Breckinridge

Breckinridge is north of the intersection of Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway and Greenville Avenue, a mile east of Restland Cemetery and ten miles northeast of downtown Dallas in Dallas County. In the 1840s families from Kentucky and Tennessee began arriving in the area. Early families included the Jacksons, Prigmores, Rouths, and Campbells. The settlement was on the road from Dallas to what was then Indian Territory. In 1853 Spring Creek Baptist Church was built. The first store was built about 1857, and soon after, a blacksmith shop was established. The Floyd Inn served as a stop for the stage from Dallas to Denton. In 1858 Mont Vale Academy, the first school, was built. A local post office was established in 1858 with postmaster Charles Shane and named for the Kentucky statesman John C. Breckinridge, elected vice president under James Buchanan in 1856. Several stores and a Grange were located in Breckinridge. In 1867 a tornado caused considerable damage in the town. In 1873 the Houston and Texas Central Railway built nearby and established Richardson a few miles north of Breckinridge. Most Breckinridge businesses, including the post office and the Grange store, moved to the new town. Until June 1874 the post office retained the name Breckinridge. The Grange kept the name for several more years.