Roanoke

The Handbook of Texas traces the town's wandering. Twenty Missouri families under Louis and Charles Medlin settled in 1847 where Denton and Henrietta creeks meet, a place called Medlin Center that flooded whenever the creeks rose. In 1879 the settlement moved a mile south to higher ground, as Garden Center. Two years later the Texas and Pacific passed a few miles away, and residents followed the rails to a place first spelled Rawranoke. Elizabeth's post office, in service from 1870 to 1881, moved there too, and by 1890 the town had 350 people.

What the plaque says

Roanoke In 1881, the Texas & Pacific Railroad came through here and established this community, named by a railroad surveyor from Roanoke, Virginia. Settlers lived in the area before the town was platted, arriving as early as 1847. Many of these residents relocated to Roanoke from nearby communities such as Garden Valley (originally Medlin Settlement) and Elizabethtown. Situated halfway between Fort Worth and Denton, Roanoke served as a shipping hub for ranching and agriculture. There were a number of large ranches in the area, and the railroad allowed ranchers to ship cattle profitably to markets in the north. Roanoke's stock pens held the cattle before they were shipped. Area farmers, many of whom had previously practiced subsistence farming, also made use of the railroad. Wheat and cotton were the primary crops. Roanoke grew steadily throughout the 1800s. By 1890, the town had four churches, a school, a cotton gin and several businesses. By the early 1900s, Roanoke's economy diversified and the town boasted a newspaper, a bank , a grain elevator, and the Denton Oil and Gas Company. Early vital figures in the town included rancher Sam Reynolds, John (Bob) and Almedia Jones, whose property was used as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and Hugh W. Jenkins, storeowner and Roanoke's first Mayor. Transportation further developed when the Texas Highway Department completed the Northwest Highway in 1932. In 1939, the city received state and federal funds to construct U.S. Highway 377 along Front Street. Roanoke incorporated in 1933 and continued its steady growth throughout the 20th century. Today, Roanoke continues to be a community that treasures its rich historic heritage. (2008)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square — 16 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.
• Fort Worth Stockyards — 16 mi
  The brick-street cattle market where Armour and Swift built packing plants in 1902, now a National Register district with a Coliseum, a museum and a longhorn drive twice a day.
• Tarrant County Courthouse — 18 mi
  A pink-granite courthouse of 1895 on the bluff where the Army set up Fort Worth in 1849, in a county named for the man who led the 1841 attack on the Native villages of Village Creek.
• Kimbell Art Museum — 19 mi
  Louis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.

More markers nearby

• Elizabeth Cemetery — 2.7 mi
• Bourland Cemetery — 3.7 mi
• Jellico — 4.9 mi
• White's Chapel United Methodist Church — 6.2 mi