FINIS, TEXAS. Finis was along Rock Creek near the intersection of the Young, Jack, and Palo Pinto county lines in far southwestern Jack County. Finis was founded about 1880 at a natural crossing of the creek; the community name was derived from that of an early-day cattleman and merchant, Finis Marshall. The community was granted a post office in 1881, and served as a stage stand along the old Fort Belknap-Weatherford road. By 1884 Finis had a general store, a steam gristmill and cotton gin, and an estimated population of fifty. In 1889 the celebrated shootout between the Marlow brothers and a lynch mob (see FEUDS) took place in the vicinity, near Dry Creek Crossing, and two of the Marlows were buried in Finis Cemetery after the fight. This incident was later the subject of the John Wayne film The Sons of Katie Elder. By 1896 the town had an estimated 100 inhabitants, served by Methodist and Christian churches, three general stores, and a blacksmith shop. The community had a school in the early 1900s. The Finis post office closed in 1920, the school closed around the same time, and the community disappeared in the 1920s, leaving only the Finis Cemetery.

Mark Odintz