Dexter, Texas

Dexter is an unincorporated community in Cooke County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 18 in 2000. It is located within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

History
The earliest settlers, Jesse Morris, S. E. and Dick Collum, and Bill Munday, arrived in the town around 1870. Three miles east of the chosen site, Sugar Hill was the initial townsite option selected due to its natural spring, which provided a resting place for travelers. Morris is credited with coming up with the concept to name the town after a well-known racehorse from that era who would race at Dexter Park in Chicago. Dexter had its own post office by 1873, and by the early 1880s, at least 37 establishments, including four blacksmith shops, three hotels, two steam gristmills and cotton gins, and four doctors, catered to the town of 300 residents. When citizens of Cooke County believed the Denison and Pacific Railway would travel through their town, Dexter was projected to surpass Gainesville as the largest town. However, when the rail line ran through Woodbine, Dexter started to lose ground to Gainesville. A large number of residents and companies relocated, primarily to Ardmore, Indian Territory. Dexter voters voted 30 to 18 to incorporate on February 28, 1885. The population was still steadily declining even after this incorporation, even though the municipal government continued to exist until roughly 1900. In the vicinity, there were 70 residents between the late 1960s and 1987. As of 1988, the Dexter Community Church was the only establishment still standing in Dexter. The population was 18 in 2000.

On September 8, 1986, an Amoco gas condensate pipeline failed under the Red River near Dexter. Fumes from the leaking pipeline sent 14 people to hospitals for treatment.

The Washington House on Sycamore Creek Ranch in the community was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography
Dexter is located on Farm to Market Road 678 near the Red River, 25 mi northeast of Gainesville, 8.7 mi east-northeast of Callisburg, and 11.5 mi west-northwest of Whitesboro in extreme northeastern Cooke County.

Education
Dexter had its own school in the early 1880s. Today, Dexter is served by the Whitesboro Independent School District.

Notable people

 * William H. Bourland, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives during the First Texas Legislature.
 * Charlie Robertson, former MLB pitcher.