Historic Mesquite, Inc.
The Mesquite area is home for several historic sites. Some of those with Texas state historical markers are listed below by name, location and the text of the state marker.

Mesquite

Brickyard Cemetery ( Peachtree Rd. between Military and Gross Rd.) - Designated a Historic Texas Cemetery, 2002. More information.

City of Mesquite (Downtown square) - Texas site marker: In May 1873, Texas & Pacific Railroad engineer, A.R. Alcott platted a new depot town named Mesquite. the post office opened the following year. The community developed along the rail line, with businesses initially facing Front Street. As the town grew, business owners turned their front doors to Main Street in an effort to create a Town Square. Voters incorporated Mesquite in 1887. In 1903, following a legal challenge, the City re-incorporated with new boundaries. Mesquite, which began with an agrarian economy, grew rapidly in the second half of the 20th century as a Dallas suburb. The school district, established in 1901, is a draw for new residents, and the City continues to grow.

Sam Bass Train Robbery (100 Yards NW) (Mesquite downtown square) - Texas site marker: Sam Bass - with Seab Barnes, Hank Underwood, “Arkansas” Johnson, and Frank Jackson - held up a Texas & Pacific train here, April 10, 1878. They took $152, but missed hidden shipment of $30,000. In planning a bank robbery 3 months later, Bass was fatally shot by Rangers. (1968)

First Methodist Church of Mesquite (300 N. Galloway Ave.) - Texas site marker: In 1857, prior to the incorporation of the town of Mesquite, a group of area residents began gathering occasionally for Methodist worship services led by circuit riding Preacher W.K. Masten. Services were held in a nearby building known variously as the Frost Schoolhouse or the Bennett Schoolhouse. By 1863, the group had organized formally as the First Methodist Episcopal Church, south. Services continued in the schoolhouse until 1880, when charter members John L. and Lucy Futrell deeded this land to the congregation for the construction of a church building. Soon a small wood-frame structure was erected. Later damaged by a storm, it was rebuilt in 1900. In 1887 when the town of Mesquite was incorporated, charter member J. E. Russell became the town’s first mayor, and the downtown area began to develop near the church site. As the population of Mesquite increased, so did the congregation, and several progressively larger sanctuaries were built after 1916 to accommodate its growth. Because of denominational mergers, the congregation changed its name to the First Methodist Church of Mesquite in 1939, and to the First United Methodist Church of Mesquite in 1968. (1991)

Florence Ranch Homestead (1424 Barnes Bridge Road) - Recorded Texas Historic Landmark: David W. (1848-1932) and Julia Savannah (Beaty) Florence (1850-1914) built the first portion of this ranch house in 1871-72 after moving here from Van Zandt County. Elaborate wood trim decorates the gallery of the simple frame structure. The house was enlarged by the 1890’s, when the Florence Homestead covered 730 acres. After Florence retired in 1908, his son Emet (1885-1963) and Emet’s wife Perle (Curtis) (1889-1976) continued to run the ranch, known as Meadow View Farm. (1978)

Galloway Farmstead (18680 IH 635) - Texas Site Marker: Confederate veteran Benjamin Franklin Galloway (1833-1912) And his wife Eliza (Fletcher) (1852-1883) came to Texas from Tennessee in 1872. Their son Bedford Forest is said to have been born in a covered wagon at Duck Creek (Garland) in 1873. They purchased 101 acres in 1874 and Benjamin Galloway erected a cabin where they lived while a two-room house was built. A farmer, he also raised horses, mules and cattle. A second son, Nathan Lemmon, was born in 1876. Twin sons were born in 1883, but they lived only a day, and Eliza Galloway died soon after. Her niece, Clara Gentry, came to live with the family that year. At that time Benjamin had a Blackland Prairie hay company. Dallas clients included Tennessee Dairy, Caruth Farm and Ringling Brothers Circus. Benjamin Galloway married Amanda Jane Miller (1848-1938) of Tennessee in 1887 and built a 1½ story addition onto the home place. The structure eventually featured an entrance hall, bedroom, parlor, and a kitchen on the first level, with children's rooms upstairs. A son was born in 1888, but died at birth. Bedford returned home after attending college in Waco and New Orleans and made his living farming, baling hay and ginning cotton. He and his first wife, Nannie Lawrence, had four children. After her death in 1915, he married Bertha Dakan in 1917 and they had two daughters. Bedford was a city alderman, a member of the school board, and served as mayor of Mesquite from 1927 to 1940. A Galloway descendant restored the house between 1949 and 1950 and built another addition in 1955. Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1973, the Galloway Home Place was moved from this site to a more rural location in Sunnyvale in an effort to protect it from encroaching urban development. (2000)

Lawrence Farmstead (701 E. Kearney St.) - Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic places (1999), Family Heritage Farmstead : The son of an original member of the Mercer Colony, Stephen Decatur Lawrence (1853-1934) received about 640 acres of farmland on his twenty-first birthday. He began building the first structure, a small home, on this site in 1874. In 1882 contractor Charley Florrer built a T-plan house about six feet east of the original structure. The new house was of clapboard construction with square nails. In 1886, a kitchen room was added, altering the building to a cruciform floor plan. The striking central tower is an example of the Victorian features of the home, which include the steeply pitched overhanging roof and prominent porches. Other structures were added to the Farmstead, on which Stephen D. Lawrence and his first wife Louisa E. Porter (1861-1891) reared three surviving children. Charley Florrer built the barn in 1887; other structures erected just north of the main house included a smokehouse, a brick-lined root cellar, and the wash house. The Lawrence Farmstead complex is representative of the evolution of domestic buildings from the 1870s to the late twentieth century on the North Texas plains and blackland prairie. S.D. Lawrence married his second wife, Louisa Hill Walker (1867-1948), in 1893, and they reared their eight children here. Members of the prominent Lawrence family lived on the land until 1995, when 13.7 acres including the family complex became a city historical park according to the wishes of one of Stephen and Louisa’s daughters. (1998)

Mesquite Cemetery Marker (400 Holley Park Dr.) - Texas Site Marker: This burial ground was in use well before the Texas and Pacific Railroad established the City of Mesquite in 1873. The earliest marked grave is that of Britanna Santifee Chapman (1856-1859) who shares a plot with pioneer residents Davis G. Chapman (1824-1881) and wife Nancy C. (1828-1912). In 1890, local builder and civic leader Louis C. Ebrite (1852-1943) plotted a tract of several acres in a grid pattern with driveways that define the layout of the cemetery to this day. The site was formally deeded for cemetery use in 1892 and continues to honor area veterans and to chronicle the generations that belong to Mesquites proud heritage. (2001)

Motley Cemetery (3737 Motley Drive)- Texas Site Marker: Zachariah Motley migrated to Texas (1856) from Kentucky with his family and slaves. He and his wife Mary, five sons and three daughters helped settle this area and built their home some 200’ Northeast of this site, a one-half acre portion of the original homestead bought from the Crittenden Survey. Earliest known burial (1863) was Penelope Motley McLain, a daughter, and the wife of Capt. J.B. McLain. The plot is still in use and is owned and cared for by Motley descendants. Twenty-five known graves included family members and their slaves. (1976)

Potter Cemetery (5841 Lumley Road) - Texas Site Marker: John P. (1827-1899) and Martha (Oden) (1835-1872) Potter, pioneer citizens of the Republic of Texas, bought a farm near the Haught’s Store community in 1860. When their son William L. Potter died in July 1861 he was the first to be buried on this site; John Potter enlisted in the Confederate Army in the same month. After the war he served as Justice of the Peace; his landholdings included almost 1,000 acres. Most of the Potters’ nine children are interred here. The last recorded burial was in 1947. A 1997 count revealed 16 possible graves. The Potter Cemetery remains a record of the settlers who shaped Eastern Dallas County. (1998) Designated a Historic Texas Cemetery, 2005.

Public Education in Mesquite (300 E. Davis Street) - Texas Site Marker: Founded in 1885, the Mesquite Community School served until the first building of the newly formed Mesquite Independent School District was completed on this site in 1902, beginning with 200 students. Through strong community support, a high school was erected in 1923 and accredited in 1924. In the late 1930s a new high school was completed and the George W. Carver School was opened for area African American Students. The district was integrated in 1964. More buildings were acquired as needed. With an enrollment of 3,000 in 1997, Mesquite High School remains a focal point of public education in the area. (1998)

Nearby Communities.

Galloways' Old Home Place (Sunnyvale)-Recorded Texas Historic Landmark: Recorded Texas Historical Landmark: Farmhouse of Confederate Veteran Benjamin Franklin Galloway (1833-1912) and wife Eliza (Fletcher) , who came from Tennessee. They built first three rooms, 1875-76; Galloway enlarged house, 1888. Fourth generation of the family now preserves home. (1973)

La Prada Drive Church of Christ (2427 La Prada Dr., Dallas)- Texas site marker: This congregation first met in members’ homes at the end of the 19th century. In 1907 three trustees of the church- Chester Williams, G.M. Purcell, and Claude Hocker- purchased property near what would become Fair Park. An existing white frame building was used for 47 years, with the name of the church changing in accordance with street name changes. Members helped form the Ewing Avenue Church of Christ in Oak Cliff in 1949. Moving to a new site on Bruton Road in 1954, the congregation contributed their money, time, and talents to construct a red brick sanctuary, which served for many years. By the 1970s many members had moved to the Northeast Dallas suburbs. In 1976 Elders purchased more than four acres of land on La Prada Drive. Due to the rapid sale of the Bruton Road facility, services were held in a Mesquite school until a new church building was completed in December 1979. In keeping with the traditions of its founders, the church is guided by Elders and Deacons; male members do all speaking and teaching. There is no Sunday school. Singing without instruments is practiced. The congregation is active in foreign and domestic missionary service and community outreach. (1998)