Shawnee Trail
Plano Daily Star Courier, October 3, 1980
THE SHAWNEE TRAIL
IN 1838 THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS CONGRESS APPROPRIATED
MONEY FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A NORTH-SOUTH ROAD OPENING
THE NORTHERN TEXAS AREA TO TRADE. THE PROJECT LEADER,
COLONEL WILLIAM G. COOKE, FOLLOWED AN EXISTING INDIAN
TRAIL WHICH REACHED FROM THE RED RIVER TO AUSTIN.
A SUPPLY FORT ESTABLISHED ON THE RIVED NEAR THE
TRADING POST OF HOLLAND COFFEE WAS NAMED FOR CAPTAIN
WILLIAM G. PRESTON, A VETERAN OF THE TEXAS REVOLUTION,
WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF TROOPS STATIONED THERE IN 1840.
THE NORTHERN SECTION OF THE ROAD, CALLED THE PRESTON
ROAD, TERMINATED AT THE TRINITY RIVER CROSSING. THERE
IN 1841 JOHN NEELY BRYAN, A CLERK IN COFFEE'S TRADING
POST, BEGAN THE SETTLEMENT OF DALLAS.
BY THE 1850s THE ROAD WAS KNOWN AS THE SHAWNEE
TRAIL AND WAS USED BY IMMIGRANTS COMING TO TEXAS.
IT ALSO SERVED AS A CATTLE TRAIL, LEADING TO NORTHERN
MARKETS. TRAFFIC DECREASED FOLLOWING THE CIVIL WAR
AS NEW TRAILS WERE OPENED TO SERVE THE GROWING
TEXAS CATTLE INDUSTRY. FURTHER DECLINE OCCURRED WHEN
RAIL LINES WERE COMPLETED TO THE AREA IN THE 1870s.
LEBANON SERVED AS AN ASSEMBLY POINT FOR CATTLE
DRIVES ON THE SHAWNEE TRAIL. BYPASSED BY THE FRISCO
RAILROAD IN 1902, THE TOWN DECLINED. THE POST OFFICE,
OPENED IN 1860, CLOSED IN 1905.
Texas Historical marker, 1980
This historical marker was originally in front of the Lebanon Baptist Church.
When Preston Road (SH289) was widened in 1999, the historical marker was moved
to the Frisco - Preston Ridge campus of Collin County Community College.
