Cleburne has been a transportation hub since the U.S. Army wagon trail forded Buffalo Creek in the 1850s. Between the 1880s and 1904, four railroads were brought through Cleburne. The Santa Fe built machine shops in 1899, and the railroad construction and repair shops were the largest in the state (remnants survive several blocks north of downtown). By the 1890s, market day around the courthouse square had become so large, disruptive, and messy that the county purchased a block on S. Main Street (between W. Harrell and W. Shaffer streets) as a dedicated market square. The open block still exists and was rehabilitated by the county for public events. Since the late twentieth century, proximity to the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex has attracted manufacturing, hospital, and higher education businesses to Cleburne.
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