Town of Ennis

Ennis was laid out in 1872 by railroad men and a surveyor. The Handbook of Texas says Capt. W. G. Veale chose the site in May, Theo Kosse drew the streets and alleys in August, and a land company's trustees bought the Rose and Bundy surveys, 647 acres in all. The railroad offered free lots to any Christian group that would build a church, which brought the Cumberland Presbyterians first. The town incorporated in November 1873, held its first election in April 1874 and chose Charles Pannil as mayor, while a Temperance Council offered an alternative to drunken carousing.

What the plaque says

Town of Ennis Founded 1872 as market town on Houston & Texas Central Railway; Named for an H. & T.C. official, Cornelius Ennis (1813-1899). Cumberland Presbyterian built first church, 1872; First school session opened 1873. Chezchslovaks settled here 1874, adding a new segment to Anglo-French-Mexican-Texans employed in cattle and cotton economy. In 1892 banker Joseph Baldridge and associates secured H. & T.C. division shops for the town. In 1911 St. John's school was established here. In 20th century, local industry, recreation areas, and municipal services spur continuing growth. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ellis County Courthouse — 13 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's courthouse of 1897 in Pecos red sandstone and pink granite, with twenty-one carved stone faces and two cornerstones left by a quarrel over its building.
• Petroleum Industry Park — 19 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.
• Cedar Ridge Preserve — 29 mi
  A 633-acre Audubon Dallas preserve at the western edge of Dallas County, with about nine miles of trails through prairie, woodland and escarpment hills.

More markers nearby

• Railroads in Ennis — steps away
• The Southern Pacific Railroad in Ennis — steps away
• Katie Daffan — steps away
• Jay Justin Clarke — steps away