Sherman

Sherman, Grayson County, Texas

Sherman, Grayson County, Texas

City Hall in the City of Sherman, seat of Grayson County, Texas. Photograph by Michael Barera.
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Sherman is in central Grayson County seventy-five miles north of Dallas on U.S. Highway 75. The city is also intersected by U.S. Highway 82, State highways 11 and 56, and the tracks of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, Southern Pacific, and Burlington Northern rail lines. The community, which is in the center of the county, was designated as county seat by the act that established the county on March 17, 1846. Thomas J. Shannon was one of the first settlers in the area. The town was named for Gen. Sidney Sherman, a hero of the Texas Revolution and one of the state's earliest railroad promoters. A log courthouse was among the first buildings constructed in Sherman, and settlers soon began moving into the new community, which grew rapidly as a merchandising center. A post office began operating in 1847. The town originally was on a hill just west of its present location. In 1848 Sherman was relocated to a site three miles east of the original location. By 1852 400 people lived in Sherman, which "consisted of a row of clapboard business buildings along the east side of the public square," and, among other things, two saloons, a district clerk's office, a doctor's office, and a church. By the end of the decade the town had incorporated and was a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail route through Texas.

The community was not immune to the sectional passions that flared during the 1850s, and by 1860 the county commissioners' court had established an armed detachment of men to patrol the county in search of runaway slaves and abolitionist threats to law and order. In 1862 the publisher of the Sherman Patriot, an anti-secessionist Whig newspaper, was murdered. The Civil War years witnessed William C. Young's organization of a force of 1,000 men from the Sherman area. This group became the Eleventh Texas Cavalry of the Confederate Army. Despite hardships imposed by wartime, Sherman continued to grow and develop during the early 1860s. In 1861 the community's first flour mill began production and became the foundation of industrial development. Although outlaw bands led by Jesse James and William C. Quantrill appeared in Sherman during and after the war, and a period of lawlessness and depression accompanied Reconstruction, the town remained active and relatively prosperous through the end of the decade. Dry goods stores, warehouses, grocery stores, law offices, a newspaper, and two churches served the community. The Sherman Male and Female High School, also known as the Sherman Male and Female Institute, began accepting students in 1866, making it one of three private schools registering students in Sherman.

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Brian Hart | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

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

Belongs to

Sherman is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Sherman is classified as a Town

Location

Latitude: 33.62096200
Longitude: -96.61636800

Has Post Office

Yes

Is Incorporated

Yes

Population Count, 2021 View more »

44,873

Place Type Population (Year/Source) Currently Exists
College or University Yes

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