Cleburne, Texas

Main Street in Cleburne in the 1910s

Cleburne is Johnson County's third county seat (the first being Wardville, now under Lake Pat Cleburne). It was formerly known as Camp Henderson, a temporary Civil War outpost from which Johnson County soldiers would depart for war (most of them served under General Cleburne). The city was formally incorporated in 1871.

Cleburne was near the earliest road in the county. The location featured water from West Buffalo Creek, making it a stop for cattlemen from the Chisholm Trail.[8]

In August 1886, the Texas Farmers' Alliance met at Lee's Academy[8] and adopted a 17-point political resolution, commonly known as the Cleburne Demands, which was the first major document of the agrarian revolt occurring at the end of the late 19th century.[9]

In 1900, Cleburne was the site of the founding convention of the Texas State Federation of Labor.[10]

Cleburne was primarily an agricultural center and county seat until the Santa Fe Railroad opened a major facility there in 1898. During this time, the population boomed, as it became a sizable city for the area with over 12,000 residents by 1920. The Chicago, Texas and Mexican Central Railway connected Cleburne to Dallas in 1882. Two other railroads had terminals in Cleburne. The Dallas, Cleburne, and Southwestern Railway completed a route to Egan in 1902, and the Trinity and Brazos Valley, nicknamed the Boll Weevil, operated from Cleburne from 1904 to 1924.[8]

Cleburne was the site of a prisoner-of-war camp for German soldiers during World War 2. The POWs worked as laborers on local farms.[11]

In 1985, the city was the petitioner in the U.S. Supreme Court case City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. after being sued over a special-use permit.

Cleburne is on the fringe of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Growth in the area has been primarily attributed to suburbanization.[12]

On May 15, 2013, Cleburne was hit by a powerful tornado that cut a mile-wide path through part of the city and damaged about 600 homes and two schools. The National Weather Service rated it EF-3, which has winds between 136 and 165 miles per hour (219 and 266 km/h). No deaths or severe injuries were reported.[13]

Cleburne is west of the center of Johnson County, 30 miles (48 km) south of the center of Fort Worth. It is bordered to the north by Joshua and to the east by Keene. U.S. Route 67 runs through the north side of the city on a freeway bypass; the highway leads east 12 miles (19 km) to Alvarado and west 53 miles (85 km) to Stephenville. State Highways 171 and 174 run through the center of Cleburne on Main Street. Highway 171 leads northwest 19 miles (31 km) to Cresson and southeast 29 miles (47 km) to Hillsboro, while Highway 174 leads north 15 miles (24 km) to Burleson and southwest 38 miles (61 km) to Meridian.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Cleburne has a total area of 32.5 square miles (84.1 km²), of which 29.6 square miles (76.6 km²) are land and 2.9 square miles (7.4 km²), or 8.86%, are covered by water.[14] East and West Buffalo Creek run through the center of Cleburne, flowing south to the Nolan River and part of the Brazos River watershed.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 31,352 people, 10,982 households, and 7,441 families residing in the city.

The City of Cleburne Parks and Recreation Department maintains Splash Station, a small water park for people of all ages.

The 96-acre (390,000 m²) Cleburne Sports Complex contains seven baseball/softball fields, two football fields, and 20 soccer fields.

The Depot at Cleburne Station is a 1,750-seat baseball stadium, home to the Cleburne Railroaders of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball.

Plaza Theatre Company is a 158-seat theatre-in-the-round, which operates year-round in Cleburne's historic downtown. The troupe provides family-friendly musicals and comedies, and has been the recipient of numerous awards for theatrical excellence since opening in November 2006.

The Johnson County Chisholm Trail Museum is an outdoor museum located in the western part of Cleburne at the site of Wardville, the original county seat of Johnson County, established in 1854.[19] The original courthouse there is the oldest log courthouse in Texas. It has a one-room schoolhouse, a jail with the original iron doors from the Wardville jail, a blacksmith shop, an original mule barn, and a restored stagecoach from two early John Wayne movies. There is also the Big Bear Native American Museum. It was recently named as one of Texas' top 10 open-air museums.[20]

Other local museums include the Cleburne Railroad Museum[21] and the Layland Museum.[22]

Cleburne State Park is in a hilly area 12 miles (19 km) west of the city center. It has fishing in Cedar Lake, camping, swimming, and hiking trails.

Major employers include Walmart, which maintains a Supercenter retail outlet and a distribution center. Together, those facilities employ 914 workers. The Cleburne Independent School District is a major employer with 968 employees. Local government is also a major employer, providing 348 jobs, and Johnson County has 598 employees in the city. Johns Manville, Texas Resources Harris Methodist Hospital, Greenbrier rail service (operating at the rail yards previously occupied by Burlington Northern Santa Fe), Supreme Corporation of Texas, and Broan-Nutone are among other major private-sector employers. A recent natural gas boom has now brought related companies to the district and surrounding areas.[23]

Patrick Cleburne

Fun Town RV, the nation's largest single-location towable RV dealer[24] employs 412 at its corporate headquarters and sales office.[25]

The city is served by the Cleburne Independent School District, with Cleburne High School as the only high school. The district also maintains an alternative school, the Team School, and Phoenix, which is the disciplinary school. The district operates two middle schools for grades 6 though 8: A.D. Wheat Middle School and Lowell Smith Middle School. Elementary-level schools serving the Cleburne area are Adams, Coleman, Cooke, Gerard, Irving, Marti. and Santa Fe (kindergarten through grade 5). A private school (Cleburne Christian Academy) serving age 4 through grade 12 is also available.

Hill College's Johnson County Campus is in Cleburne.

• William H. Bledsoe, a member of both houses of Texas legislature from Lubbock, 1915 to 1929; co-author of bill establishing Texas Tech University, was born in Cleburne in 1869
• Johnny Carroll, a rockabilly singer, recorded for Sun Records, Decca Records, and Warner Bros
• Pat Culpepper, All-American linebacker for the University of Texas at Austin, was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1994 and to the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame in 2010, along with Drew Brees
• Donnie Dacus, former guitarist for Chicago
• Leonard Eugene Dickson, professor of mathematics at University of Chicago
• Dillon Gee, pitcher for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers
• Joe Keeble, football player
• David "Benedict" McWilliams, a former player and head football coach of the University of Texas at Austin and head coach at Texas Tech University, was raised in Cleburne
• Spike Owen, a former Major League Baseball shortstop
• Derrell Palmer, a 1950s Cleveland Browns lineman
• Randy Rogers, singer and front man of Randy Rogers Band
• Del Sharbutt, radio and television announcer, songwriter, and composer of a popular Campbell's Soup jingle, was born in Cleburne
• Barbara Staff, co-chair of the 1976 Ronald Reagan presidential campaign in Texas, was born in Cleburne
• Montey Stevenson, former professional football defensive tackle
• Anne Stratton, composer
• Claude Porter White, composer

• The Greater Cleburne Carnegie Players

• City of Cleburne official website
• History of Cleburne in the Handbook of Texas