Grandview

Grandview is at the junction of U.S. Highway 81 and Interstate Highway 35W, twelve miles southeast of Cleburne in southeastern Johnson County. Settlement of the community occurred in the 1850s, when J. F. Scurlock opened a general store one mile north of the present site. By 1860 a townsite was laid off, and in December a two-story building was completed. The county's first Masonic lodge held its meetings in the building, and the town's first school conducted its classes there. A mill constructed by John W. Westbrook, the first in the county, established the new town as a center for area farmers. In 1882 the tracks of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad passed within two miles of the town. Over the next year residents and businesses moved south to be near the rail line. The population surpassed 500 by 1890. By the following year the First National Bank of Grandview opened, and residents voted to incorporate. In the early 1900s the town had a population of 700, a weekly newspaper, a segregated school system, the Grandview Collegiate Institute (1897–1907), and over thirty businesses. In 1920 Grandview overcame the damages of a huge fire that destroyed close to thirty businesses and 100 homes. By the mid-1920s the population surpassed 1,000. After World War I it declined to 800. In 1988 the town had 1,201 residents and forty-two businesses. In 1990 the population was 2,145. The population was 1,358 in 2000.