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 Site on Former Main Street of Town of Audubon
N 33° 23.433 W 097° 36.932
14S E 628763 N 3695440
Texas Historical Marker commemorating the history of Audubon, TX, another wonderful town that vanished after the railroad went elsewhere.
Waymark Code: WMEXPQ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/19/2012
Views: 15
This is the second marker placed here, as the first one was vandalized. The original is now on display at the Wise County Historical Museum in Decatur, TX.
Marker Number: 233
Marker Text:
A vanished town which was important in this area in the 19th century. It was settled by southerners and named for naturalist John J. Audubon (1785-1851).
Earliest settler, D. D. Shirey, platted town out of his farm land in 1865. He and his wife, "Aunt Polly", expanded their log house into a stagecoach inn that grew famous for a lavish table. Their excellent food was set out on a Lazy Susan, which was the wonder of the countryside. In the late 1860s and following decades, trail crews detoured from the cattle trail that ran to the east of here and bought supplies in the town. Audubon had a post office from June 25, 1874, to July 20, 1904. Local social and fraternal bodies included Woodmen of the World and a Masonic Lodge active from 1879 to 1886. There were three churches, a school, a telephone office, two cotton gins, several mercantile stores, several lawyers and physicians, and two blacksmiths. The noted Dr. W. B. Palmer, had a beautiful country home, "Gynndome".
Bypassed by the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad in 1883, Audubon gradually declined. Post office closed in 1904; school consolidated with Alvord in 1930.
Among outstanding native sons was the Rev. M. M. Barnett of the California Baptist Foundation. (1970)
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Visit Instructions:
Please include a picture in your log. You and your GPS receiver do not need to be in the picture. We encourage additional information about your visit (comments about the surrounding area, how you ended up near the marker, etc.) in the log.
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