Editing Stephenville, Texas (section)

==History==
[[File:Stephenville Historical House Museum August 2017 2 (Chapel on the Bosque).jpg|thumb|left|Presbyterian Church at the Stephenville Historical Museum]]
Stephenville is founded by and named after John M. Stephen, who settled there in 1854, and donated the land for the townsite laid out by [[George Bernard Erath|George B. Erath]] when the county was organized in 1856. In the first two years of its settlement, the population increased to 776. The population then declined until 1871, because the townsite was in [[Comanche]] territory and raids were common, and because the hardships of the [[American Civil War]] led citizens to leave. The population grew after Stephenville became an agriculture and livestock center. Coal mining also became important to the area in 1886, and was a major segment of the economy for the 30 years.<ref name="TSHA">{{cite web |last1=Young |first1=Dan M. |title=Stephenville, TX |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/stephenville-tx |website=tshaonline.org |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref>

Stephenville was incorporated in 1889, with the arrival of the [[Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway]]. In the 1890s, many of the buildings around the town square were built, [[Tarleton State University]] opened, and the community's two newspapers merged to become the ''Empire-Tribune'', which is still in operation. In February 1907, the [[Stephenville North and South Texas Railway]] was chartered by Stephenville and [[Hamilton, Texas|Hamilton]] business interests, which sold the line in 1910 to the [[St. Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas]] system. In the 20th century, industry became an important part of Stephenville, and the population has steadily increased since the 1920s.<ref name="TSHA" />

=== Stephenville lights ===
In January 2008, dozens of people in Stephenville reported seeing patterns of lights in the night sky, which were eventually discovered to have been caused by a military training maneuver. Some described it as a single large [[unidentified flying object]].<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2008/01/16/18146244/dozens-claim-they-spotted-ufo-in-texas Dozens Claim They Spotted UFO in Texas] National Public Radio, "All Things Considered" –  January 16, 2008.</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20230807213348/https://www.npr.org/2008/01/16/18146244/dozens-claim-they-spotted-ufo-in-texas NPR archive link, archived August 7, 2023.] Archival of "Dozens Claim They Spotted UFO in Texas] National Public Radio, "All Things Considered" –  January 16, 2008."</ref> The [[Air Force Reserve]] issued a statement from the [[Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth|NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base]] that jets from the [[457th Fighter Squadron]] were in military airspace designated for training during the time people reported seeing the lights.<ref name="CNN">{{cite web |last1=Mount |first1=Mike |title=UFOs? Nope. They were fighter jets, Air Force says |url=https://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/23/airforce.ufo/index.html |publisher=[[CNN]] |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref> The F-16s had been engaged in training maneuvers and dropping counter-measure flares used to confuse heat-seeking missiles.<ref name="SI">{{cite web |last1=McGaha |first1=James |last2=Nickell |first2=Joe |title=Alien Lights? At Phoenix, Stephenville, and Elsewhere: A Postmortem |url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/2015/03/alien-lights-at-phoenix-stephenville-and-elsewhere-a-postmortem/ |website=skepticalinquirer.org |date=March 2015 |publisher=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] From: Volume 39, No. March 2 / April 2015 |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref> Following news reports of the UFO sighting, "media calls came from all over the world", and local police Constable Lee Roy Gaitan gave more than 100 interviews. The town reacted in a "UFO frenzy"; T-shirts proclaiming the town "Alien Capital of the World" and "Erath County -- the New Roswell", were rushed into production, and the local high school suddenly received $7,000 for college scholarships.<ref name="LAtimes">{{cite web |last1=Gellene |first1=Denise |title=How UFOs took over a town |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jun-14-sci-ufo14-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=June 14, 2008 |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref>