Our Rich History

Often people are quite surprised to learn just how far back Pottsboro’s history actually goes. Local lands originally roamed by Native Americans were eventually settled via the establishment of the north/south Shawnee Trail, which also became one of the great cattle-drive trails between Texas, Missouri and Kansas. Our modern day Highway 289 roughly follows this original route. We’d like to share just a bit more of our colorful history with these interesting facts:

1964
1952
1971
1975
2004
2006
2007
2009
2012 -Present Day
2015

1964

U.S. Air Defense Command’s only F -102 training base was established at Perrin and held the world’s largest fleet of F-102 jets. The Air Defense Command’s Life Support School was opened on Lake Texoma and among the thousands of

1952

Perrin Field became a permanent installation, designated as Perrin Air Force Base.

1971

Perrin Air Force Base became Grayson County Airport.

1975

Students from the area’s beautiful and historic Austin College (est. 1876) excavated a huge prehistoric mammoth near Flowing Wells on Lake Texoma, and were able to recover 50% of the giant skeleton.

2004

The City of Pottsboro and the Pottsboro Area Chamber of Commerce worked together to establish Pottsboro’s first official Tourist Information Office.

2006

Community members and regional partners gathered to participate in a Destination by Design event to document the vision for Pottsboro in 2026.This is an ongoing project with three active work groups; Land Use, Quality of Life and Funding.

2007

The City of Pottsboro, the Pottsboro Area Chamber of Commerce and the Pottsboro Community Development Corporation worked together to develop a new city tag line and logo. The new logo and tag line now appear on stationery, signs, flags and various new marketing and promotional materials.

2009

The long awaited completion of the extension of SH 289 occurred when, in December, traffic was first allowed to use the new roadway between Southmayd and Pottsboro. Citizens of Dallas now have a direct travel route to the City of Pottsboro and Lake Texoma.

2012 -Present Day

The James G. Thompson Municipal Park, a 28 acre multi-use outdoor recreational facility, was opened to the public. Construction started on a new Brookshires grocery store.