Weatherford

Weatherford, the county seat of Parker County, is at the intersection of U.S. highways 180 and 80, thirty miles west of Fort Worth in the center of the county. Interstate 20 passes the southern edge of the city, and Farm roads 920, 2421, 51, 1884, and State Highway 171 serve it too. Parker County held an election to select the site for its county seat. Of three eligible sites, the present location was selected and named Weatherford in honor of Jefferson Weatherford, a member of the Texas Senate who coauthored the bill establishing the county. On the crest of a divide between the Trinity and Brazos valleys, Weatherford, for its first decade, was the principal frontier settlement in North Texas. The town was incorporated in 1858, and a post office was opened in 1859. The new county seat was midway on the stage run between Fort Worth and Fort Belknap. For its first twenty-five years Weatherford acted not only as the county seat but also as a safe haven for Parker County residents, who fled to the city during the series of Indian raids which lasted until the early 1870s. Once the threat of Indian attacks abated, the city prospered. The tracks of the Texas and Pacific Railway reached Weatherford in 1880. Seven years later the Santa Fe line entered the city limits. In 1891 a local line, the Weatherford, Mineral Wells and Northwestern Railway, began operating. This network established the county seat as a retail and shipping point for Parker County farmers and ranchers. In the mid-1890s Weatherford had an estimated population of 5,000 and 100 businesses, seven churches, several schools, three banks, four hotels, three weekly newspapers (Weatherford Sun, Weatherford Constitution, and the Parker County News), and one institution of higher learning, Weatherford College.

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.