Gainesville

History

Founded in 1850, the city of Gainesville was established on a tract of land donated by Mary E. Clark. City residents called their new community "Liberty", which proved short-lived, as Liberty, Texas, already existed. One of the original settlers of Cooke County, Colonel William Fitzhugh, suggested that the town be named after General Edmund Pendleton Gaines. Gaines, a United States general under whom Fitzhugh had served, had been sympathetic to the Texas Revolution. The first hint of prosperity arrived with the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach in September 1858, bringing freight, passengers, and mail. In 1860, Cooke County voted against secession. In 1862, during the Civil War, the Great Hanging at Gainesville, a controversial trial and lynching of 40 suspected Union loyalists, brought the new town to the attention of the state and came close to ripping the county apart. In the decade after the Civil War, Gainesville had its first period of extended growth, catalyzed by the expansion of the cattle industry in Texas. Gainesville, only from the Oklahoma border, became a supply point for cowboys driving herds north to Kansas. The merchants of Gainesville reaped considerable benefits from the passing cattle drives. Within 20 years, its population increased from a few hundred to more than 2,000. Gainesville was incorporated on February 17, 1873, and by 1890 was established as a commercial and shipping point for area ranchers and farmers. In the late 1870s, two factors drastically altered the historic landscape of North-central Texas. The first of these was barbed wire. In 1875, Henry B. Sanborn, a regional sales agent for Joseph Glidden's Bar Fence Company of DeKalb, Illinois, traveled to Texas. That autumn, he chose Gainesville as one of his initial distribution…

Geography

Gainesville is located slightly east of the center of Cooke County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which , or 0.15%, is covered by water. The town is located at the interchange of two major thoroughfares: U.S. Route 82 running east–west, passing over Interstate 35 (north–south). It is an exurb of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, north of the center of Dallas and north of the center of Fort Worth. It is also a part of the Texoma region. Nearby towns and cities include: * North: Thackerville, Oklahoma * South: Valley View * East: Whitesboro * West: Lindsay Gainesville usually enjoys sunny weather similar to the rest of Texas, with the exception of a few natural disasters. On June 18, 2007, thunderstorms moved through Gainesville, resulting in intense flooding. Over fell in Gainesville and nearby Sherman. On June 20, around 5:00 am, straight-line winds hit, and Wichita Falls had winds up to . Much of the center of the town was flooded and several people died.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  447
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  446
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  438
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  307
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  304
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  282
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  275
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  267

Most recent

• M 2.72 — 2026-05-15
  4 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma
• M 2.91 — 2026-03-22
  5 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma
• M 3.27 — 2026-03-01
  7 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma
• M 2.53 — 2026-02-28
  6 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma
• M 2.67 — 2026-02-26
  7 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma
• M 2.96 — 2026-02-23
  6 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma