History

Glen Rose is the county seat of Somervell County. The area was first settled in 1849 by Charles Barnard, who opened a trading post near Comanche Peak. After the region became a federal Indian reservation in 1855, Barnard moved his business to Fort Belknap. Around 1859, after the reservation was abolished, Barnard returned to the area and built the first store on what is now the site of Glen Rose.  He began construction of a flour and grist mill, and named the town Barnard's Mill. The mill itself became a central part of community life; it served as a dance hall, as a meetinghouse, and in later years as the town hospital. By the 1980s it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1871 Barnard sold the mill to T. C. Jordan of Dallas for $65,000. Jordan's wife, a native of Scotland, decided to rename the town to reflect its natural surroundings; at a town meeting in 1872 residents agreed on the name Glen Rose rather than the alternative proposal, Rose Glen. A post office was opened there in 1874.

 The town prospered. By the end of the 1800s it had several mills, three churches, two weekly newspapers, a school, a courthouse, a cotton gin, and the Glen Rose Collegiate Institute. The population of Glen Rose grew from 600 in 1890 to 1,000 in 1910. One reason for the town's prosperity was the abundant mineral springs in the area, which attracted numerous doctors and self-styled healers. Several sanatoriums were opened, and the town gained a reputation as a health and recreation center. Saloons and hotels advertised the waters of Glen Rose, which the United States Geological Survey of 1900 called "valuable for medicinal purposes." By the time of World War I the area's agricultural economy had begun to decline. Poor farming techniques allowed much of the shallow topsoil to wash away. A brief cotton boom after 1900 further depleted the soil, and cedar trees began to cover the rocky hillsides. During Prohibition the area was a center of moon shining, and the cedar brakes of Glen Rose became known as the "whiskey woods capital of the state."

 Throughout the Great Depression the population of Glen Rose was reported as between 900 and 1,000. During the 1940s and 1950s, however, the county declined in population, as many residents moved in search of employment. By the early 1980s it had increased to 2,075. Much of the population increase in the 1980s was due to the construction of the nearby Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, which began operation in 1981 and came to dominate the local economy.  Tourists who visited Glen Rose no longer came for its sulfur springs but to see the dinosaur tracks in Dinosaur Valley State Park.  In years past, great dinosaurs trod this area, leaving their footprints preserved in the Paluxy River Bed.  In nearby Dinosaur Valley State Park are the best-preserved dinosaur tracks found in Texas and the first sauropod tracks ever found.  Not widely advertised are the human footprints found in the same layer as dinosaur tracks. 

Our Choice?

We chose the name “Glen Rose” for several reasons.  The most prominent is in honor of our friend Aletha Heinrichs, mother of 8, who passed on in a terrible auto accident there a few years ago.  The peghead angel reminds us of her heavenly home.

Glen Rose has also been a place of happy family memories, including Bluegrass festivals, fiddle contests, pleasant visits at Dinosaur Valley State Park and the Creation Science Museum.