Landmarks
The Mound
Marker # 1926
Location: On Flower Mound Road (FM 3040) just east of intersection with Long
Prairie Road (FM 2499)
Marker Erected: 1984
Marker Text:
Settlers of the Peters Colony named this smooth, dome-shaped hill for the
abundant wild flowers that grow on it. Rising fifty feet above the surrounding
prairie, Flower Mound, long has been a point of interest in the area. According
to local legends, no structure was ever constructed on top of the mound, nor
has any tree grown here. Before W. S. Peters began bringing settlers to the
land issued him by the Republic of Texas Congress, Wichita Indians inhabited
the area. During the 1840s, Peters colonists began moving to the prairie in
search of good farmland. In 1844, John R. Wizwell was granted 640 acres of land
that included the mound. His widow, Edy, later remarried and sold this land to
George L. Beavers. Flower Mound remained in the Beavers family well into the
twentieth century. Although the hill has remained in private ownership, it
historically has been identified with the community that grew up around it.
Flower Mound Presbyterian Church was the first to officially use the name in
1854. Once a sprawling agricultural community, Flower Mound has begun to expand
with the urban growth of nearby Dallas and Fort Worth, leaving this formation
as a historic reminder of its pioneer days. (1984)
Flower Mound Presbyterian Church
Marker # 1927
Location: 1501 Flower Mound Road (FM 3040)
Marker Erected: 1967
Marker Text:
First Presbyterian Church in county. Organized 1854 by the Rev. Matthew B.
Donald, who is buried in church cemetery. Worship was in homes before a log
church was built, 1857-58. A frame building erected later; present one built
1901. (1967)
McCombs Cemetery
Marker # 11846
Location: Near the intersection of Wager Rd., Bellaire Blvd., and Garden Ridge
Rd.
Marker Erected: 1997
Marker Text:
The history of this small community cemetery dates to the 1850s, before Denton
was selected as county seat. The site contains graves of early pioneers of the
Lewisville-Flower Mound area. Settlers included Nehemiah Wade Boyd (1823-1856),
his wife Susan McCombs Boyd (1824-1917), their six children, family matriarch
Mary Nowlin McCombs (1803-1867), and members of Nowlin, Sigler and Rivers
families who arrived in 1855 from Tennessee. Nehemiah Boyd died suddenly of
pneumonia after being chilled by a blue northern while building a log cabin for
his family, and was buried on land donated by his brother-in-law, John Mathis
McCombs. Susan Boyd later gave birth to their seventh child and first Texan,
George Taylor Boyd (1856-1933). Although Nehemiah Boyd's burial was long
believed to be the first, archeological evidence suggests as many as 100
individuals may have been buried here and that the site was a community
cemetery in use between the 1850s and 1890s. Typically graves were marked with
native sandstone or brick. Boyd descendants formed the McCombs Cemetery
Association in 1990 to protect the burial site from encroaching development.
(1997)
Bethel Community
Marker # 389
Location: 2100 Kirkpatrick Lane, just E of its intersection with Morris Road
Marker Erected: 1990
Marker Text:
Settlement of this area began in the 1850s. Among the pioneer families were
those of Samuel K. Smith, Anderson Nowlin, William Crawford, and Sam Lusk. As
family farms were established, a loosely organized rural community was formed.
By the 1870s more people had moved to the area, including the F. M. Frie
family. The Frie and Nowlin families both set aside land for school and church
purposes. A one-room schoolhouse built on the Nowlin land about 1871 became
known as Frie School. It also served as a Union church and community center. A
church building was erected on Frie land in 1882. After Bethel Presbyterian
Church was organized in 1883, the school and community took the Bethel name At
its height in the early 20th century, Bethel community included about one
hundred families. After it was bypassed by the railroad in 1875, Bethel began
to decline in favor of Lewisville. The Bethel School consolidated with the
Lewisville School system in 1940, and the area once encompassed by farms of the
Bethel Community eventually became parts of several towns, including Flower
Mound, Lewisville, Highland Village, and Copper Canyon. (1990)
Source: Denton County Historical Markers
Flower Mound Forum
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