Grayson County TXGenWeb

Sherman

The town of Sherman began about 1848 when T.J. Shannon, Grayson County's first representative to the Texas Legislatuve, "cut down a giant pecan, hitched y-yoke of oxen to it, and tore a passage through the brambles by dragging this primitive bulldozer where he intended the streets to be." Named by his 12-year-old daughter, Travis Street, would witness the early evolution of travel from the foot traveler, the horseback rider, the horse and mule drawn wagon, the buggy, the longest stage coach line in the history of the world, the mule drawn street car, the Electric Street Car, the City Bus Service, the Interurban, and finally the automobile. Its surface evolved from dirt or mud into gravel, brick concrete and asphalt.

Near the center of Grayson County there was a gentle ridge that ran north and south and was virtually level for more than 2 miles. It drained to the east and west into tributaries of Choctaw Creek which flowed slouth, gradually curving east and then north, emptying into the Red River. It's level topography and drainage made it adaptable for a road which would serve the frontier town of Sherman.

It is reasonable to assume that the level topography of Travis Street had been used by animals and humans traveling north and south for many generations before the county of Grayson or the town of Sherman were established in the 1840s. The north bound trail veered to the east near present-day Brockett Street and then north near present-day Maxey street, following the 1900s north-south right of way used by the railroads, porceeding northerly toward Iron Ore Creek and Sand Springs, a distance of 8 miles, without having to ford a creek, climb a hill or descend into a depressions.

Travis street was planned to be the main street of a frontier village and that was what it became. Frontiersmen sought to avoid hostile Indians and having to cross the Rocky Mountains after crossing the mighty Mississippi River. Many would choose the route towards El Paso Del Norte, aka El Paso, Texas. Many would travel southwesterly toward Colbert's Ferry on the Red River, which was only a way station away from Sherman. Many of these early pioneers traveled south down Travis Street. Some would stop and stay in Sherman.

Norman Rogers. A View of History from 108 North Travis. Sherman Preservation League, c1996. pg. 5-7