Tarleton Thursdays: Did You Know?

What’s in a Name?

Tarleton, McIlhany, Doc Blanchard, Nancy Golden….do you see the pattern??  Then there is Military Drive, and Centennial Lane too.  Of course they are streets within or near the Tarleton campus.  Now, we all know for whom Tarleton Street was named.  But did you know that it wasn’t always Tarleton Street?  And, you may have heard that there was a McIlhany Academy here in Stephenville, or that Stephenville College’s president was Marshall McIlhany – but is there more?  My September 27, 2012 blog was all about Doc Blanchard…and Nancy Golden was Tarleton’s first female student body president.  Tarleton has a long history of training military cadets, thus Military Drive.  Then, Tarleton celebrated its Centennial in 1999, and named the little street over by John Tarleton’s grave Centennial Lane.

Want to know more about Stephenville streets?  The fifth annual Spirits of Erath Cemetery Walk will be held Sunday November 4, 2012 at 2 PM, across the street at the West End Cemetery.  Admission is $5 per person.  The event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Tarleton Dick Smith Library and the Friends of the Stephenville Public Library.  The event strives to bring Erath County’s history to life by portraying people in its past.  

This year the Spirits will be people in Stephenville and Erath County’s past for whom Stephenville streets were named.  The short vignettes will relate biographical information about the person or family by actors dressed in period costumes.  Featured in the walk will be Tarleton, Orr, Kight, Groesbeeck, Stephen, Erath, McIlhany, and Long streets.  The photo shown above is of H.J. “Harry” McIlhany.

The tour starts at 2 pm, as soon as the tour groups are organized.  Please come – you might even see some “characters” that you recognize.  What a fun way to spend a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon and learn a little about our local history at the same time! 

Hope to see you there!