Cleburne and Midlothian, Texas

Cleburne, Texas is Johnson County's third county seat (the first being the town of Wardville, now under Lake Pat Cleburne). The lake, originally named the Cleburne Reservoir, is owned and operated by the city of Cleburne as a municipal water supply source. It was formerly known as Camp Henderson, a temporary Civil War outpost. Cleburne was well placed in early Texas history because it featured water from West Buffalo Creek, making it a stop for cattlemen on the Chisholm Trail which ran from San Antonio through Oklahoma and ended in Abilene, Kansas.

The town was named in honor of Confederate Major-General Patrick R. Cleburne, under whom many of the men had fought during the Civil War. Cleburne was born in Cork, Ireland, served with the British Army then came to America in 1849, settling in Arkansas. There he joined the Confederate cause in 1861. Interestingly, in 1864, he put forth the proposal to emancipate all slaves in order to "enlist their sympathies" and thereby enlist them in the Confederate Army to secure Southern independence. He probably got the idea because Great Britain had already abolished slavery way back in 1833. You could've probably heard crickets in the room when he presented that idea to other Southern generals. How did that conversation go, "Hmmmm, release our free labor pool, arm those same people we have been enslaving for about a hundred years.....let me think about that for a second....ahhhh, NO.". The idea died with him after an ill-conceived attack at the Battle of Franklin, just south of Nashville, Tennessee, on November 30, 1864.

The original courthouse was at Wardville. It is still in existence today at a park on the banks of Lake Pat Cleburne. The original courthouse there is the oldest log courthouse in Texas. The site was not legally close enough to the counties' geographic center, and so the population moved to the new community of Buchanan in 1856 and a new courthouse was built, which survived until at least the mid-1860s. When part of Johnson County was consolidated into Hood County the county seat was moved again to "Camp Henderson" which was renamed Cleburne in 1867. Buchanan was mostly abandoned by 1892. All that remains is the small Buchanan cemetery.

The first building used was off the town square and a two-story brick courthouse was completed on October 26, 1879. In 1882, that one was razed and a new brick building was built which included a bell tower. This was destroyed by fire on April 15, 1912. The current Prairie style Courthouse (pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright), was completed on November 28, 1913 and was renovated in 2006.

Cleburne was primarily an agricultural center and county seat until the Santa Fe Railroad opened a major facility there in 1898. During this time, the population boomed, as it became a sizable city for the area with over 12,000 residents by 1920. The Chicago, Texas and Mexican Central Railway connected Cleburne to Dallas in 1882. Two other railroads had terminals in Cleburne. The Dallas, Cleburne, and Southwestern Railway completed a route in 1902, and the Trinity and Brazos Valley, nicknamed the Boll Weevil, operated from Cleburne from 1904 to 1924. Though the railroad is no longer vital to the town, Cleburne is still served by Amtrak.

In the 1930’s, the Civilian Conservation Corp had a camp in Cleburne, which developed Cleburne State Park southwest of Cleburne and building an earthen dam creating Cedar Lake which was completed in 1940.

Cleburne was the site of a prisoner-of-war camp for German soldiers during World War II. Texas had approximately twice as many POW camps as any other state, first because of the available space, and second, curiously, because of the climate. The Geneva Convention of 1929 required that prisoners of war be moved to a climate similar to that where they are captured (who knew?); apparently it was thought that the climate of Texas is similar to that of North Africa. Well…it does get crazy hot here and water is always an issue.

The POWs worked as laborers on local farms. Because so many men had joined the war effort, grateful farmers paid the government the prevailing wage of $1.50 per day, and the prisoner was paid eighty cents in canteen coupons. The POWs in Texas picked peaches and citrus fruits, harvested rice, cut wood, baled hay, threshed grain, gathered pecans, and chopped records amounts of cotton. The POW camps were sometimes considered too good for the captive Germans, and many a Texas community called its local camp the "Fritz Ritz."

Many Germans were happy to be captured by the British or Americans—fear of being captured by the Soviets was widespread—mostly because of Germany’s horrific conduct of the war on the eastern front. The prisoners were usually shipped in Liberty Ships returning to America that would otherwise be empty, with as many as 30,000 arriving per month. While they risked being sunk by their own U-boats on the ocean, good treatment began with the substantial meals served aboard. Upon arriving in America, the comfort of the Pullman cars that carried them to their prison camps amazed the Germans, as did the country's large size and undamaged prosperity.

We were joined by our good friends, Sara and Chad, fellow spontaneous travelers from our Chicago day trip last year. As we pulled up to Johnson County’s historic Courthouse, a decision was made (well….Sara and Diane decided) to get a coffee infusion and luckily, there was a coffee shop right there in the town square, Mug On The Square; a very roomy and clean establishment serving piping-hot caffeine concoctions. Of course, Diane had to walk away with the requisite T-shirt too.

Cleburne was fortunate enough to have the first railroad tracks in all of Texas laid there in 1866. This led to a spate of saloons, shops, businesses and wagon yards. The town got pretty wild to a point where the crime and lawlessness in Cleburne made it also known as “Little Chicago”.

We walked down the street to visit the historic Liberty Hotel opened in 1924. Being a busy stop on the Santa Fe, the hotel flourished up to the Depression but fell on hard times and disrepair until Cleburne natives Scott and Howard Dudley renovated and reopened the hotel in 2004. Unfortunately, due to renovation restrictions, we couldn’t enter the lobby unless we were paying guests. It may have to be a future overnighter.

A decision was made to head east to another historic little town, Midlothian, Texas in Ellis County. Midlothian became a settlement under the Peters Colony around 1843 and became a permanent settlement in 1848 as Hawkins Springs, a reference to a spring found on the land of the original landowner, William Alden Hawkins.

Earliest Native American inhabitants of this area were the Tonkawa Indians, but other Indian tribes also hunted in this area including the Anadarkos, Bidias, Kickapoos, and the Wacos. Early settlers had a rough time of it until Sam Houston made peace with the tribes when Texas won its independence from Mexico.

They got a post office called Barker in 1877 and the name was changed to Midlothian in 1882 or 1883. As early as 1881, the Waxahachie Enterprise newspaper referred to this community as Midlothian, thus discounting the common story about a train conductor naming it for his home in Scotland. The Santa Fe railroad came to town in 1883 and life took off for the residents. The Midlothian Oil Mill and Gin, founded in 1898, was a three-press mill. At its peak it was a 14-gin operation (ok..that’s really big).

Before the Great Depression, many businesses flourished. Cattle, cotton and later corn became the primary products. Some enjoyed substantial trade that included foreign markets. Although hard times came in the 30s through the 40s. Its biggest asset remained as a railroad hub which brought companies to produce products and get them to market.

In the early 60s, Texas Industries, a conglomerate of cement and aggregate companies that finds, mines and processes raw materials to make various products, came to Midlothian. So, little known fact, Ellis County sits atop the Austin Escarpment, a thick chalk ridge that runs in a northeast to southwest direction. It represents a 600-year potential limestone reserve needed for the manufacture of cement products and thus, Midlothian became the "Cement Capitol of Texas." Midlothian also serves as a distribution center for foreign and domestic products and imports too (i.e. Amazon, Walmart….you get the picture).

Coincidentally, our arrival just happened to be Midlothian’s Heritage Day celebration which had all of downtown shut down with booths and displays full of cool stuff to see and buy, including some of the Midlothian Police Department’s equipment including an MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected). Not sure what a city of 38,000 needs an MRAP for but there must be some creative folks who wrote the request to get one. The downtown area is a little sad; obviously there have been some better times in Midlothian's past.

We had been doing a lot of driving and we needed sustenance so the suggestion was made to go to Jimmy’s Pizza, Pasta and Subs on North 8th Street. Trying a new place is always a challenge not knowing how things will turn out but we were pleasantly surprised. Diane and I shared the Veggie Pizza, Sara had the Penne with chicken sloshing in tomato sauce. Chad had the Grilled Chicken Salad. Portions were huge and we ended up boxing and bringing our pizza home. No desserts necessary.

It was a long and winding ride back to home base but we did manage to do three important things....get out of the house, check out some history and get a good meal in an unlikely spot. Texas is chock full of little-known treasures like Cleburne and Midlothian and we will be checking out more in the future.