The original name of the town was Bois d’Arc, after the
creek. In 1848, the Congress of the Republic of Texas
was prepared to rename the town Bloomington. Instead, they renamed the town Bonham
after James Butler Bonham, one of the heroes of the Alamo.
During the Civil War, Bonham was the headquarters for
General Henry McCulloch. After the war, there was an influx of settlers.
Agriculture was very big. The main crops were cotton and grains. This is the Confederate Commissary where rations were handed out. This is the building where the marker stands. I don't think is the actual commissary building.
In 1873, the Texas and Pacific Railway came through town
greatly increasing the population. It was in Bonham that this railway had a
division point; a spur went to Denton. By this time, the town had six churches,
three colleges, two public schools, a sawmill and two grain mills. This is the Texas & Pacific Depot in Bonham. It's now the Fannin County Historical Museum.
In 1888, the Fannin County Courthouse was built. In 1929,
there was a fire that caused severe structural damage. It was at that time that
the building was remodeled. It looked the same except that the tower had been removed.
The courthouse was remodeled again in 1965 to give it a “sleeker, more modern”
look. Then in 2021, the courthouse was restored to its original façade.
In 1890, the Steger Opera house was built and touring
companies would come and perform there. That was the second opera house in town.
The first was the Russell Opera House. One of the stories on the “walkabout”
was about a touring company that was performing “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. In 1889, word
of the booking leaked and the locals were still touchy after their defeat in
the Civil War. The citizens wanted the show to be cancelled but that wasn’t an
option. Only six people showed up on the night of the performance. When the
curtains rose, the actors came out and started the performance. The six attendees
stood and began shooting at the stage lights. The actors fled. They quickly
grabbed their things from the hotel and scrambled over to the train depot. Luckily,
a train was pulling into the station. The troop climbed aboard and made their
escape. It was a long time before traveling companies stopped in Bonham after
that. The opera houses were razed in 1980.
During World War II, Bonham served as a training camp for
the United States Army. There was an aviation school nearby. The town also
served as a prison camp holding German prisoners of war.
This is the United States Post Office. It was built in 1914.
This is the A.B. Scarborough House. Albert Scarborough was the president of the First National Bank. The house was built in 1897 and it has 3 bedrooms plus a master suite. Albert had ten children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. In 1935, Albert sold the house to Philip Wise who used it as a funeral home. It is still used that way today. I would love to tour this house. It looks amazing.
Bonham’s biggest claim to fame is one of its prominent citizens,
Sam Rayburn. Sam was born in Tennessee, but he and his family moved to Texas in
1887 to a huge cotton farm where he and his siblings picked cotton. He managed
to work his way through college. In 1906, he was elected to the Texas House of
Representatives.
In 1913, he bought 121 acres of land in Bonham. He built
a house where he lived with his family (siblings and parents). This is the year
that he was elected to the US House of Representatives. He served in the House
for 48 years. He was Speaker of the House for 17 of those years. During that
time, he mentored a young Lyndon B. Johnson.
His house is a museum that is run by the Texas Historical
Commission. Sam lived here with a brother and two sisters. His brother Tom ran the farm while Sam was in Washington. When Tom married, he bought a house next door. One of his sisters was married. She and her husband came to live here when he got sick. His other sister, Lucinda, aka Miss Lou, was not married.
I thought this was a pretty cool story: When the
Democrats lost the House in 1947, he became the Minority Leader. The members
wanted to get him a gift, but he refused to accept any gift that was greater
than $25. So, 142 Democrats and 50 Republicans donated $25 each and bought him
this 1947 Fleetwood Cadillac. He returned the money to all the Republicans (to
avoid what he thought might be a conflict of interest), but he did thank them
for the gesture.
Sam Rayburn also has a library/museum in Bonham. I thought only presidents had libraries but I was wrong. Sam was a great collector of books and things. The library is free to go in and it's very cool.
There are two sections. The first is the museum where there are artifacts that Sam collected from his days in Congress. This is a replica of his office. The chandelier actually came from the white house. Teddy Roosevelt thought it made too much noise and wanted to get rid of it. Sam took it and hung it in his office. Now it resides in his museum. As of 2020, there were ten thousand people that live there. They have a WalMart grocery store along with a Brookshire's and the various dollar stores. In fact, there's a Dollar General right across the street from the Courthouse. They have your standard fast food chains but I didn't see any restaurant chains. The biggest employers in Bonham are the hospital, Seven Oaks Nursing Home and Walmart. But Bonham isn't that far from Plano so I'm sure a lot of people work there as well.
In Dallas, Highway 121 is called the Sam Rayburn Tollway.
I’m wondering if this was on purpose. (Rayburn bought 121 acres in Bonham).
I enjoyed our visit to Bonham. We didn’t have enough time
to get to everything. There are several museums worth visiting. There’s the
Inglish Fort Museum, The Fannin County Historical Museum, The Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site and the Sam Rayburn Library. There is also a self-guided walking tour around
the town square. All these cool things make Bonham the star of North Texas. If you're in the area, check it out!
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