Mural

Over the eons, Coryell County was home to a vast inland sea that gave way to land masses with creatures like the dinosaur Acrocanthasauris Artokinsis and eventually the Columbian Mammoths like those found in Waco. There are dinosaur tracks (on private property) in western Coryell County and the county is rich in fossils.

Native Americans, including the Tonkawa, Comanche, Kiowa, and Waco, occupied the region beginning over twelve thousand years ago. Numerous artifacts have been found throughout the county including a medicine wheel near MATES (Mobilization and Training Equipment Site) on North Fort Hood. Coryell Creek, a tributary of the Leon River, has been identified as a major war trail for the Comanche.

Hugh Sheridan and Horace Haldeman were soldiers at Ft. Gates. The post was the first authorized by the Republic of Texas, but was the last one built on the Texas Forts Trail in 1849, and became the first one abandoned in 1852.

The soldiers of Fort Gates moved to west Texas and formed Ft. Phantom Hill near Abilene.

The old log jail was built the same year as the founding of the county. It still stands in the museum and has never had bars. Prisoners were kept in a hole in the floor. Even the famous outlaw, Johnny Ringo, spent the night there for public drunkenness. Soon after his release he arrived in Lampasas where he killed a man before moving on to infamy in Arizona.

To understand the mule and plow, you really need to read the book, Harder than Hardscrabble available in the museum gift shop. The survey transit is a tribute to James Coryell who served on the crew for surveyor Major George Erath whose statue stands outside the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco. Erath County was named for him.

Coryell County was a part of the Chisholm trail until the suspension bridge over the Brazos River was built in Waco. Herds actually moved up Hard Bargain mountain south of town on their way to the Kansas cattle markets. Aggies will understand the 13-0 brand on the longhorn. For those of you who don’t know, on November 19, 1915, Texas A&M defeated Texas 13-0 at Kyle Field. In February 1917, a group of Aggies stole the Texas mascot and branded the 1915 score into the longhorn’s hide.

Following the Civil War, slaves were freed in Coryell County. Judge Mayberry gave 200 acres in the Moccasin Bend area of the Leon River to twelve slave families who built homes, a church (the Bethlehem Baptist Church in 1872), and a school – calling their community Lincolnville. Two men, including William Martin Smith, served as buffalo soldiers. Smith was in Company C of the 10th Infantry. The mural depicts Molly Snow, a midwife, and Silas Snow who became a School Board Member and Church deacon.

Bill Babb left his family in the care of his neighbors to fight in the war between the states. Upon returning, he found his family nearly destitute. The same neighbors he had counted on to watch out for his wife and children had taken advantage of them. After great effort and several years, he created one of the largest cattle ranches in Coryell County and owned over 5000 acres of land that stretched into Bosque County. At some point, Bill attended a circus in Waco and purchased a sick bear that he brought back to his ranch.

The skull represents Medical Plastics, Inc. which is now Laerdal. In 1949, two brothers just home from World War II, Dr. Elworth Lowrey and Dr. Wendell Lowrey along with dentist Dr. Tom Williams created a business that revolutionized medicine by developing a process to create replicas of bones, skeletons and anatomical structures. Their work quickly became world renowned and gave a much needed boost to the Gatesville economy. The ability to manufacture these products greatly enhanced the ability of hospitals and universities to train future nurses, medical students, and dentists.