Historic Whitesboro...
A Guide to the Good Life

    Faced with  hard times, Captain Ambrose B. White had two choices.  He could stay in Illinois and hope that he, his wife, and four children could outlast the economic recession.  Or he could move on in hopes an offer of free land in another state would lead to a better life.   The year was 1848 and the Whites chose opportunity.  Loading their belongings in a wagon, they left the populous northern states for the new frontier.  Their two-month journey led them over plains and through wilderness to a hill near the Red River in North Texas.  The site was along a lush trail called the "Wolf Path", where cross timbers provided cover for the wolves.  There was also plenty of water, wood, and game, and an abundance of wild plum bushes to meet the settlers' needs.   Legend has it that this area occupies the exact ridge of the so-called "Great Divide".  The rain water that falls on the south side of today's  Main Street reaches the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Trinity River, and the rain that falls on the North side of today's Main Street flows to the Gulf by way of the Red and Mississippi Rivers.

   White opened an inn along the "Wolf Path".  It soon became a stop along the western route of the Butterfield Stage Line.  Prior to the Civil War, the town was large enough to ask for a Post Office and took the name that had been attached to it for more than 10 years, Whitesborough.  Migration following the Civil War brought many new settlers to the area.  In 1873, the city of Whitesboro received it's first town charter.  The population at the time was 500.  Now , over 150 years later, Whitesboro continues in its original role as a "getaway" spot.