Chisholm Trail Outdoor Museum

About:

This is a very historical site in Johnson County, Texas. It is the home of Wardville, the first county seat of Johnson County established in 1854. This was nine years after Texas became a state. Originally this was Navarro County, which ran from west of us at Glen Rose all the way to Corsicana over in east Texas. Since the only transportation was "horse or mule powered," in those days, it was difficult to do county business and the state recognized the need to divide into more and smaller counties. William O'Neal donated eighty acres to the new county of Johnson and he and his brother built the first courthouse which is here on site and is now accepted as the oldest log courthouse in Texas. From 1854 to 1856 with Wardville as the county seat, there were twenty-nine families living between Town Branch Creek and where the courthouse is today. The Wardville Cemetery has been located and restored. At present we have a Stage Station/Saloon representing the stage line that ran out of Cleburne and the seventeen saloons in this area during the heyday of the Chisholm Trail cattle drives. We also have the Sherrif's Office and Jail that was added in 2010. There was a jail at Wardville in 1855 and we have the jail doors from the original jail. These historic doors were used in three different jails over the years and have made their way back to their original location. The metal cell bars were used in the county work farm in 1885. The Nolan River School was in this area and operated from 1855 to 1872 and we reopened it in 2012, where we take students and teachers back in time by having fourth grade classes come out to learn how things were done in the mid 1800's. We have held about a dozen classes this spring and will have from 75 to 100 school days beginning in October when the weather is cooler.

Every community or large ranch had to have a blacksmith shop in those days and we added our blacksmith shop in 2009. The Native Americans would steal horses, but despised mules and would not capture them so there were mule stations set up along the stage coach route for the stages to swap for fresh teams. We were blessed through the generous donation of Elizabeth and Bob McWhorter to have an original mule barn from the Freeland Ranch that actually serviced the Johnson Stage Line in the mid to late 1800's. The McWhorters also gave us a three hundred pound "Mile Marker" from along the stage route. The B M 9 on the stone let the stage passengers know that it was 9 miles to Buchanan. The restored stagecoach you see as you drive to the top of the hill, was built for the movies and was used in several Westerns including two early John Wayne movies. By the way, the travel time from Cleburne to Ft. Forth by stage was seven hours.