to the Indian Territory, on the north side of the Red River. As the first official United States expedition to the area the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition
explored the region in 1834. Above Preston on the Red River Leavenworth Camp, situated just west of the mouth of the Washita River was a base for this expedition. George Catlin
made some of his famous Indian paintings from this camp.
In the fall of 1838 John Hart returned to the Washita Bend area with two partners. They cleared and fenced 17 acres (68,796.6 m²) and built three cabins. In 1838 the partnership dissolved and Hart took sole possession of the land. He leased the land to a tenant.
village near the mouth of the Washita River
.
The town of Preston grew up around the trading post established by Coffee and Colville.
, leading north to Missouri, and what became the Preston Road, leading south farther into Texas. Roughly following a much older trail used by Native Americans for centuries, in 1840-1841 Colonel William G. Cooke created the military road from Coffee's trading house on the Red River to Austin
. The Preston Road was originally 100 miles (160.9 km) long, from Preston to the Trinity River
at Dallas
.
Later the United States Army operated a depot to supply the Fifth Infantry from here. The Army depot operated from 1851 to 1853. The Preston Supply Depot was under the command of Lt. Thomas C. English and later by Bvt. Maj. W. F. Wood. Albert Sidney Johnston and the Second Cavalry came through Preston in 1855.
as a proper house for his wife two miles (3 km) west of his trading post. It was completed in 1845. Holland Coffee was killed on October 1, 1846. Sophia later married several more times and Glen Eden became the most famous residence in the area.
The municipal government was established in 1851 with Tom Jackson as the first mayor. Preston's Masonic lodge was established in 1852. A United States post office was established in 1856. and later a post office operated from 1880 to 1914. Preston had general stores and at least one blacksmith shop.
The crossing had been an important wagon crossing before 1850, with over 1000 wagons crossing there in a year.
Six miles west of Colberts was Thompson's Ferry, run by James George Thompson, first chief justice in Grayson County. Thompson's home became the first post office and courthouse in the county.
Holland Coffee, George Butts, and Sloan Love operated ferries in the area.
Rock Bluff Ferry operated near mouth of Washita River close to Preston. In the late 1830s James Tyson operated the ferry at the rock bluff. His ferry was little more than a log raft. Later two partners owned this ferry, Jim Shannon and Bud Randolph.
In about 1853 Ben Colbert opened up his ferry
downstream to cash in on the California gold rush. Preston was located on one branch of the California Trail
, where it crossed into Texas from the Indian Territory.
In 1847 the Texas legislature ordered a road to be built from Preston to Sherman.
In 1853 Congress funded an exploration of the best route west of the Mississippi for a transcontinental railroad. In February 1854 an expedition of 75 men led by Capt. John Pope surveyed a route along the 32nd parallel north
from New Mexico to Preston, Texas. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis favored this path, though tabled until after the Civil War. This route was afterwards abandoned. After the Civil War the Transcontinental Railroad
was surveyed and constructed farther to the north.
stage route, serving between Saint Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California, began operation in 1857. The line ran across the Indian Territory from Fort Smith, Arkansas to the Red River at Colbert's Ferry, a few miles east of Preston. The stage line had decided to bypass Preston as the traditional crossing on the Red River. Colbert's ferry became a more popular crossing over the Red River as Sherman And McKinney developed. In 1857 Sherman was very small, made up of only two or three small stores. Much of the brick and material came from older buildings at Preston. By 1871 14 stage lines operating through Sherman.
New Preston developed more centrally within the bend.
After filling Lake Texoma the only thing left from Preston is the cemetery, which was on high ground overlooking the town. The cemetery was expanded with a new section when Lake Texoma was created. Some of the existing graves that were to be under the lake were moved to the new section of the cemetery.
Preston Point is the peninsula in Lake Texoma that was the high ground overlooking the town of Preston. An unincorporated community named Preston exists on this peninsula.
(later the state of Oklahoma
) in the Red River valley on a river bend just downstream from the river's confluence with the Washita River
. The area was also known as Washita Bend or Coffee Bend. This area is located few miles east of the Cross Timbers
on the upper Red River above the former Great Raft
logjam. A rock bluff overlooked the Red River from on the Texas side of the river, 100–110 feet above the river's low water mark. This bluff at Preston marked the ford of an old Indian trail on the Red River. This ford was later used as the Red River crossing point of the Shawnee Cattle Trail. Later the bluff also marked the return route of Captain Randolph B. Marcy's expedition from Santa Fe to Fort Smith in 1849. The Oklahoma side of the river was a relatively flat sand-covered plain and terraces sloping gently to the river.
Red River (Mississippi watershed)
The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers in the southern United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name...
in North Texas. It grew in the 19th century at the intersection of several military and trade roads and was an important crossing on the Shawnee cattle trail
Shawnee Trail
Shawnee Trail may refer to:* Shawnee Trail , a portion of the larger Great Indian Warpath or Seneca Trail* Texas Road, a pioneer cattle trail, once known as Shawnee Trail...
. Preston lost prominence after the MK&T railroad
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad
The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad was incorporated May 23, 1870. In its earliest days the MKT was commonly referred to as "the K-T", which was its stock exchange symbol; this common designation soon evolved into "the Katy"....
passed the town to the east, leading to a decline in traveler and cattle drive traffic. It is now a ghost town and the former town site, located near Pottsboro
Pottsboro, Texas
Pottsboro is a town in Grayson County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,579 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Sherman–Denison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Pottsboro is located at ....
, Grayson County
Grayson County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 110,595 people, 42,849 households, and 30,208 families residing in the county. The population density was 118 people per square mile . There were 48,315 housing units at an average density of 52 per square mile...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, is submerged beneath the waters of Lake Texoma
Lake Texoma
Lake Texoma is one of the largest reservoirs in the United States, the 12th largest Corps of Engineers lake, and the largest in USACE Tulsa District....
.
Early settlement
Before European settlement the general area of Preston had been occupied by the Caddo Indians, with the Commanches and KiowaKiowa
The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...
farther to the west. One of the first American settlers in the area was John Hart, who cultivated land at the bend possibly before 1826. He left the area just after 1830 after being attacked by Indians during a trapping expedition on the Washita River.
During the 1830s the United States relocated the Five Civilized Tribes
Five Civilized Tribes
The Five Civilized Tribes were the five Native American nations—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole—that were considered civilized by Anglo-European settlers during the colonial and early federal period because they adopted many of the colonists' customs and had generally good...
from the Southeastern United States to the Indian Territory, on the north side of the Red River. As the first official United States expedition to the area the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition
First Dragoon Expedition
The First Dragoon Expedition of 1834 was the first official contact between the American government and the Plains Indians....
explored the region in 1834. Above Preston on the Red River Leavenworth Camp, situated just west of the mouth of the Washita River was a base for this expedition. George Catlin
George Catlin
George Catlin was an American painter, author and traveler who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West.-Early years:...
made some of his famous Indian paintings from this camp.
In the fall of 1838 John Hart returned to the Washita Bend area with two partners. They cleared and fenced 17 acres (68,796.6 m²) and built three cabins. In 1838 the partnership dissolved and Hart took sole possession of the land. He leased the land to a tenant.
Holland Coffee and the trading post
Holland Coffee and Silas Cheek Colville created Coffee, Colville and Company to establish a trading post on the Red River. After establishing three trading posts upstream they established one in the Washita Bend. They occupied the area of Washita Bend after John Hart's tenant was killed by Indians. Hart later sued Coffee for the land, but lost. In 1837 Holland Coffee had been elected to the Texas legislature and negotiated a peace treaty between the Republic of Texas and the Waco, Tawakoni, Kichai, and Towash (Pawnee) Indians on September 2, 1838 at a ShawneeShawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
village near the mouth of the Washita River
Washita River
The Washita River is a river in Texas and Oklahoma, United States. The river is long and terminates into Lake Texoma in Johnston County , Oklahoma and the Red River.-Geography:...
.
The town of Preston grew up around the trading post established by Coffee and Colville.
Roads and trails
Preston developed at the junction between the Indian Territory's Texas RoadTexas Road
The Texas Road, also known as the Shawnee Trail, was a major trade and emigrant route across Texas, Indian Territory Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. It was the first Texas North South Cattle Drive...
, leading north to Missouri, and what became the Preston Road, leading south farther into Texas. Roughly following a much older trail used by Native Americans for centuries, in 1840-1841 Colonel William G. Cooke created the military road from Coffee's trading house on the Red River to Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. The Preston Road was originally 100 miles (160.9 km) long, from Preston to the Trinity River
Trinity River (Texas)
The Trinity River is a long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. The headwaters are separated by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River....
at Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
.
Fort Preston
The Republic of Texas commissioned Colonel Cook to make a supply post in the area, known as Fort Preston after Captain William Gilwater Preston, a member of the military road expedition of 1840-1841. There is some doubt that the town was named after him and the origin of the name of the town is obscure. In 1840 Cook was in charge of a company of men there. Coffee and other settlers were thinking about leaving the area before Cooke arrived. The village around Fort Preston grew up to be known as Preston, Texas. Fort Preston was established 80 yards west of the eastern bend in the river, on a bluff about 40–50 feet above the river. Some of the buildings at Fort Preston were made of bricks made in the area.Later the United States Army operated a depot to supply the Fifth Infantry from here. The Army depot operated from 1851 to 1853. The Preston Supply Depot was under the command of Lt. Thomas C. English and later by Bvt. Maj. W. F. Wood. Albert Sidney Johnston and the Second Cavalry came through Preston in 1855.
Glen Eden
When Holland Coffee married Sophia Suttonfield Aughinbaugh in 1839 they resided at his trading post in a 100 feet (30.5 m) square log stockade on the Red River. The stockade enclosed several huts and cabins. In 1843 Coffee began building Glen EdenGlen Eden
Glen Eden is the name of:*Glen Eden in Milton, Ontario, Canada*Glen Eden, New Zealand is a suburb of Waitakere city, Auckland...
as a proper house for his wife two miles (3 km) west of his trading post. It was completed in 1845. Holland Coffee was killed on October 1, 1846. Sophia later married several more times and Glen Eden became the most famous residence in the area.
The town
Preston developed in the area around Coffee's trading house and was a considerable town in 1845 when William H. Hunt completed its town plat survey.The municipal government was established in 1851 with Tom Jackson as the first mayor. Preston's Masonic lodge was established in 1852. A United States post office was established in 1856. and later a post office operated from 1880 to 1914. Preston had general stores and at least one blacksmith shop.
Cattle crossing
As the cattle business developed in Texas and cattle trails to processing facilities in Kansas became necessary the Shawnee trail developed through the Preston area.The crossing had been an important wagon crossing before 1850, with over 1000 wagons crossing there in a year.
Ferries
Log raft ferry service was available at the trading post in 1839.Six miles west of Colberts was Thompson's Ferry, run by James George Thompson, first chief justice in Grayson County. Thompson's home became the first post office and courthouse in the county.
Holland Coffee, George Butts, and Sloan Love operated ferries in the area.
Rock Bluff Ferry operated near mouth of Washita River close to Preston. In the late 1830s James Tyson operated the ferry at the rock bluff. His ferry was little more than a log raft. Later two partners owned this ferry, Jim Shannon and Bud Randolph.
In about 1853 Ben Colbert opened up his ferry
Colbert's Ferry
Colbert's Ferry was an important Red River crossing between Texas and Indian Territory from about 1850 to 1899. Both the Texas Road and the Butterfield Overland Mail route crossed here. It was located about a half mile southeast of present–day Colbert, Oklahoma.Benjamin F...
downstream to cash in on the California gold rush. Preston was located on one branch of the California Trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
, where it crossed into Texas from the Indian Territory.
Hopes for expansion
Supplying the military posts in the frontier area was difficult. One idea was to expand and supply the army depot at Preston by steamboat. This plan was abandoned in 1853 due to the difficulty of navigating the upper Red River because of the Great Raft logjam. Later after the destruction of the Great Raft steamboats on the Red River were finally able to navigate up the river to Preston. Preston had a steamboat landing.In 1847 the Texas legislature ordered a road to be built from Preston to Sherman.
In 1853 Congress funded an exploration of the best route west of the Mississippi for a transcontinental railroad. In February 1854 an expedition of 75 men led by Capt. John Pope surveyed a route along the 32nd parallel north
32nd parallel north
The 32nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 32 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean....
from New Mexico to Preston, Texas. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis favored this path, though tabled until after the Civil War. This route was afterwards abandoned. After the Civil War the Transcontinental Railroad
Transcontinental railroad
A transcontinental railroad is a contiguous network of railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass with terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single railroad, or over those owned or controlled by multiple railway companies...
was surveyed and constructed farther to the north.
Decline
Although Preston developed as the largest community in the area for many years, several factors led to its decline. When new counties were created by the Texas State Legislature their county seats were located near the center of the counties. After the Texas Legislature created Grayson County from Fannin County the county seat was designated near the center of the new county, at Sherman. As the county government developed the focus of growth left Preston. The site of Sherman was situated east of the Preston Trail and caused travelers passing through the area from the north to the south to gravitate east of Preston.Butterfield trail
The Butterfield Overland MailButterfield Overland Mail
The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...
stage route, serving between Saint Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California, began operation in 1857. The line ran across the Indian Territory from Fort Smith, Arkansas to the Red River at Colbert's Ferry, a few miles east of Preston. The stage line had decided to bypass Preston as the traditional crossing on the Red River. Colbert's ferry became a more popular crossing over the Red River as Sherman And McKinney developed. In 1857 Sherman was very small, made up of only two or three small stores. Much of the brick and material came from older buildings at Preston. By 1871 14 stage lines operating through Sherman.
MK&T Railroad
After the Civil War the peace treaty between the United States and the Five Civilized Tribes allowed for a railroad to be built north and south across the Indian Territory. This railroad, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, crossed the Red River near Colbert's Ferry to the east of Preston in 1871. By this time Preston had begun to decline and was largely abandoned. As other cities along the railroad's route prospered Preston became a rural community.20th century
In the 20th century Preston had a public school system, 2 churches, a cotton gin, and a cemetery on the hill overlooking the town. In the 1930s the town had about 20 residents.New Preston developed more centrally within the bend.
Lake Texoma
The United States Congress authorized Lake Texoma's construction by the Flood Control Act approved June 28, 1938, (Public Law 75-791) for flood control and generation of hydroelectric power. The lake's area submerged the Preston townsite. United States Army Corps of Engineers bought all the land in the area in the late 1930s for Lake Texoma.After filling Lake Texoma the only thing left from Preston is the cemetery, which was on high ground overlooking the town. The cemetery was expanded with a new section when Lake Texoma was created. Some of the existing graves that were to be under the lake were moved to the new section of the cemetery.
Preston Point is the peninsula in Lake Texoma that was the high ground overlooking the town of Preston. An unincorporated community named Preston exists on this peninsula.
Geography
Preston was located in Texas on its border with the Indian TerritoryIndian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
(later the state of Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
) in the Red River valley on a river bend just downstream from the river's confluence with the Washita River
Washita River
The Washita River is a river in Texas and Oklahoma, United States. The river is long and terminates into Lake Texoma in Johnston County , Oklahoma and the Red River.-Geography:...
. The area was also known as Washita Bend or Coffee Bend. This area is located few miles east of the Cross Timbers
Cross Timbers
The term Cross Timbers is used to describe a strip of land in the United States that runs from southeastern Kansas across Central Oklahoma to Central Texas...
on the upper Red River above the former Great Raft
Great Raft
The Great Raft was a gigantic logjam or series of "rafts" that clogged the Red and Atchafalaya Rivers and was unique in North America.-Origin:It has been speculated that the trees in the jams were knocked down by an impact event...
logjam. A rock bluff overlooked the Red River from on the Texas side of the river, 100–110 feet above the river's low water mark. This bluff at Preston marked the ford of an old Indian trail on the Red River. This ford was later used as the Red River crossing point of the Shawnee Cattle Trail. Later the bluff also marked the return route of Captain Randolph B. Marcy's expedition from Santa Fe to Fort Smith in 1849. The Oklahoma side of the river was a relatively flat sand-covered plain and terraces sloping gently to the river.
Further reading
- Foreman, Grant. Down the Texas Road: Historic Places Along Highway Number 69 Through Oklahoma University of Oklahoma Press, 1936, Pp. 46.
- Landrum, Grahm and Smith, Allen. "Grayson County" (Fort Worth, 1960; 2d ed., Fort Worth: Historical Publishers, 1967).
- Lucas, Mattie D. and Hall, Mita H. A History of Grayson County (Sherman, Texas, 1936).
- Marcy, R. B., The Prairie Traveler unknown date, publisher
- Middlebrooks, Audy J. and Glenna P. "Holland Coffee of Red River," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 69 (October 1965).
- Morrison, W.B. Colbert Ferry on Red River, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory The Chronicles of Oklahoma 16:3 (September 1938)
- Tolman, Keith. "Tea Kettle on a Raft: A History of Navigation on the Upper Red River," The Chronicles of Oklahoma 81 (Winter 2003-2004)
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Shawnee Trail
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - California Road
External links
- Preston at GhostTowns.com