Old Shinoak Springs

The town that grew from Shinoak took a new name in 1889, when a post office was granted: Gorman, for Patrick Gorman, roadmaster of the Texas Central Railroad. Dick Mason built the first store. Gorman incorporated on May 15, 1902, with H. T. (Tom) Hamrick as mayor. By 1904 it had stores, a hotel, a gin, a lumberyard, a canning factory, electric street lights and a newspaper, the Gorman Ledger. Hankins College operated in town from 1905 to 1912, and during the oil boom of 1917-22 Gorman became an important supply center.

What the plaque says

Named for dwarf oaks. Before fencing began in 1880's, springs attracted cattle, horses, deer. Settlers hauled water for home and stock use. Town of Shinoak Springs thrived until M.K.&T. Railroad bypassed it in 1880. Schoolhouse of rawhide lumber was built in 1882. Had seats of split logs. Pupils numbered 55. School grounds drew crowds of 8,000 for political rallies and camp meetings. A lake was formed 1911 by a rock dam. "Frank Gray Memorial Park," given to city of Gorman, is now recreation and reunion ground, at site of old springs. (1966)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Rip at the Eastland County Courthouse — 16 mi
  A horned lizard in a glass-topped casket in the 1928 Eastland courthouse, the creature said to have come out alive from the old building's cornerstone after thirty-one years.
• Conrad Hilton Center and Mobley Hotel — 22 mi
  The 40-room oil-boom hotel in Cisco that Conrad Hilton bought in 1919 when a bank deal fell through, now a museum of the Hilton start and of Cisco's 1927 Santa Claus bank robbery.
• Lake Brownwood State Park — 31 mi
  A CCC park on a reservoir that filled in a single flood before its dam was done, with stone cabins, a hilltop dance pavilion and a grand staircase climbed by dancers arriving by boat.

More markers nearby

• Site of Blackwell Hospital — 1.4 mi
• Desdemona Cemetery — 9.1 mi
• First Baptist Church in Carbon — 9.4 mi
• Fort Blair, C.S.A. — 9.5 mi