local history
CALIFORNIA STREET IN DOWNTOWN GAINESVILLE STILL HAD DIRT ROADS WHEN THIS PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN CIRCA 1905.( COURTESY PHOTO)
A look back at the early Cooke County days
By Sarah Simmons
A TEXAS HISTORICAL MARKER NOTES THE CREATION OF THE COOKE COUNTY FREE LIBRARY, THANKS TO LILLIAN
GUNTER AND THE XLI CLUB.( COURTESY PHOTO)
Gainesville was incorporated on February 17, 1873, and by 1890 was established as a commercial and shipping point for area ranchers and farmers, partly as a result of the arrival in 1886 of the Santa Fe line and the construction in 1887 of the Gainesville, Henrietta and Western Railway. During the 1890s Gainesville College operated for a time, but it was eventually closed, a victim of the depression of 1893 and the consequent rapid decline of the cattle industry.
In the late 1890s and early 1900s, Gainesville and Cooke County, Texas, were experiencing significant transformations. The region’ s economy, education system, and infrastructure were evolving, reflecting broader trends in Texas and the United States.
Agriculture was the driving force behind Cooke County’ s economy in the early 1900s. But as noted in the Gainesville Daily
18 GAINESVILLE LIVING