| |
History
on a Pinhead
Once
Clay County’s center of economic activity, Cambridge developed in the early 1870s.
By 1875 a post office was granted and the following year the U.S. Army installed
a telegraph office here. In July of 1882 the Fort Worth and Denver Railway chose
Henrietta over Cambridge and the all-too-familiar
story, citizens and businesses moved to the new county seat. Cambrige’s last chance
came and went when the Missouri, Kansas and Texas (KATY) Railroad decided to cross
the tracks of the FW&D at Henrietta. Only the
cemetery remains to mark what was once a prosperous town with limitless horizons.
A
Visit to Cambridge, TexasPhotographer's
Note:
The Cambridge
marker was mounted on the Clay
County Courthouse wall. Tried to see the Cambridge Cemetery but it was on
private property with a locked gate. - Barclay
Gibson |
 |
Early
County Seat
CAMBRIDGE(Located
3.5 miles to the east)
Founded
1860, but abandoned to marauding Indians, 1863. Settlers returned in 1870 and
installed a grist mill. Developers surveyed townsite in 1874; school, church,
shops, and hotel were built. Post office was established and Fort Sill-Fort Richardson
military telegraph line came through in 1876. First newspaper in county was founded
there. Rapid growth halted when town was bypassed by Fort Worth and Denver Railroad
in 1882. By then place was known as Henrietta
-- the name retained when county seat was moved here. Cambridge Cemetery still
exists (a mile north of historic townsite).
(1971) |
1907
Clay County Postal map
Curtesy Texas General Land Office |
|
|
