The Ross Oak

Historical marker location:

Waco, Texas

( in backyard of Waco Child Care Infant Center Admin. Office - 613 S. 9th St., Waco)

Marker installed: 1975

This large Live Oak tree is named for the Pioneer family of Shapley Prince Ross (1811-89), who camped here overnight while migrating from Missouri in 1839. They returned to this area in 1848,with Ross at the head of a Texas Ranger Company. When Waco was founded in 1849, Ross bought the land around the Oak Tree. He became postmaster, ferryman,and hotel owner in the town. He and wife, Catherine (1812-86), were parents of Robert (b.1848) and Kate (b.1851) Ross, first children born to permanent Anglo-American settlers in this area. Another son, Lawrence Sullivan Ross (1838-98), was governor of Texas, 1887-91).

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The state of Texas was once an independent country known as the Republic of Texas. It gained independence from Mexico in 1836 and was a separate nation until it was annexed by the United States in 1845.