Gainesville State School

The Great Hanging at Gainesville was the execution by hanging of 41 suspected Unionists (men loyal to the United States) in Gainesville, Texas, in October 1862 during the American Civil War. Confederate troops shot two additional suspects trying to escape. Confederate troops captured and arrested some 150–200 men in and near Cooke County at a time when numerous North Texas citizens opposed the new law on conscription. Many suspects were tried by a "Citizens' Court" organized by a Confederate military officer. It made up its own rules for conviction and had no status under state law. Although only 11% of county households enslaved people, seven of the 12 men on the jury were enslavers. The suspects were executed one or two at a time. After several men had been convicted and executed, mob pressure built against the remaining suspects. The jury gave the mob 14 names, and these men were lynched without trial. After being acquitted, another 19 men were returned to court and convicted with no new evidence; they were hanged, all largely because of mob pressure. Most of the victims were Cooke County residents. This is claimed to have been the largest mass hanging in United States history. The Confederate and state courts ended the Citizens Court activities; President Davis dismissed General Paul Octave Hébert as military commander of the state, but Confederate military abuses continued in North Texas. A privately organized, annual memorialization of the hangings has been held since 2007. The Cooke County Heritage Society planned a formal commemoration in 2012 to mark the 150th anniversary of the Great Hanging. They canceled it when the mayor objected, but a private event brought together descendants of several victims at a family reunion organized with speakers to discuss the event. In 2014, a memorial was erected near the execution site to commemorate the event and its victims.

Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Cooke County, Texas, United States. Its population was 17,394 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Texoma region and is an important Agri-business center.

Gainesville (Amtrak: GLE), officially the Gainesville Santa Fe Depot, is an Amtrak train station in Gainesville, Texas. The station is serviced by Amtrak's Heartland Flyer route, which travels from Fort Worth, Texas to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The Cooke County Library is a public library serving the population of Cooke County, Texas. The library is located in Gainesville, Texas.

Frank Buck Zoo is a small zoo founded in 1930 and located in the 30 acres (12.1 ha) Leonard Park in Gainesville, Texas, United States. The zoo started as the Gainesville Community Circus in 1930. It is home to more than 130 animals.

Gainesville High School is a public high school located in Gainesville, Texas, United States. It is part of the Gainesville Independent School District located in north central Cooke County and classified as a 4A-Division 1 school by the UIL. In 2015, the school was rated "Met Standard" by the Texas Education Agency.

North Central Texas College (NCTC) is a public community college in Gainesville, Texas. It serves Cooke County, Denton County, and Montague County, Texas.

Gainesville Municipal Airport (IATA: GLE, ICAO: KGLE, FAA LID: GLE) is three miles west of Gainesville, in Cooke County, Texas.

Border Casino is a Native American gaming establishment operated and owned by the Chickasaw Nation in the state of Oklahoma. The casino is adjacent to Interstate 35 in Oklahoma geographically 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Thackerville within Oklahoma administrative division of Love County.The Border Casino is 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the WinStar World Casino. The casino grounds is distant of .75 miles (1.21 km) from the Oklahoma and Texas state lines situating the geography of the Red River of the South as the states boundaries.

Lindsay is a primarily German Catholic city in Cooke County, Texas, United States, along U.S. Route 82. The population was 1,018 at the 2010 census, up from 788 at the 2000 census. It was estimated at 1,113 in 2018.

Cooke County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. At the 2020 census, its population was 41,668. The county seat is Gainesville. The county was founded in 1848 and organized the next year. It is named for William Gordon Cooke, a soldier during the Texas Revolution. It is a part of the Texoma region. Cooke County comprises the Gainesville, TX micropolitan statistical area, which is also included in the Dallas–Fort Worth, TX-OK combined statistical area.

St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church is a historic church on Ash Street in Lindsay, Cooke County, Texas. It was built in 1903 and added to the National Register in 1979. At first appearance, you would think that this is a stone church, much like the German immigrants that founded Lindsay would have attended in their home country. On closer examination, it is carefully painted (and maintained) wood. The church is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth.