Ponder

H. F. Wakefield was the area's largest landowner, with 17,000 acres that included much of the townsite, and he gave land for the school in 1897. The Handbook of Texas lists what followed: a state bank and a hotel in 1910, a waterworks in 1912 and a twelve-grade brick school in the early 1920s. The rodeo began in 1939 and moved to Denton in 1942 because of gas and rubber rationing, then returned in 1946 with a 3,500-seat arena. It ended when Denton started its own rodeo in 1950.

What the plaque says

Ponder Settlers began to arrive in western Denton County in the 1850s in search of rich agricultural land. Silas Christal (1810-1883), his wife, Mary Elizabeth (Burnett) (1811-1883), and their twelve children arrived in 1855 from Missouri. Christal built an ox-driven mill to grind corn and, in 1880, built a school on his property. The town of Gerald was established in 1886 when the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway decided to create a line from Fort Worth to Indian territory in present-day Oklahoma. Another town in Texas was named Gerald, so the town was renamed Ponder in honor of William A. Ponder (1848-1911), a prominent landowner. The Denton Creek system provided settlers with ample resources and fertile land for agricultural production of wheat, corn, oats, and cotton. In the late 1800s, churches formed to serve the growing community and included a Baptist church, Methodist church, and Church of Christ. In 1894, Cornelius N. Skaggs (1869-1938) opened the first business in Ponder, a store and post office, and became the second postmaster. The town quickly grew around the railway and included general stores, a lumber yard, cotton gin, mill, a bank, and a hotel. In 1897, one of the area's largest landowners, H.F. Wakefield, donated land for a school. Community activities such as boys high school basketball and the Ponder rodeo, organized in 1939 by Chester January, Sidney Ford, and Dr. M.L. Holland, have brought the town together since the 1930s and 1940s. These local activities, businesses, education, and religious groups continue to represent the traditions and spirit of this small, rural town, incorporated in 1966. (2011)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square — 9.2 mi
  An 1896 courthouse by W. C. Dodson in Denton limestone, pink granite and two sandstones, restored in 2004, now a free county museum on a lawn holding the grave of John B. Denton.
• Wise County Courthouse — 18 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's granite Romanesque courthouse of 1895-96 in Decatur, built after fire destroyed the Second Empire courthouse and set off a fight over the county seat.

More markers nearby

• City of Krum — 6.2 mi
• Cattle Trail Crossing — 7.4 mi
• Justin — 7.4 mi
• Argyle — 7.5 mi