Pilot Point

Pilot (Pilot's) Point was at the junction of U.S. Highway 377 and Farm Road 455, eighteen miles north of Denton in northeastern Denton County. The Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks ran through the community, and Lake Ray Roberts was immediately to the west. It was named for its location on the top of a ridge that could be seen from a distance. The grove of oak trees with one tall cottonwood in the center was used as a landmark by Indians, Texas Rangers, scouts, and early settlers. Dripping Springs, just north of the hill, provided water and a convenient camping area for travelers and was an attractive area for settlers as early as 1845, two years before the county was organized. The land was granted to Charles Smith's heirs on March 13, 1841. James Pierson laid off the plat of Pilot Point on February 11, 1854. Settlers arrived rapidly, and Pilot Point received a post office in 1855 with James D. Walcott, the owner of Pilot Point's first general store, as postmaster. In 1856 the first subscription school in the community opened, operated by a New Yorker, Alphius "Yankee" Knight. Two churches were founded that year, the First Baptist and the Methodist. In the late 1850s the Butterfield Overland Mail stage route ran through Pilot Point.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.