Today I’m wrapping up my look at our drive through northern Texas last summer. As we left the Panhandle region and traveled south along Route 287 toward the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we crossed the Red River into Childress County. The highway roughly parallels the Texas-Oklahoma state line for about 70 miles. I do wish there had been time to stop in more of the small towns along the way, but again, most of my images were shot from the passenger seat of our car as we passed. One stop we did make was eight miles northwest of the city of Childress; the Big Guy wanted to check out Childress Lake to see if he could take a few casts with his fishing rod. While we both enjoyed getting off the busy highway for a bit, he decided not to linger at these two small, private reservoirs which serve as part of the city’s water supply.

Texas-328 Loop going toward Childress Lake

I don’t know if we’ll be doing this road trip again next year, but if we do, I’d like to learn more about some of the other towns along the route, and hopefully get some good photos. Places with intriguing names like Bowie, Quanah, Decatur, Electra, and Rhome. There’s also Wichita Falls, which we always pass through much too quickly. That’s not to mention the Estelline Trailhead on the south bank of the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River, the Hardeman County Historical Museum, and the Red River Valley Museum in Vernon.

Hardeman County Rest Area

The town of Chillicothe (pronounced Chill-ih-CAWTH-ee) sits in Hardeman County; it was founded in the early 1880s and originally built north of the Fort Worth & Denver railroad tracks. After a major fire devastated the town in 1890, residents chose to rebuild on the south side of the tracks.

Wichita County Rest Area, a few miles northwest of Wichita Falls

Our last night along Highway 287 this past summer was spent in Henrietta, the county seat of Clay County. Its history goes back to the 1860s; but the town was abandoned and later burned between 1862 and 1870 due to repeated Indian attacks. In 1870, according to the Texas State Historical Association, “50 soldiers and 300 Kiowa Indians fought a battle in the ruins of Henrietta.” It’s difficult to imagine such a violent history in today’s peaceful landscape.

Henrietta vista, looking southeast from our hotel

Henrietta sunset

I’ll add one more North Texas town, even though it’s not located along Route 287. Gainesville, the county seat of Cooke County, sits further to the east at the junction of interstates 35 and 82, about 67 miles north of Dallas. We passed through here in 2023 on our way back from Lake Fork and stopped for a picnic lunch. Although I saw very little of the town, it does have a fascinating history. First settled in the 1840s, it wasn’t until after the end of the American Civil War that the town really began to thrive thanks to the cattle industry and arrival of the railroad. Population was further boosted during the Second World War thanks to an infantry training center, Camp Howze.