April brings the red bud trees into full flower. Best known among the many wildflowers that bloom this month is the bluebonnet. Other prominent roadside flowers include the yellow cut-leaf daisy (Engelmannia pinnatifida), the royal purple mounds of skullcaps, and the white bouquets of mountain daisies. Purple paintbrush (Castilleja purpurea), a clump-forming perennial in many color tones, is more common in Erath County than the red-orange, annual Indian paintbrush (C. indivisa). A member of the evening primrose family, the fluttermill, (Oenothera missouriensis), spreads its yellow blooms in profusion over limestone soil. Charleen Murray, “Wildflower Field Notes, 1969-1981. Stephenville, Texas.

1877: All of the buildings on the east side of the Stephenville square burned this month, except for an old red clay adobe saloon on the northeast corner, owned by Sol Slaughter and Sam Watts.

Stephenville Tribune