SHERMAN, TX -- For the first of "My Hometown" series, we are featuring one Texoma city whose history is still visible from the streets. Victoria Maranan takes us through Sherman for the first in our series spanning Texoma -- My Hometown.

Sherman, Texas. A city more than 30,000 people call home, like Anthony Thomas.

"Sherman's a good place to raise a family. It's a great place for my kids to grow up and very similar to home where I grew up in Louisiana," Thomas said.

It's also the county seat of Grayson County.
City Clerk Linda Ashby, who was born and raised in the city, is the author of "Images of America: Sherman." She says there is more to the city than meets the eye.

"if you dig a little deeper and look at some of the things that you notice everyday, some of the industries that are in town that have been here forever, you probably don't think about it but when you dig a little deeper and see the history behind it, it makes you proud to be from Sherman," said Ashby.

The city was founded in 1846 and was named after a man who fought for Texas Independence.

"it was named after General Sidney Sherman," Ashby said. "He never actually visited sherman but he led a regiment of people, of men from Kentucky, trying to get to the Alamo to help fight in the Alamo. He didn't make it in time, but he did fight in the Battle of San Jacinto."

But the city wasn't built where it's currently standing.

"It was originally 4 miles west of here and they moved it east. They built it from a small town to a city that it is today," Ashby said.

Starting out as a town of only 300 people, its residents decided to make a move to help Sherman's growth.

"There was a lack of wood and water there so once they had they're trying to set up a town they decided 'this would be a better location' they were closer to the wood and the water source so they moved to where we are now," said Ashby.

Over 100 years later, you can still see the city's beginnings as you drive along Houston and Lamar.

"We're not as touristy as some of the other towns, but we have a lot of the history here, we have a lot of, you can still look at old buildings, you can still see the confederate monument at the courthouse, which is the first confederate monument in Texas."

The current Grayson County Courthouse was built after the former court house burned during a race riot in 1930 -- a major act of racial violence in the state of Texas, according to the Texas Historical Society.

Sherman was also known as the 'Athens of Texas' because of the 5 colleges that called the city home. Many years have passed and only one of those 5 is left standing today -- Austin College.

"We had a lot of colleges. We had a lot of big colleges, which is a little unusual." Ashby said. "Of course we still have Austin College and Grayson County College is between Sherman and Denison. But Carr-Burdette College, Kidd-Key College, Mary Nash College."

Thomas says education was the reason he moved to Sherman over 20 years ago, and decided to stay.

"You can get a good education here, that's an asset, not like, as opposed to living in a remote area," Thomas said. "And it's affordable. The education is affordable."

Ashby says while the history of the city is visible in the old buildings, the future is too. The city has grown by about 10 percent since 2000, and continues to expand, bringing several new businesses, and attracting new residents. Something Ashby says sets Sherman apart from other Texoma communities.

"I think the people, a lot of times the people make it unique," Ashby said. "We have a very good citizenry here."

And Thomas agrees.

"The people make any place, any city, whether it's good or bad," Thomas said. "Buildings will be here when we're gone, but what we make is what we make while we live here."