Lancaster, Dallas County
Madison Moultrie Miller (1814-60) came west from Alabama and served under W. W. "Bigfoot" Wallace in 1844-45 as a Texas Ranger. Settling here in 1846 with a motherless daughter and son, he soon married Mary (Polly) Parks Rawlins, daughter of this area's pioneer settler Roderick Rawlins. Miller situated himself just north of present Lancaster, opening a store in his home on the road to Johnson's Station (present Arlington), and giving site for first local school. He enlarged his home to 15 rooms in 1848 and built a warehouse and a store, where goods imported from New York ranged from fine silks to hardware, medicines, and saddles. He had a grist mill, a stage stand and hotel; woodworking, tin, and blacksmith shops; and was first postmaster of Pleasant Run, 1848. In the 1850s, Miller laid out a town and sold lots. To benefit Pleasant Run and Dallas County, he tried to secure Trinity Navigation, and Railroad Service. His death at age 46 and the subsequent closing of his store and other enterprises halted growth of his town, but his family home stood until the 1950s. His post office building still exists as a part of a structure on Elm Street, and his town's name is memoralized in Pleasant Run Road, Lancaster. Marker Donor: Lancaster Historical Society