Milford, TX

Milford sits in southwest Ellis County on US 77, between Hillsboro and Waxahachie, with I-35E along the north edge. The community began in the 1850s in the Mill Creek valley, then grew into a cotton-shipping town after the Dallas and Waco Railway arrived. By 1892 it had gins, a bank, hotel, newspaper, churches, and two schools, and the town's offer of land and money helped bring the Texas Presbyterian College for Girls in 1902.

The college closed in 1929, but education still keeps Milford's center of gravity close to home through Milford Independent School District and the Bulldogs. Main Street follows US 77, so the old shipping route and the modern drive toward Dallas meet in the same line of town. The 2013 pipeline explosion and evacuation are part of the community's recent memory too, a reminder that rural towns carry industrial infrastructure alongside cotton fields and school grounds. Milford has the feel of a North Central Texas crossroads with more history packed into it than its size suggests.