The History of Ennis, Texas

When the Houston & Texas Central Railway reached the area in 1871, the new community was named for Colonel Cornelius Ennis, an official of the line. In 1891 the railroad picked Ennis as its northern division headquarters — under a deal requiring the town to supply water for the railroad — which tied the town's economy to the rails for decades. It grew fast: between 1874 and 1890 the population jumped tenfold, from around 300 to 3,000, as the depot and the cotton trade pulled people in.

The people who really shaped Ennis came from across the ocean. Waves of Czech and Slovak immigrants settled in and around Ennis in the late 1800s, making it one of the largest Czech communities in Texas — a heritage of Catholic churches, family farms, kolaches, and polka music that never faded. The National Polka Festival, founded in 1967 and held each May, brings thousands to town to celebrate it. Ennis is one of those Texas places where the old-country culture didn't just survive; it became the town's calling card.

Two more things put Ennis on the map. The Bluebonnet Trails — driving routes through the wildflower country, mapped every April for more than 70 years — led the Texas Legislature in 1997 to name Ennis the Official Bluebonnet City of Texas and home of the Official Texas Bluebonnet Trail, with a festival each mid-April. And in 1986, former funny-car driver Billy Meyer built Texas Motorplex, a quarter-mile drag strip that hosts the NHRA FallNationals each October and draws serious motorsports crowds. Railroad town, Czech town, flower town, race town — Ennis wears all four.