FORT PICKETVILLE, TEXAS. Fort Picketville, also called Picketville, was founded about 1854 on Gunsolus (now Gonzales) Creek, about two miles north of the site of what is now Breckenridge in northeastern Stephens County. The settlement was used by area pioneers during the 1850s and 1860s for collective defense against Indian raids. Picketville was named either for area rancher Bill Picket or for the fact that houses in the community were built from picket posts. The town served as the first county seat, from 1858 to 1864. During its short existence and in spite of substantial Indian activity, the town maintained a school and was the community center for the surrounding region. After Breckenridge was established as county seat in the 1870s, Fort Picketville was abandoned.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Betty E. Hanna, Doodle Bugs and Cactus Berries: A Historical Sketch of Stephens County (Quanah, Texas: Nortex, 1975 Loy W. Hartsfield, A History of Stephens County (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1929).
