PLACES
Places of note.
These are not the eight towns — those have their own directory pages. These are the specific buildings, squares, water bodies, ruins, and roadside stops that are worth knowing about before you drive through. Some are historic. Some are just good.
Belcherville, Texas
Small unincorporated community along US-82 between Saint Jo and Nocona in northern Montague County: a railroad-and-orchard settlement in long decline, with a historic cemetery and the atmosphere common to bypassed Texas small places.
Bowie, Texas
The largest city in Montague County: a railroad town founded in 1882 on the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, named for Jim Bowie, and home to Lake Amon G. Carter.
Forestburg, Texas
Unincorporated community in northwestern Montague County, a small rural settlement known locally for its hand-lettered watermelon stand on the county road in late summer.
Fruitland, Texas
Unincorporated community in Montague County, named for the orchard-belt agriculture that characterized the area during the county's late nineteenth and early twentieth century farming era.
Illinois Bend Memorial Cemetery
Historic Texas cemetery in northeastern Montague County on the Red River: a living community institution with marked graves from 1873 and an origin that predates the county's post-Civil War resettlement.
Illinois Bend, Texas
Remote Red River bend community in northeastern Montague County: frontier settlement, the catastrophic December 1863 Kiowa-Comanche raid, and a living cemetery that has served the community since the 1870s.
Lake Amon G. Carter
1,540-acre reservoir south of Bowie: built in 1956 to answer the worst drought in Texas history, managed by the City of Bowie, named for the Fort Worth publisher who shaped north Texas for half a century.
Lake Nocona
1,362-acre reservoir north of Nocona: built in 1960 on Farmers Creek, managed by the North Montague County Water Supply District, and the primary water source and recreational hub for the Nocona area.
Lake Valley
Small unincorporated locality in southwestern Montague County, near the Wise County line: historically known as Salt Lake Valley, anchored today by a family cemetery and rural ranchland.
Montague, Texas — County Seat of Montague County
Small town, outsized history: Montague serves as the county seat of Montague County, home to a Classical Revival courthouse built in 1913 after a succession of fires, arson plots, and tornadoes.
Nocona, Texas
Town in northern Montague County: founded 1887 on the Gainesville, Hamilton and Western Railroad, home to the Justin Boot Company legacy, the Nocona Boot Company, and Nokona — America's last domestic baseball glove manufacturer.
Old Spanish Fort — A Taovaya Village on the Red River
The site known as Old Spanish Fort in northern Montague County was never a Spanish fort. It was a Taovaya fortified village whose defenders beat a Spanish army in 1759. Six centuries of occupation, one battle, and a ghost town.
Red River Station, Texas
Historic Chisholm Trail crossing on the Red River in northwestern Montague County: the primary ford where millions of longhorns crossed from Texas into Indian Territory from 1867 through the early 1880s.
Saint Jo, Texas
Small city in southern Montague County, founded on the Chisholm Trail corridor: the Stonewall Saloon, built 1873, remains the oldest standing structure in town and a window into the cattle-drive era.
Spanish Fort, Texas
Ghost town in northern Montague County: 1759 battle site where Taovaya defenders beat a Spanish army, and where H.J. Justin opened his first boot shop in 1879.
Stonewall Saloon Museum — Saint Jo, Texas
The 1873 stone building that was Saint Jo's first permanent structure, built as a saloon for Chisholm Trail drovers and now operating as a community heritage museum at 100 South Main Street.