Granbury was named after Civil War General, Hiram Bronson Granbury. The statue on the northwest corner of the Courthouse preserves his memory. However, Granbury was a thin and gangly 6’1” tall whereas the statue, made in Italy in the early 20th century, shows a shorter, more portly character.

Who Was General Granbury?

   General Hiram B. Granbury was born in Copiah County Mississippi in 1831. Norvell, his father, was a Baptist preacher. He graduated from Oakland College near Lorman, Mississippi. Two significant losses in 1850 made staying in Mississippi extremely painful for Hiram. The first was the death of his father in April, 1850, followed only three months later by the death of his mother. The second tragedy occurred in September, 1851 when a radical secessionist stabbed to death the President of Oakland College, who had become a very close friend of Hiram.

Like so many others in the early 1850s, Hiram moved to Texas. He settled in Waco, where he set up his legal practice and by 1860 rose to the position of McClendon Country (Waco) Supreme Court justice.

(to be continued)

Dr. David K. Barnett
Granbury History