 Benjamin
Franklin Colbert, son of a Chickasaw chief and a French mother, moved
from Mississippi and relocated in Indian Territory in the 1840s.
The Tribal Commission granted him permission in 1853 to establish
a ferry for hauling passengers and freight between the Indian Territory
and Texas.
Colbert's ferry business was prosperous. In the mid-1850s, he and some partners established a store on the Texas side of the Red River. He called it the "First Chance, Last Chance." Colbert's store was the beginning of the settlement that became known as Red River City. It's location is believed to be north of Duck Creek and each of present-day US Hwy 75. Being about 200 yards from the ferry dock, it would have been near where the old toll bridge stood. Red River City was a growing settlement and became an important stop for the Butterfield Overland Mail and Stage service beginning in September 1858. Sand Springs was located on the southwest edge of Denison and was used by the states also. Most of Red River City's population was transient. It was a bustling, rowdy frontier town. Wagon masters waited with their wagon train to cross Red River on Colbert's Ferry. Cowboys stopped overnight in Red River City with their cattle. Red River City was the last chance for a binge before crossing Indian Territory to the Kansas railheads. In October 1872 The Dallas Herald reported that an agreement had been made between representatives of the Texas Central Railway and the M. K. & T. Railway to build a junction between the two of their lines 1.5 miles from the Red River at Red River City, a large tract of land, 900 acres, originally purchased by the Texas Central Co. Plans were to build the Union depots, general freight and passenger depots and machine shops and to lay a double track over one grade, built jointly by both companies, to Denison, about 4-4.5 miles from the bridge. (Sherman Patriot. Reprinted in The Dallas Herald, Saturday, October 26, 1872, pg 2) However, in the summer of 1872 Major O.B. Gunn, Chief Engineer of the M. K. & T. personally inspected the northeast Texas countryside for a hundred miles in every direction and the Town Company purchased 392 acres, on which the new town of Denison was laid out in September 1872, despite the fact that long before the railhead town for the railroad was located, the to-be-formed railhead town was christened "Red River City." The land was high rolling ground, 217 feet above the lever of Red River and far enough from the banks of the river to be free of the diseased related to bottom land. (The Denison News, Friday, December 27, 1872, pg. 2) Denison Daily News May 16, 1873 The post office was established last November and is now under charge of F.P. Baker, with Howard J. Hall as his obliging and accommodating deputy. The office will be removed next month to the new stone building going up now on the south side of Main Street. They now have 334 lock boxes, 600 letters are mailed per day, and $600 worth of stamps sold per month. The office is not as yet classified but will be on the first of July next, and it is supposed that it will rank as second class. The Methodists have erected a small frame building; the Presbyterians and Catholics have commenced building, and the Episcopalians, Baptists and Cumberland Presbyterian have organized societies and have selected sites for houses of worship. The News, published by B.C. Murray, an old Texan, is issued both daily and weekly; the Journal by F.P. Baker and G.A. Cuttler is issued weekly. Both are able papers. A new paper called the Bulletin has lately been established. A splendid flouring mill is now being erected by Boss; Jennings & Co.. of St. Louis. The main building is four stories high, built out of sandstone with walls two and a half feet thick. The mill will cost when completed $40,000, and excels anything of the kind in North Texas. A charter has been granted by the Grand Master of Texas for a new Masonic Lodge here to be called Lone Star Lodge, U.D., with John W. Jennings as W.M.; Julian C. Feild as S.W.; and George W. Dexter as J.W. Cotton is brought to Denison from 100 miles on either route. A choice article brings 15c per pound. It is said that coal has been discovered on B.F. Colbert's land in the Chickasaw Nation, six miles north of here. This is invaluable for Denison. The people are in high glee over the prospect of another railroad. It is said that the M K & T Railroad will extend their lines from here to Gainesville, and by the first of next August have cars running. With the Houston & Texas Central Railroad building from the south, and the Katy from the north, a terminal in Texas was being planned. Red River City seemed the logical place. However, Red River City was never the chosen site. Sherman was already a thriving town. General Manager Robert S. Stevens and Sherman entrepreneur, William Benjamin Munson became friends. Stevens chose Sherman as the Texas Terminal and Munson agreed to take the lead in getting the city's financial backing. The town council rejected Munson's bond proposal. This left two options - The Katy would stop at the Red River of build it's own town site. It chose the latter. Red River City was a tent town with a population of largely prostitutes and gamblers. But its name was known throughout the country. There was much opposition to naming the new town site "Denison." By 1874-1875, Red River City had become part of the new community, Denison. (Katy's Baby:The Story of Denison, Texas; pgs. 1 - 9, by Jack MaQuire) The Denison Press Friday, September 13, 1957 pg. 6 Denison 81-71-54 Years Ago (Denison News, August 8, 1877) The last remnant of the notorious "Red River City" passed down the road yesterday, being what was left of the depot building. It was loaded on 3 cars and is being taken to Houston. A portion of a large hotel, which never was built, is all there is now to mark the spot where Red River City once stood. Red River City History Towns Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |