Ennis () is a city in eastern

Ellis County, Texas Ellis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2020, its population was estimated to be 192,455. The county seat is Waxahachie. The county was founded in 1849 and organized the next year. It is named for Richard Ellis, pre ...

. It is on the edge of the blackland prairie region of Texas. The population is 20,159 according to the 2020 census, with an estimated population of 21,210 in 2021. Ennis is home to the annual National Polka Festival.

History

The area that would later become the city of Ennis was first inhabited by the

Tonkawa The Tonkawa are a Native American tribe indigenous to present-day Oklahoma. Their Tonkawa language, now extinct, is a linguistic isolate. Today, Tonkawa people are enrolled in the federally recognized Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. ...

Native Americans. The area was also settled by several Native American tribes including the

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

Bidai The Bidai were a tribe of Atakapa Native Americans in the United States, Indians from eastern Texas.Sturtevant, 659 History Their oral history says that the Bidai were the original people in their region.Anadarko, and Kickapoo until pioneers arrived in the early-to-mid 19th century. When Ellis County was established and organized in 1850, much of the area was sparsely inhabited by isolated farmsteads as the nearby city of Dallas was in its infancy at the time. However, communities such as Ovilla, Waxahachie, and Bristol would have been settled and founded prior to the establishment of the city of Ennis. In 1871 the

Houston and Texas Central Railroad The Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC), was an 872-mile (1403-km) railway system chartered in Texas in 1848, with construction beginning in 1856. The line eventually stretched from Houston northward to Dallas and Denison, Texas. with branch ...

(H&TC) arrived at the spot that would become Ennis as it built north towards Dallas. The city was established that year and surveyed a year later. It is named after

Cornelius Ennis Cornelius Ennis (September 26, 1813 – February 13, 1899) was a cotton shipper and railroad executive who served as Mayor of Houston, Texas. His shipping enterprise ran Union blockades during the American Civil War. Early life and career He was ...

, a founder of the H&TC Railroad.Ennis Historical Society
Ennis Historical Society. Retrieved on May 22, 2015. Between 1874 and 1890, the population of Ennis grew tenfold from approximately 300 to 3,000. Many of the new settlers came from the defeated

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

and others came from the war-torn European nations that later became

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. This early growth was attributed to the success of cotton production in the region, making Ennis a center of trade and commerce for both farmers and the railroad. The influx of Czech migrants would also shape and transform the cultural heritage of the community for years to come. In 1891, the H&TC chose Ennis to be its northern division headquarters. The machine shops and roundhouse employed several hundred men. One condition of the agreement was that as long as Ennis was able to furnish water the shops could not be moved from the community. The city built the first of three lakes for this purpose: Old City Lake in 1892, followed by New Lake in 1895, and Lake Clark (an extension of New Lake) in 1940.ENNIS, TX , The Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)
Tshaonline.org (June 12, 2010). Retrieved on 2015-05-22. However H&TC would later be acquired by the

Texas and New Orleans Railroad The Texas and New Orleans Railroad was a railroad in Texas and Louisiana. It operated of railroad in 1934; by 1961, remained when it merged with parent company Southern Pacific. Location The Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad was a partl ...

(T&NO), a subsidiary of

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

, in 1934. While it no longer hosted the company headquarters, the shops and yard in Ennis would remain and continue to be used as a hub for other lines and branches serving the city. On July 14, 1902, the

Corsicana Corsicana is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 56 miles northeast of Waco, Texas. The population was 23,770 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Navarro County, and an important Agri-business ...

Oil Citys of the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

moved that day's game against Texarkana to Ennis, due to

Sunday blue laws Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons ...

in Coriscana. Future major-leaguer Nig Clarke set an all-time record by hitting eight home runs in ten at bats in a 51–3 victory. (Clarke was helped mightily by the fact that Ennis' tiny ballpark featured a right field fence only about 210 feet from home plate.) The expansion of the cotton industry supplemented by the railroad provided access to foreign and domestic markets through the port of Houston. By 1920, a total of 152,601 bales of cotton were ginned and shipped from Ellis County, the most of any county in America. In part to the city's significant contribution, the Ennis Chamber of Commerce adopted the slogan 'Where Railroads and Cotton Fields Meet." These two industries - trade and cotton production - produced immense wealth for the community that could be seen in the residential development of the city. Lawyers, doctors, businessmen, and other wealthy residents built churches of many different denominations and numerous fraternal organizations met regularly. Elegant houses along "the Avenue" and north were accompanied by dozens of

Folk Victorian Folk Victorian is an architectural style employed for some homes in the United States and Europe between 1870 and 1910, though isolated examples continued to be built well into the 1930s. Folk Victorian homes are relatively plain in their construc ...

houses and

Craftsman style American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...

bungalows. These Victorian houses and Craftsman bungalows in the northwestern part of the city would eventually become a part of the Templeton-McCanless Residential Historic District. By the mid-20th century Ennis had become a modern community with schools, three movie theaters, several drugstores, banks and automobile dealerships. Descendants of early settlers had developed new traditions like the National Polka Festival and the Ennis Bluebonnet Trail. Moreover, the city was connected to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

to the north and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

to the South by Interstate Highway 45. The commercial strip along Ennis Ave. between Downtown and Interstate 45 was hit by a tornado on May 15th, 2013, rendering four homes uninhabitable and damaging as many as 55 businesses. The damage caused by the tornado impacted the National Register Historic District, with some of its historic buildings facing demolition. However, demolition was opposed by local community leaders and activists. As a result, these damaged buildings were sold by the city to developers with the intention of repairing the buildings. Further restoration and revitalization plans were implemented in the Downtown Comprehensive Plan, and the city was admitted to the Texas Main Street Program in January 2015. As a result of these efforts small businesses have been displaced and the downtown is still in shambles.

Railroads in Ennis

Throughout the city's history, railroads have been instrumental in the community's early economic boom and supplemented the city's growth for over a century. Three railroads initially laid tracks and operated to and from Ennis—the Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) running north to south-east, the

Texas Midland Railroad Texas Midland Railroad (TM) was incorporated in Texas on December 1, 1892 by Hetty Green. The original standard gauge 52 mile line was built between Garrett and Midland Junction (also called Roberts) by the Houston and Texas Central Railroad in 1 ...

spurring to the northeast, and the Waxahachie Tap Railroad—later known as the Central Texas and Northwestern Railroad (CT&N)—coming in from the northwest. The CT&N was merged into the H&TC by the early 1900s and both remaining railroads serving the city would be merged into the

in 1934, eventually merging into its parent company Southern Pacific Railway by 1961. In 1996, Southern Pacific would merge into

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

which is now serves as the sole rail operator in the city, maintaining a yard and local base of operations for the Ennis Subdivision. The construction of the Houston and Texas Central Railway would be directly responsible for the early development of the city. Not only was the community strategically located in the middle of the Blackland Prairie, but it was located along the proposed H&TC line from Houston to Dallas—the first rail connection between both cities. However, the railroad's decision to establish Ennis meant that the nearby town of Burnham—located five miles south near the present-day community of Ensign—would be bypassed. The issue of this decision presented itself when many businesses in Burnham were attracted to the railroad and relocated to Ennis. As a result, a mob of angry residents reacted violently to the railroad's bypass and attacked citizens in the city of Ennis, killing one and injuring several others. Burnham, an otherwise well-planned and relatively developed city, would eventually decline and become a ghost town in the coming decades. In 1870—as the H&TC was laying track in Ellis County—residents of the neighboring city of

Waxahachie Waxahachie ( ) is the seat of government of Ellis County, Texas, United States. Its population was 41,140 in 2020. Etymology Some sources state that the name means "cow" or "buffalo" in an unspecified Native American language. One possible ...

refused to give bonds to the railroad and resisted the development of a rail link to the system. After the railroad brought significant growth to Ennis and the decline of the bypassed community of Burnham took hold, attitudes changes as opportunistic businessmen and lawmakers chartered the Waxahachie Tap Railroad to link Waxahachie to the H&TC in an effort to reap some of the economic benefits. Construction was completed in 1879, establishing a 13-mile connection across Ellis County between both cities. In 1881, the railroad would be reorganized into the Central Texas and Northwestern Railway and secured state legislation permitting the railroad to build out west into the Panhandle, but no further construction would be made on the railroad. Eventually, the CT&N was merged into the H&TC in 1901. In 1882, the H&TC began construction on a spur line which would span over 100 miles from Ennis to the city of

Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River ...

, linking a southern terminus of the

St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Mike Muir. Muir is the ...

. This would bypass the city of Dallas and provide a direct link from

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

to the port cities of Houston and

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

. However, in 1885—just three years into construction—the H&TC went into receivership after only building half of the line, stopping just south of the city of Quinlan. In 1892, the

was chartered by businesswoman

Hetty Green Hetty Green (November 21, 1834 – July 3, 1916), nicknamed the Witch of Wall Street, was an American businesswoman and financier known as "the richest woman in America" during the Gilded Age. She was named by the '' Guinness Book of World Reco ...

who would purchase the northeastern spur from the H&TC. The link between the cities of Ennis and Paris would finally be made 13 years later. After a decade of operation, the Texas Midland was bought out by parties interested in a link and partnership between the Frisco Line and

Rock Island Line "Rock Island Line" is an American folk song. Ostensibly about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, it appeared as a folk song as early as 1929. The first recorded performance of "Rock Island Line" was by inmates of the Arkansas Cummins ...

. Plans were announced to build a line 65 miles south from Ennis to

to connect with the recently established

Burlington-Rock Island Railroad The Burlington-Rock Island Railroad came into existence on July 7, 1930, through the reorganization of its predecessor, the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway Company (T&BV), nicknamed the "Boll Weevil Line."Burlington Route The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwest, Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colora ...

. There was significant potential of Ennis becoming a major railroad hub and junction, which could have significantly boosted its already booming development. However, this southern extension would never come to fruition and the Texas Midland would eventually be bought out and annexed by Southern Pacific in 1928, which leased the line to its subsidiary Texas and New Orleans Railroad. In 1934, the T&NO would fully acquire both the Texas Midland and the Houston and Texas Central, dissolving both companies in a merger to consolidate the H&TC line into the Southern Pacific system and fully abandon the Texas Midland Route. While Ennis would continue to see T&NO service to Dallas and Houston, the northeastern spur from Ennis to Paris would sit abandoned and go unused for almost a decade. A washout of the bridge spanning the Trinity River would lead to the official abandonment and decommissioning of the line between Ennis and Kaufman in 1942. The city was also served by the

Texas Electric Railway The Texas Electric Railway is a historic interurban railroad that operated from Dallas, Texas, to Denison, Corsicana, and Waco. It began operation in 1908 and through the merger of several companies became the largest interurban railway operator i ...

, an extensive

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

railway network in North Texas that stretched over 200 miles in length at its peak. The line historically ran through Ennis at street level along Dallas Street before running parallel to the T&NO tracks outside of the city center. From 1913 to 1941, Ennis was a stop along the Dallas-Corsicana Line, but the rise of the automobile, decline in ridership, and the economic strain of World War II led to the suspension of service and closure of the line. Like the Texas Midland's spur along Breckenridge Street, the interurban line ran along Dallas Street and was likewise paved over after service was suspended. However, these tracks were revealed and partially restored during street renovations in the late-2010s. By the mid-20th century, the significance of the railroad began to decline in the city, as the postwar boom of the mid-century favored the automobile over the locomotive. Texas and New Orleans' ''

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunl ...

'' and Hustler services were cut in 1955 and 1957 respectively, after serving the city since the T&NO's takeover of the H&TC. Passenger service would not return to Ennis, as attempts by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

to restore service to the city were largely unsuccessful. Ten years after the T&NO's merger into Southern Pacific in 1961, Southern Pacific would initially resist attempts to route the Lone Star along the line through Ennis in the early 1970s. In 1989, a spur of the

Texas Eagle The ''Texas Eagle'' is a daily passenger train route operated by Amtrak between Chicago and San Antonio in the central and western United States. Prior to 1988, the train was known as the ''Eagle''. Trains #21 (southbound) and 22 (northbound) ...

—the successor of the Lone Star service—running from Dallas to Houston would run nonstop through the city during the alternate service's brief three-year stint in the early 1990s. Shortly after in 1996, Southern Pacific would merge into Union Pacific, who has since been the sole railroad operating in the city. Union Pacific would go on to commemorate the city's significant railroad history by honoring the legacy of its local yard workers—some of whom were fourth and fifth-generation railroaders - in awarding the city a membership to the company's Train Town USA registry in 2013.

Templeton-McCanless Historic District

The Templeton-McCanless Residential Historic District is named in honor of two notable figures instrumental in the early development of the city, one of whom— Hix McCanless—was the architect for several early homes built in Ennis from the late 19th century to early 20th century. Because of the city's economic boom and the general prosperity of the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

during this era, many of these early homes were built indulgently with ornate details and great levels of craftsmanship in adherence to the pre-modern architectural styles of the time—namely in the Neoclassical,

American Craftsman American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...

, and

styles. However, many of these original homes were lost to neglect, demolition, fire, and careless renovation during the 20th century, precipitating the need to preserve the locally historic significance of those remaining. The historic district was created in 1986 after five years of grassroots efforts from the Ennis Heritage Society (now the Ennis Historical Society) and is now an officially registered district in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

dedicated to the protection and preservation of these homes. Today, dozens of homes are historically preserved in their original style. Some of the homes have been named after the architect of the house or the family name of its first residents.

Geography

Ennis is in the northeastern region of Texas, in eastern Ellis County.

Interstate 45 Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with the ...

passes through the east side of the city, with access from Exits 247 through 255. I-45 leads north to

and south to

. U.S. Route 287 curves around the south side of Ennis and leads northwest to

, the Ellis County seat.

Texas State Highway 34 State Highway 34 (SH 34) is a route that runs from Honey Grove, Texas, Honey Grove to Italy, Texas, Italy just east of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. History SH 34 was originally proposed on November 19, 1917, starting in Ft. Worth travelling ...

passes through the center of Ennis, leading northeast to

Kaufman Kaufman or Kauffman may refer to: People * Kaufmann (surname) ''Includes Kaufman, Kauffman, Kauffmann'' Places * Kaufman, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Madison Count * Kaufman, Texas, a city in Kaufman County * Kaufman County, Texa ...

and southwest to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

is to the southwest. Ennis has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.85%, is water.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Ennis has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Demographics

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, there were 20,159 people, 6,642 households, and 4,985 families residing in the city.

Arts and culture

Events

The National Polka Festival is a three-day festival that has been hosted annually since 1967 during the

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

weekend to commemorate the city's historic

Czech Texan Czech Texans are residents of the state of Texas who are of Czech Republic, Czech ancestry. Large scale Czech immigration to Texas began after the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire, Revolutions of 1848 changed the political climate in Cen ...

history and heritage. The festival features

Czech cuisine Czech cuisine ( cs, česká kuchyně) has both influenced and been influenced by the cuisines of surrounding countries and nations. Many of the cakes and pastries that are popular in Central Europe originated within the Czech lands. Contem ...

, polka music, a Memorial Day parade through downtown, and polka dances hosted at event halls operated by fraternal organizations such as

Sokol The Sokol movement (, ''falcon'') is an all-age gymnastics organization first founded in Prague in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of " a strong mind in a so ...

or the

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...

. There is a homecoming-like competition among residents and community-based fraternal organizations to crown the annual Duke and Duchess of Ennis. The Ennis Polka Run takes place to help fund the Rotary Club and the Children's Reading Club of Ennis. The Bluebonnet Trails Festival celebrates the state flower of Texas and the vibrant bloom of wildflowers in the surrounding countryside. The festival includes sightseeing excursions and a street fair in downtown. The festival is held on the third weekend of April, and the Bluebonnet Trails are hosted for the entire month. First hosted in Kachina Prairie Park in 1938, the Bluebonnet Trails have since expanded into a route of several dozen miles along rural farm roads throughout the surrounding countryside east and northeast of the city. The routes for these sightseeing excursions have been officially hosted and mapped out by the Ennis Garden Club since 1951. To commemorate the popularity of the Bluebonnet Trails Festival and the efforts made to celebrate and preserve the state flower of Texas, the

Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ...

designated Ennis the "Bluebonnet City of Texas" and also declared Ennis the official "Bluebonnet Trail of Texas" in 1997. The city hosts several other events throughout the year. Unity One Blues on Main Summer Music Festival is a jazz and blues festival hosted in June; Ennis Freedom Fest is a parade and firework show celebrating the

4th of July Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music) In music a fourth is an interval spanning four staff po ...

; the Fall Festival and Monster Mash Dash 5k Marathon are hosted in October; and the Lights of Ennis Festival, the Parade of Lights, and

Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe ( es, Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions, which are believed t ...

Procession are hosted in December during the Christmas season.

Attractions

Ennis September 2017 31 (Texas Motorplex)

Lake Bardwell Lake Bardwell is a lake in Ellis County, Texas. The lake was constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1965. Lake Bardwell is not used for military operations, and is accessible to the public for recreational purposes; it has sev ...

is a reservoir managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers located southwest of Ennis. It is a flood-control reservoir in the Trinity River Basin and a conservation pool in the Trinity Valley Authority. Surrounding the lake is a park system consisting of Big Mustang Creek Park, Little Mustang Creek Park, High View Park, Love Park, Mott Park, and Highview Marina, all of which offer boat ramps. The lake and parks offer hiking, horseback riding, camping, fishing, and sport boating.

Texas Motorplex The Texas Motorplex is a quarter mile drag racing facility located in Ennis, Texas, United States, south of downtown Dallas. Built in 1986 by former funny car driver Billy Meyer, the Motorplex was the first National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) "s ...

in Ennis is a quarter-mile drag racing facility built in 1986 by former funny car driver Billy Meyer. It hosts the annual NHRA O'Reilly Fall Nationals in September, when hundreds of professional and amateur drag racers compete for over $2 million in prize money. Galaxy Drive-In Theatre Galaxy Drive-In Theatre first opened in 2004, it was with only 3 screens. 16 years later they've expanded to 7 screens, featuring the newest films Hollywood has to offer. All the films shown at the Galaxy Drive-In Theatre are projected digitally and, in certain instances, in 3-D, a rarity in the world of drive-in cinema. Galaxy Drive-In is open SEVEN days a week 365 days a year. Ennis Railroad and Cultural Heritage Museum is housed in the former Van Noy restaurant building. The museum's collections include: railroad and cultural memorabilia including items related to the Houston and Central Texas Railroad; a large diorama of the old engine roundhouse that once existed just north of the museums location; a large collection of rare china; and a MKT caboose. Kachina Prairie is a city park preserving one of the last remaining examples of untouched Texas blackland prairie. The first Ennis bluebonnet trail was marked through this area in 1938.

Government

The city of Ennis has a

City Commissioner City commission government is a form of local government in the United States. In a city commission government, voters elect a small commission, typically of five to seven members, typically on a plurality-at-large voting basis. These commissione ...

City Manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a "Mayor–council government" council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief execu ...

government type, with several commissioners representing different departments of the city government in city council. The city is also one of the largest incorporated cities in the United States that continues to elect its City Marshal. The election is held every two years with the winning nominee being named Chief of Police by the City Council and City Manager. The position is currently held by Chief Andy Harvey, who was appointed by Secretary Wade after the retirement of former chief John Erisman. Below is a list of members of the City Government and their position:

Education

Education is administered by the

Ennis Independent School District Ennis Independent School District is a public school district based in Ennis, Texas, United States. In addition to Ennis, the district serves the towns of Alma, Bardwell, and Garrett in southeastern Ellis County. A portion of the district ex ...

, which consists of two early childhood centers, four elementary schools, two intermediate schools, one junior high, and

Ennis High School Ennis High School is a public high school located in the city of Ennis, Texas, in Ellis County, United States and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Ennis Independent School District located in southeast Ellis County. ...

. Secondary education offers several extracurricular programs, such as UIL (

University Interscholastic League The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, musical, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest organi ...

) Academics and Sports, TSA (

Technology Student Association The Technology Student Association (TSA) is a national student organization created to develop skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as well as business education. TSA aims to develop leadership, academic, and busines ...

), and the

National FFA Organization National FFA Organization is an American 501(c)(3) youth organization, specifically a career and technical student organization, based on middle and high school classes that promote and support agriculture, agricultural education. It was founded i ...

. Junior high and high school sports include baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, cross country, track, powerlifting, softball, soccer, and golf.

Notable people

In popular culture

Scenes from the following movies were filmed in Ennis: ''

Deadly Blessing ''Deadly Blessing'' is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven. The film tells the story of a strange figure committing murder in a contemporary community that is not far from another community that believes in ancient evil and curses. ...

'' (1981) starring

Sharon Stone Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress. Known for primarily playing femme fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of various ...

; ''On Valentine's Day'' (1986) starring

Hallie Foote Barbara Hallie Foote (born March 31, 1950) is an American actress. Life and career Born Barbara Hallie Foote in Manhattan, the daughter of Lillian Vallish Foote and writer and director Horton Foote, she was raised in Nyack, New York and New Hamps ...

and Michael Higgins; and '' Walking Tall: The Payback'' (2007) with

Kevin Sorbo Kevin David Sorbo (born September 24, 1958) is an American actor. He had starring roles in two television series: as Hercules in ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', and as Captain Dylan Hunt in '' Andromeda''. Sorbo is also known for acting ...

and

Haley Ramm Haley Michelle Ramm (born March 26, 1992) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Jen Long in the police procedural series ''Without a Trace'' (2007–2008), Brenna Carver in the ABC Family drama ''Chasing Life'' (2014–2015), a ...

. Scenes from the documentary ''

Flight of the Butterflies ''Flight of the Butterflies'' is a 2012 Canadian documentary film directed and co-written by Mike Slee for 3D IMAX, starring Megan Follows, Gordon Pinsent, and Shaun Benson. The film covers Dr. Fred Urquhart's nearly 40-year-long scientific inve ...

'' (2012) were filmed on Ennis' bluebonnet trails. On March 21, 2009, the TV show ''Pinks: All Out'' hosted a contest at the

. The Ennis Railroad and Cultural Museum was featured on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

travel show, The Texas Bucket List.

References

External links

City of Ennis official website

Ennis Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Cities in Texas Czech-American culture in Texas Cities in Ellis County, Texas Populated places established in 1872 1872 establishments in Texas