Preston, Texas
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Preston, also known as Preston Bend, is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
and
census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
located on the Red River in
Grayson County, Texas Grayson County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 135,543. The county seat is Sherman, Texas, Sherman. The county was founded in 1846 and is named ...
, United States. It grew in the 19th century at the intersection of several military and trade roads and was an important crossing on the
Shawnee cattle trail The Texas Road, also known as the Shawnee Trail, or Shawnee-Arbuckle Trail, was a major trade and emigrant route to Texas across Indian Territory (later Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri). Established during the Mexican War by emigrants rushing to ...
. Preston lost prominence after the MK&T railroad bypassed the town to the east, leading to a decline in traveler and cattle drive traffic. Much of its former town site is submerged beneath the waters of
Lake Texoma Lake Texoma is one of the largest reservoirs in the United States, the 12th-largest US Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) lake, and the largest in USACE Tulsa District. Lake Texoma is formed by Denison Dam on the Red River in Bryan County, Oklah ...
. Its population was 2,096 as of the 2010 census.


History


Early settlement

Before European settlement, the general area of Preston had been occupied by the
Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, who ...
people, with the
Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...
and
Kiowa Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...
farther to the west. One of the first American settlers in the area was John Hart, who cultivated land at the bend in the Red River possibly before 1826. He left the area just after 1830 after being attacked by Indians during a trapping expedition on the
Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the U.S. states of Texas and Oklahoma. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River of the South, Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geogra ...
. During the 1830s, the United States relocated the
Five Civilized Tribes The term Five Civilized Tribes was applied by the United States government in the early federal period of the history of the United States to the five major Native American nations in the Southeast: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Cr ...
from the Southeastern United States to the
Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
, on the north side of the Red River. As the first official United States expedition to the area, the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition explored the region in 1834. Above Preston on the Red River Leavenworth Camp, situated just west of the mouth of the Washita River, the area was a base for this expedition.
George Catlin George Catlin ( ; July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872) was an American lawyer, painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the American frontier. Traveling to the Wes ...
made some of his famous Indian paintings from this camp. In the fall of 1838, John Hart returned to the Washita Bend area with two partners. They cleared and fenced and built three cabins. In 1838, the partnership dissolved and Hart took sole possession of the land. He leased the land to a tenant.


Holland Coffee and the trading post

Holland Coffee and Silas Cheek Colville created Coffee, Colville, and Company to establish a trading post on the Red River. After establishing three trading posts upstream, they established one in the Washita Bend. They occupied the area of Washita Bend after John Hart's tenant was killed by Indians. Hart later sued Coffee for the land, but lost. In 1837, Holland Coffee had been elected to the
Texas Legislature The Texas State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. 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 p ...
and negotiated a peace treaty between the Republic of Texas and the
Waco Waco ( ) is a city in and 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 U.S. census estimated 2024 population of 146,608, making i ...
,
Tawakoni The Tawakoni (also Tahuacano and Tehuacana) are a Southern Plains Native American tribe, closely related to the Wichitas. They historically spoke a Wichita language of the Caddoan language family. Currently, they are enrolled in the Wichita ...
, Kichai, and Towash (
Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska * ...
) peoples on September 2, 1838, at a
Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
village near the mouth of the
Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the U.S. states of Texas and Oklahoma. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River of the South, Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geogra ...
. The town of Preston grew up around the trading post established by Coffee and Colville. The Trading Post of Holland Coffee site received a historic marker in 1936.


Roads and trails

Preston developed at the junction between the Indian Territory's
Texas Road The Texas Road, also known as the Shawnee Trail, or Shawnee-Arbuckle Trail, was a major trade and emigrant route to Texas across Indian Territory (later Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri). Established during the Mexican War by emigrants rushing to ...
, leading north to
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
, and what became the
Preston Road State Highway 289, known for most of its length as Preston Road, is a north–south Texas state highway. It begins at the intersection of Preston Road and Texas State Highway Loop 12, Loop 12/Northwest Highway in Dallas. The Preston Road ...
, leading south farther into Texas. Roughly following a much older trail used by Native Americans for centuries, in 1840–1841, Colonel William Gordon Cooke created the military road from Coffee's trading house on the Red River to
Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
. The Preston Road was originally long, from Preston to the Trinity River at
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
.


Fort Preston

The
Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...
commissioned Colonel Cooke to make a supply post in the area, known as Fort Preston after Captain William Gilwater Preston, a member of the military road expedition of 1840–1841. Some doubt remains that the town was named after him, and the origin of the name of the town is obscure. In 1840, Cooke was in charge of a company of men there. Coffee and other settlers were thinking about leaving the area before Cooke arrived. The village around Fort Preston grew up to be known as Preston, Texas. Fort Preston was established 80 yards west of the eastern bend in the river, on a bluff about above the river. Some of the buildings at Fort Preston were made of bricks made in the area. Later, the United States Army operated a depot to supply the Fifth Infantry from here. The Army depot operated from 1851 to 1853. The Preston Supply Depot was under the command of Lt. Thomas C. English and later by Bvt. Maj. W. F. Wood. Albert Sidney Johnston and the Second Cavalry came through Preston in 1855.


Glen Eden

When Holland Coffee married Sophia Suttonfield Aughinbaugh in 1839, they resided at his trading post in a square log stockade on the Red River. The stockade enclosed several huts and cabins. In 1843, Coffee began building
Glen Eden Glen Eden is a suburb of West Auckland, New Zealand, West Auckland, New Zealand, located at the foothills of the Waitākere Ranges. Originally known as Waikumete, the suburb gained the name Glen Eden in 1921. The suburb is in the Waitākere W ...
as a proper house for his wife, west of his trading post. It was completed in 1845. Holland Coffee was killed on October 1, 1846. Sophia later married several more times, and Glen Eden became the most famous residence in the area.


The town

Preston developed in the area around Coffee's trading house and was a considerable town in 1845 when William H. Hunt completed its town plat survey. The municipal government was established in 1851 with Tom Jackson as the first mayor. Preston's Masonic lodge was established in 1852. A United States post office was established in 1856, and later a post office operated from 1880 to 1914. Preston had general stores and at least one
blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
shop.


Cattle crossing

As the cattle business developed in Texas and cattle trails to processing facilities in Kansas became necessary, the Shawnee Trail developed through the Preston area. The crossing had been an important wagon crossing before 1850, with over 1,000 wagons crossing there in a year.


Ferries

Log raft
ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...
service was available at the trading post in 1839. Holland Coffee, George Butts, and Slone Love operated ferries in the area. Rock Bluff Ferry operated near the mouth of the Washita River close to Preston. In the late 1830s, James Tyson operated the ferry at the rock bluff. His ferry was little more than a log raft. Later, two partners owned this ferry, Jim Shannon and Bud Randolph. Around 1853, Ben Colbert opened up his
ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...
downstream to cash in on the
California gold rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...
. Preston was located on one branch of the
California Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...
, where it crossed into Texas from the Indian Territory. About west of Colberts was Thompson's Ferry, run by James George Thompson, first chief justice in Grayson County. Thompson's home became the first post office and courthouse in the county.


Hopes for expansion

Supplying the military posts in the frontier area was difficult. One idea was to expand and supply the army depot at Preston by
steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...
. This plan was abandoned in 1853 due to the difficulty of navigating the upper Red River because of the
Great Raft The Great Raft was an enormous log jam or series of "rafts" that clogged the Red and Atchafalaya rivers in North America from perhaps the 12th century until its removal in the 1830s. It was unique in North America in terms of its scale. Origin ...
logjam. Later, after the destruction of the Great Raft, steamboats on the Red River were finally able to navigate up the river to Preston. Preston had a steamboat landing. In 1847, the Texas Legislature ordered a road to be built from Preston to
Sherman Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a World War II American tank S ...
. In 1853, Congress funded an exploration of the best route west of the
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
for a
transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous rail transport, railroad trackage that crosses a continent, continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks may be via the Ra ...
. In February 1854, an expedition of 75 men led by Capt. John Pope surveyed a route along the
32nd parallel north Following are circles of latitude between the 30th parallel north and the 35th parallel north: 31st parallel north The 31st parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 31 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, ...
from
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
to Preston. Secretary of War
Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...
favored this path, though it was tabled until after the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. This route was afterwards abandoned. After the Civil War, the
First transcontinental railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...
was surveyed and constructed farther to the north.


Decline

Although Preston developed as the largest community in the area for many years, several factors led to its decline. When new counties were created by the Texas Legislature, their
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
s were located near the center of the counties. After the Texas Legislature created Grayson County from Fannin County, the county seat was designated near the center of the new county, at Sherman. As the county government developed, the focus of growth left Preston. The site of Sherman was situated east of the Preston Trail and caused travelers passing through the area from the north to the south to gravitate east of Preston.


Butterfield trail

The
Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...
stage route, between
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
and
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, began operation in 1857. The line ran across the Indian Territory from
Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the List of municipalities in Arkansas, third-most populous city in Arkansas, United States, and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County, Arkansas, Sebastian County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the pop ...
, to the Red River at Colbert's Ferry, a few miles east of Preston. The stage line had decided to bypass Preston as the traditional crossing on the Red River. Colbert's Ferry became a more popular crossing over the Red River as Sherman and
McKinney McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas, United States. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano, Texas, Plano and Frisco, Texas, Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about ...
developed. In 1857, Sherman was very small, made up of only two or three small stores. Much of the brick and material came from older buildings at Preston. By 1871, 14 stage lines were operating through Sherman.


MK&T Railroad

After the Civil War, the peace treaty between the United States and the Five Civilized Tribes allowed for a railroad to be built north and south across the Indian Territory. This railroad, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, crossed the Red River near Colbert's Ferry to the east of Preston in 1871. By this time Preston had begun to decline and was largely abandoned. As other cities along the railroad's route prospered, Preston became a rural community.


20th century

In the 20th century, Preston had a public school system, two churches, a
cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...
, and a cemetery. In the 1930s, the town had about 20 residents. New Preston developed more centrally within the bend.


Lake Texoma

The United States Congress authorized Lake Texoma's construction by the
Flood Control Act of 1938 The Flood Control Act of 1938 was an Act of the United States Congress signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that authorized civil engineering projects such as dams, levees, dikes, and other flood control measures through the Un ...
approved June 28, 1938, (Public Law 75-791) for flood control and generation of
hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...
. The lake's area submerged the Preston townsite. The
United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...
bought all the land in the area in the late 1930s for Lake Texoma. After the filling of Lake Texoma, only the cemetery was left from Preston; which was on high ground overlooking the town. The cemetery was expanded with a new section when Lake Texoma was created. Some of the existing graves that were to be under the lake were moved to the new section of the cemetery. Preston Point is the peninsula in Lake Texoma that was the high ground overlooking the town of Preston. An unincorporated community named Preston exists on this peninsula, consisting largely of campgrounds and recreational cabins.


Demographics

Preston first appeared as a
census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
in the 2010 U.S. Census. As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,101 people, 834 households, and 355 families residing in the CDP.


2000 census

The population of Preston was 325 in 2000.


Geography

Preston was located in Texas on its border with the
Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
(later the state of
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
) in the Red River Valley on a river bend just downstream from the river's confluence with the
Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the U.S. states of Texas and Oklahoma. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River of the South, Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geogra ...
. The area was also known as Washita Bend or Coffee Bend. This area is located a few miles east of the
Cross Timbers The term Cross Timbers, also known as Ecoregion 29, Central Oklahoma/Texas Plains, is used to describe a strip of land in the United States that runs from southeastern Kansas across Central Oklahoma to Central Texas. Made up of a mix of prairi ...
on the upper Red River above the former Great Raft logjam. A rock bluff overlooked the Red River from the Texas side of the river, above the river's low-water mark. This bluff at Preston marked the ford of an old Indian trail on the Red River. This ford was later used as the Red River crossing point of the Shawnee Cattle Trail. Later, the bluff also marked the return route of Captain Randolph B. Marcy's expedition from Santa Fe to Fort Smith in 1849. The Oklahoma side of the river was a relatively flat, sand-covered plain and terraces sloping gently to the river. The current Preston CDP occupies the entire Preston Peninsula, bordered to the west by the main body of Lake Texoma and to the east by the Little Mineral Arm of the lake. The peninsula ends to the north at Preston Point, and the CDP extends south to the base of the peninsula, at Meadow Lake Drive to the east and at Highport Road to the west.
Texas State Highway 289 State Highway 289, known for most of its length as Preston Road, is a north–south Texas state highway. It begins at the intersection of Preston Road and Loop 12/Northwest Highway in Dallas. The Preston Road designation comes from the f ...
has its northern terminus in Preston and leads south to Pottsboro. Denison is to the southeast, and
Sherman Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a World War II American tank S ...
, the Grayson County seat, is to the south-southeast. According to the
U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...
, the Preston CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 38.02%, are covered by water, consisting of the adjoining waters of Lake Texoma.


References


Further reading

* Foreman, Grant. ''Down the Texas Road: Historic Places Along Highway Number 69 Through Oklahoma'' University of Oklahoma Press, 1936, Pp. 46. * Landrum, Grahm and Smith, Allen. "Grayson County" (Fort Worth, 1960; 2d ed., Fort Worth: Historical Publishers, 1967). * Lucas, Mattie D. and Hall, Mita H. A History of Grayson County (Sherman, Texas, 1936). * Marcy, R. B., ''The Prairie Traveler'' unknown date, publisher * Middlebrooks, Audy J. and Glenna P. "Holland Coffee of Red River," ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 69 (October 1965). * Morrison, W.B.
Colbert Ferry on Red River, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory
''The Chronicles of Oklahoma 16:3 (September 1938) * Tolman, Keith. "Tea Kettle on a Raft: A History of Navigation on the Upper Red River," The Chronicles of Oklahoma 81 (Winter 2003-2004)




External links

*

at GhostTowns.com {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Grayson County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Census-designated places in Grayson County, Texas Census-designated places in Texas Submerged places in the United States