Rio Vista

Before Rio Vista there was Grange Hall, also called Kimbell, and the Handbook of Texas says the railroad decided the move. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe was completed a mile east in 1881, the new townsite was laid out overlooking the Nolan River and Mustang Creek, and Grange Hall declined. In 1884 residents of Derden, Nathan, Hart and Sullivan moved to the new site as well. Right at the tracks the land divides: flat black farmland to the east, slightly rolling ranch country to the west.

What the plaque says

Rio Vista Located in an area of Johnson County's earliest settlement, Rio Vista was founded on the railroad in 1885. The townsite, which affords views of both Nolan River and Mustang Creek, was given the spanish name for "River View". The post office that was established in Rio Vista in 1885 was discontinued in 1889, but was reinstated in 1890. By 1896, the community boasted 175 residents, eight stores, a lumber yard, steam gin, and a steam corn sheller. Rio Vista's public school system also began that year. Telephone lines were installed during the early years of the 20th century, when three passenger trains were arriving daily at the depot. The thriving economy was shattered, however, by a fire in 1914 that destroyed 24 buildings. Many of the businesses were hurt, and the rebuilding process was slow. Cotton sustained the economy during that time, and dairy farming later became important. Just as the coming of the railroad had initiated growth in Rio Vista during the 1880s, the building of State Highway 174 through town in the 1950s brought a boost to the economy. From its beginnings as a railroad community, Rio Vista has been an important part of Johnson County history. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cleburne State Park — 10 mi
  A 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps park on the old Chisholm Trail crossing country, with a spring-fed lake, a hand-carved three-tiered spillway and a CCC bridge in Johnson County.
• Hill County Courthouse — 21 mi
  Wesley C. Dodson's limestone Second Empire courthouse of 1890 on the Hillsboro square, gutted by fire on New Year's Day 1993 and rededicated in 1999 after a rebuilding that two Willie Nelson concerts helped pay for.
• Acton State Historic Site — 23 mi
  The smallest state historic site in Texas, a grave plot holding Elizabeth Crockett, widow of David Crockett, under a 1913 statue of a pioneer woman shading her eyes toward the west.
• Dinosaur Valley State Park — 26 mi
  Theropod and sauropod trackways of about 113 million years ago in the bed of the Paluxy River, a National Natural Landmark where R. T. Bird found the first distinct sauropod tracks in 1937.

More markers nearby

• Lake Pat Cleburne — 4.3 mi
• Johnson County — 7.4 mi
• Site of Wardville — 7.5 mi
• The Texas World War II Home Front — 7.6 mi