Groesbeck

Established by the railroad in 1870, Groesbeck is the home of Old Fort Parker. This replica stockade blockhouse fort recalls the day on May 19, 1836, when a band of Comanches and Kiowas attacked the small group of settlers living there. Five men were killed, and five women and children were captured. One of them, 9-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker, grew up with the Comanches and later married Chief Peta Nocona. Recaptured 24 years later with her 2-year-old daughter Prairie Flower, she tried several times to escape. She and her daughter had difficulty adjusting to Anglo life, and they both died about four years later. Her son, Quanah Parker, became the last great Comanche chief. The victims of the Fort Parker raid are buried in nearby Fort Parker Memorial Cemetery.