Park of Old Settlers Association of Grayson County

The Old Settlers Association began in a walnut grove about seven miles southwest of Sherman in 1879. The county commission's booklet says it first called itself the Old Settlers Association of North Texas, a name kept until 1898. It bought twenty-six acres in 1899, paid for partly by individual gifts of a quarter to a dollar and partly by selling concession rights at annual meetings. Since 1921 the grounds have been leased to the City of Sherman, and the Jesse Loving Auditorium, dedicated in 1923, has been leased to a civic group.

What the plaque says

Park of Old Settlers Association of Grayson County A public-spirited group dedicated to preservation of history and enrichment of contemporary life. Founded in 1879, when oldtimers traveled by wagon and camped near Sherman to reminisce about days of Republic of Texas, the frontier, and the southern Confederacy. Speakers at first meeting included Mrs. Julia Shannon King (daughter of donor of part of Sherman townsite) and Mrs. Sophia Porter, who came to Grayson County in 1838 as a bride of Holland Coffee, owner of Indian trading post at Preston Bend. The association was incorporated on Oct. 3,1 1898. Having met in various groves, it purchased this popular and accessible site in 1899 as permanent headquarters. Financing was hampered by adversities (bad weather, smallpox, power failure on commuting streetcar line), but purchase cost was paid by 1909. The auditorium, named for the veteran association secretary Jesse Loving, was built in 1923. Noted orators at annual conventions have included statesmen Joseph Weldon Bailey, James S. Hogg, Roger Q. Mills, Sam Rayburn, John H. Reagan, Morris Sheppard. Used for years by Red River Valley Fair, and now by civic and youth groups, this park serves as a reminder of the foresight of pioneer citizens. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site — 7.3 mi
  The small frame house beside the Katy tracks in Denison where Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1890, bought by townspeople in 1946 and given to Texas in 1958.
• Eisenhower State Park — 11 mi
  A bluff-top park on Lake Texoma opened in 1958 on land leased from the Corps of Engineers, in the Red River country of Fort Johnson, Colbert's Ferry and the Butterfield stages.
• Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge — 11 mi
  A 1946 refuge on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, laid over land bought for Denison Dam and the site of the vanished railroad town of Hagerman, now a winter stop for geese.
• Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site — 23 mi
  The two-story farmhouse west of Bonham that the longtime Speaker of the House built in 1916 and kept as his home, left as he lived in it and open as a museum since 1975.

More markers nearby

• Austin College — 0.5 mi
• Fred Douglass School — 1.0 mi
• Travis Lodge No. 117, A. F. & A. M. — 1.4 mi
• Site of Old Sherman Opera House — 1.4 mi