Morrison Funeral Home

When Morrison opened his blacksmith shop, Graham had no railroad within reach. In 1874 the nearest one was at Dallas, and as the Texas and Pacific built west, Young County residents went to Weatherford, Mineral Wells and Jacksboro for mail and freight. In 1876 farmers began shipping pecans, their first export crop, to those railheads, and cotton was planted at about the same time, while cattle ranching remained important. Rails came later: the Wichita Falls and Southern reached the new coal town of Newcastle in 1908, and the Gulf, Texas and Western reached Olney in 1910.

What the plaque says

Mississippi native John Edward Morrison (1848-1926) and his family moved to Texas in 1874, settling first in Tarrant County. They arrived in Young County in 1876, and Morrison purchased several tracts of land. By January 1877 he had opened a blacksmith shop on the Town Square, and in 1884 he formed a partnership with Spencer Boyd Street. Their new venture was called Morrison & Street Family Grocery. Over the years, J. E. Morrison expanded his business interests to include dry goods, hardware, and lumber. Eventually he opened branch stores in nearby towns. In 1888, with the addition of undertaking supplies to the company's inventory, the Morrison Funeral Home was begun. The partnership with Street was dissolved in 1895, and several of Morrison's children joined the family businesses. Following Morrison's death his son, Adger A., became head of the undertaking business. He expanded the company, and a new building was completed in 1938. The businesses of John E. Morrison have played an important part in Graham's history. Now in its second century, the Morrison Funeral Home continues to be operated by descendants of John Edward Morrison. (1988)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Post Office Museum and Art Center — steps away
  Graham's 1936 Art Moderne post office, with a New Deal mural by Alexandre Hogue inside, now the free museum of Young County in the town where the Texas cattle raisers first organized.
• Fort Belknap — 9.2 mi
  The 1851 northern anchor of the first Texas frontier forts, on the Brazos below Newcastle, a Butterfield stop and the post beside the Brazos Reservation until its people were driven out in 1859.
• Fort Richardson State Park and Historic Site — 27 mi
  The northernmost post of the Texas frontier line, outside Jacksboro, where a stone hospital and six other buildings stand from 1867 and a later Guard unit became the Lost Battalion.

More markers nearby

• Site of Third County Courthouse — steps away
• First National Bank in Graham — steps away
• An 1890 Bank Building — steps away
• Cattle Raisers Association Oak — steps away