Nocona, TX

Nocona is a Montague County city on U.S. 82 and State Highway 175, close to the Red River and about 80 miles northwest of Fort Worth. The 2020 census counted 3,002 residents. The place began as the last Texas stop before the Red River crossing on the Chisholm Trail, and that cattle-route history still sits underneath a town known for leather and sporting goods. Nocona Boot Company grew here in 1925, while Nokona has made baseball gloves in town since 1934. Today the local map includes Nokona Ballgloves, Enid Justin City Park, an 18-hole golf course, Lake Nocona, an airstrip, hospital, and Nocona ISD.

The North Field oil area between town and the Red River left another industrial layer, one that still operates on a smaller scale. U.S. 82 handles the east-west connection, State Highway 175 runs toward Montague, and the Red River is the northern edge of the wider landscape. Nocona's local scoop is a place where a cattle trail, boot leather, baseball gloves, oil, and a small-town highway network all stay in the same conversation.