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Traces its beginning to 1854 when first house, a log cabin, was built here near a good spring. County seat was bodily moved by wagon to this place (then called Camp Henderson) in 1867, and renamed to honor Patrick Cleburne, a Confederate general under whom many local Civil War veterans had served. Cleburne's growth has been rapid, particularly in the field of commerce, since 1876. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad line from Galveston to Fort Worth passed through Cleburne in 1881. A short time later, new branches connected the town with Dallas and Weatherford. In 1898, the railroad's workshops were located here and development of Cleburne as an industrial center began. By 1950, Cleburne boasted a steel foundry, milk processing plants, ladies' garment factory, lime plant, chair factory, battery plant and the state's largest railroad construction and repair shops. Typical of other American towns, outward expansion found the original business district taking on a neglected appearance. In 1968, a group called "Our Town, Inc." became concerned with this deterioration and enlisted citizens' aid to help reverse the trend and restore the downtown district. (1970) |
