Editing Grayson County, Texas (section)

== History ==
The earliest known inhabitants of what is now Grayson County were Caddo Amerindian groups, including [[Tonkawa]], Ionis, and [[Kichai people|Kichai]]. These groups engaged in agriculture and traded with [[Spaniards|Spanish]] and [[French people|French]] [[settler|colonists]] at trading posts along the [[Red River of the South|Red River]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcg09|title=GRAYSON COUNTY|last=J.|first=KUMLER, DONNA|date=June 15, 2010|website=www.tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> Trading posts were established at [[Preston, Texas|Preston Bend]] on the Red River, [[Warren, Fannin County, Texas|Warren]], and [[Pilot Grove, Texas|Pilot Grove]] during 1836 and 1837.

After the establishment of the [[Peters Colony]] in the early 1840s, settlement near the Red River increased. Grayson County was created from [[Fannin County, Texas|Fannin County]] by the [[Texas Legislature|Texas State Legislature]] on March 17, 1846.<ref>The Grayson County Historical Commission, "Laws of the State of Texas, An Act to Create the County of Grayson", http://www.co.grayson.tx.us/users/Historical/An_Act.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518092726/http://www.co.grayson.tx.us/users/Historical/An_Act.pdf |date=May 18, 2015 }}, accessed May 1, 2015.</ref>  The county seat, [[Sherman, Texas|Sherman]], was also designated by the Texas State Legislature.

In the 1850s, trading and marketing at Preston Bend became more important, as agriculture expanded in the county. This was helped by [[Texas State Highway 289|Preston Road]], the first trail in the state. It went from Preston Bend to [[Austin, Texas]]. More growth occurred after the establishment of Sherman as a station of the [[Butterfield Overland Mail in Texas|Butterfield Overland Mail]] route in 1856.

Opinions in the county about [[secession]] were divided. County residents voted by more than two to one in 1861 against secession, desiring to remain in [[Union (American Civil War)|the Union]]. The [[Great Hanging at Gainesville]] in nearby [[Cooke County, Texas|Cooke County]] in October 1862 was an attack on dissenters, men who were suspected of resisting [[conscription]] and having been Unionists. After 150-200 men were arrested by state troops, the military organized a so-called "Citizens Court", which had no basis in state law. Its jury made up its own rules and convicted and sentenced more than 25 men to death by [[hanging]]. Another 14 were [[Lynching in the United States|lynched]] outright by a mob without even the cover of a trial. A total of 42 men were killed in the proceedings that month, considered the largest [[vigilante]] murders in U.S. history.

Violence continued for a time in Sherman and other towns of [[North Texas]], at times at the hands of [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] military. E. Junius Foster, the editor of the ''Patriot'' newspaper, was murdered in 1862 by Capt. Jim Young, son of Col. William Young, who had been killed in Cooke County. The senior Young had organized the Citizens Court that put so many men to death, and Foster had "applauded" Young's death. When other men were rounded up as suspect Unionists in Sherman, Brig. General [[James W. Throckmorton]] intervened and saved all but five who had already been lynched.<ref name="tsha">{{cite web|last=McCaslin|first=Richard B.|title=Great Hanging of Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jig01|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=August 11, 2013}}</ref>

Men from Grayson County served the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] at locations in the South. The [[11th Texas Cavalry Regiment]] captured federal forts in the [[Indian Territory]] north of the Red River.

Grayson County and much of Texas suffered economic depression in the postwar years during the [[Reconstruction era]], based in part on difficulties in reliance on agriculture in the South, adjustments to free labor, and other problems. The driving of cattle herds north along Preston Road provided needed income for the county during this period.

After the [[Houston and Texas Central|Houston & Texas Central]] (now [[UPRR]]) and [[Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad|Katy]] railroads began operating in the county in 1872, settlement in Grayson County picked up and flourished during the 1870s and 1880s. Cotton [[plantation]]s were developed to cultivate this as the predominant commodity crop. Many towns, including [[Denison, Texas|Denison]], [[Van Alstyne, Texas|Van Alstyne]], [[Howe, Texas|Howe]], [[Whitewright, Texas|Whitewright]], [[Pottsboro, Texas|Pottsboro]], and [[Tom Bean, Texas|Tom Bean]], were founded during this time.

In 1879, a group of settlers who had settled in North Texas both before and after statehood came together in Grayson County for political discussions. They formed the Old Settlers Association of North Texas. The association accepted donations and purchased 26 acres. They continued to meet on an annual basis for many years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.co.grayson.tx.us/default.aspx?name=hist.settlers|title=Grayson County|website=www.co.grayson.tx.us|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>Old Settlers Association (Grayson County, Tex.). Old Settler's Association of Grayson County, Vol. 1., Book, 1879 - 1899; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth11279/ : accessed May 4, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Old Settler's Association of Grayson County, Sherman, Texas.</ref>

On [[May 1896 tornado outbreak sequence|May 15, 1896]], a [[tornado]] measuring F5 on the [[Fujita scale]] struck Sherman. The tornado's damage path was {{convert|400|yd}} wide and {{convert|28|mi|km}} long, and it killed 73 people and injured 200. Approximately 50 homes were destroyed, with 20 of them being obliterated.

===20th century to present===
During the [[Sherman Riot of 1930]] (May 9, 1930),<ref>[https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jcs06 Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "Sherman Riot of 1930"] (accessed March 6, 2007)</ref> Grayson County's 1876 courthouse was burned down by a white mob that rioted during the trial of George Hughes, an [[African Americans|African-American]] man. When the riot started, Hughes was locked by police in the vault at the courthouse, and died in the fire. After rioters retrieved Hughes' body from the vault, they dragged it behind a car, hanged it, and set afire. Texas Ranger [[Frank Hamer]] was in Grayson County during this riot, and reported the situation to [[Governor of Texas|Texas Governor]] [[Dan Moody]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/governors/personality/moody-hamer-1.html|title=Statement from Frank Hamer, May 13, 1930 {{!}} TSLAC|website=www.tsl.state.tx.us|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> Governor Moody sent [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]] troops to Grayson County on May 9 and more on May 10 to control the situation. Grayson County's current courthouse was completed in 1936.

The Bridge War, also called the [[Red River Bridge War]] or the Toll Bridge War, was a 1931 bloodless boundary conflict between the U.S. states of [[Oklahoma]] and Texas over an existing [[toll bridge]] and a new free bridge crossing the Red River between Grayson County, Texas, and [[Bryan County, Oklahoma]].

In 1938, construction of a [[dam]] on the Red River was authorized by the [[United States Congress]]. The dam's construction was completed in part by the use of labor provided by [[Germans|German]] [[prisoners-of-war]] held at [[Camp Howze, Texas|Camp Howze]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qug01|title=GERMAN PRISONERS OF WAR|last=P.|first=KRAMMER, ARNOLD|date=June 15, 2010|website=www.tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> in adjacent [[Cooke County, Texas|Cooke County]] during [[World War II]]. The dam is now known as [[Denison Dam]]. [[Lake Texoma]] was formed behind it and is used for recreation, irrigation, and electrical power generation.

[[Perrin Air Force Base]] was constructed in 1941. The base closure in 1971 was a blow to the county economy; however, the availability of skilled labor formerly associated with the base helped attract industrial plants. In addition, the base was converted to a civilian airport: [[North Texas Regional Airport]] - Perrin Field.
[[File:Hay Bales.jpg|thumb|A rancher transports round bales of hay down a rural road in Grayson County, Texas: The economy of the county relies in part upon agriculture and ranchers.]]
The [[Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site]], which is the birthplace of [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in Denison, was acquired and restored in 1952. Since 1993, the site is no longer maintained by the state, because of budget cuts, but it is maintained by a private nonprofit organization.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ghe01|title=EISENHOWER BIRTHPLACE STATE HISTORICAL SITE|last=BRIAN|first=HART|date=June 12, 2010|website=www.tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref>

Grayson County is the only county in Texas where "deer may only be hunted with bows, no matter the season", according to an article by Thomas Phillips in the April 10, 2009, issue of ''Lone Star Outdoor News''.