PRAIRIE POINT

Prairie Point is a village in southwest Cooke County, 20 miles from Gainesville, which because of its close proximity to Rosston, two miles to the southeast, has had much in common with the neighboring town, and has depended upon Rosston for services it never had.

The Prairie Point School gave the community a name and an identity. The building was first located on a high hill overlooking the prairie land to the east, and undoubtedly this location responsible for the selection of the name by the early settlers who felt the need for a school building.

Among these early settlers was Jim Roberson, who had farmed in Gainesville 80 years ago, before moving to Prairie Point, and whose son, Albert Roberson, now 83, resides on the old home place. Albert Robertson was member of a section crew on the M. K. T. railroad at Woodbine, two years after the tracks were laid to Gainesville in 1881, and spent a number of year’s rail-roading before returning to framing. Other early settlers included Green Sutton, John Lowe, William Ford, Tab Edwards, Allen Penton and Joe McCracken.

The Prairie Point school was moved to a new location at the east side of the community, where it also served for church purposes. Methodists, Baptist and Nazarene congregations have worshiped there.

John Merrick operated a cotton gin in Prairie Point a number of years ago, and he was followed by John Goff. R. B. Durham was the last owner and the building was dismantled. Prairie Point has had sererval stores from time to time. Cobe Roach, R. B. Durham and J. C. Hudspeth being among the operators. Hudspeth built the present store building in 1918 and ran it until 1929. Others in order who have had the store are Hill Christian, Ed Penton, D. Schultz, R. B. Durham, Clifford Moynes, Roy Martin, and Archie Van Horn.

Prairie Point was served in the early days by Rosston physicians, and later by Dr. Cox of Forestburg. Men of the community, who were fraternally minded, belonged to the lodges in Rosston. Prairie Point never had a post office, being on the Forestburg, route No. 1, while citizens of the area obtained their mail at Rosston post office before rural free delivery was established.

Prairie Point is on Farm Road 992 twenty miles southwest of Gainesville and a mile east of the Montague county line in southwestern Cooke County. In the mid-1850s a schoolhouse was built on a hill that overlooked the surrounding prairie and provided the name for the community. In 1920 Prairie Point and nearby Rosston consolidated their schools and built a new building that is equidistant between the two communities; the area was called the Ross Point School District. In 1936 Prairie Point had a school, a factory, one business, and scattered dwellings. From the 1930s through the 1960s the population was estimated at twenty-five. By 1968 it had grown to thirty. In 1978 county maps showed that Prairie Point had a church and a number of scattered dwellings. In 1990 the population was still estimated at thirty.

Information from the 1976 June Gainesville Daily Register, and the Texas Online History