The History of Weatherford, Texas

Parker County was created in 1855, named for pioneer legislator Isaac Parker, and its new seat took the name of the district's state senator, Jefferson Weatherford. The town incorporated in 1858. This was genuine frontier — the far western edge of settlement, close enough to danger that Comanche raids were a real threat well into the 1870s. It grew as a ranching and farming center, a jumping-off point for the open country to the west, and the cattle trails of the era ran through the region.

Two things made Weatherford's name. First, fruit: by 1910 Parker County had something like 144,000 fruit trees, mostly peaches, and the sandy soil and climate produced fruit good enough that the Texas Legislature eventually declared Weatherford the Peach Capital of Texas — a title the roadside stands still trade on every summer. Second, horses: the country around Weatherford became a center of the cutting-horse world, breeding and training the quick, cow-savvy horses that are a serious Western sport and business. The town stayed rural and proud of it while the eastern side of the metro suburbanized.

For its size, Weatherford has a long list of names. Broadway star Mary Martin — the original stage Peter Pan — grew up here, and her son, Larry Hagman, went on to play J.R. Ewing on Dallas. Legendary trail driver Oliver Loving, half of the Goodnight-Loving partnership that inspired Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, is buried in Weatherford's Greenwood Cemetery alongside the cowboy Bose Ikard. Former U.S. Speaker of the House Jim Wright grew up here too. Today Weatherford is growing as the metro's western gateway on I-20, but it's held onto the peaches, the horses, and the courthouse-square feel.