Mansfield Historical Society

The Mansfield Historical Society has committed funds to the relocation of Dr. Cook's Log Cabin, @1860.  the City of Mansfield will move the cabin from Dr. Cook's property to the Ralph Man House Museum and farm on West Broad Street. Once the cabin is moved, renovation and restoration will begin.  The Historical society will oversee the construction of a large chimney, fireplace, and hearth that once completed, will be setup for PIONEER DEMONSTRATION COOKING/Hearth Cooking for public, especially for children.  We have committed $38,000 toward the project.

We are nearing a moving time frame of early 2025.  The costs include labor, stones, bricks, cooking utensils, early pioneer furniture, etc.  

We achieved our goal of digitalizing our local Mansfield newspaper from 1920's to 2019 through Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com.  The newspapers are available through www.newspapers.com. This is a valuable resource to make available to the public.  

This Fall, we will publish personal, handwritten cookbook of Louisa Foster, 1860-1881.   The Historical Society will publish this historical cookbook next year.  Since the publishing of the cookbook will be 100% our costs, we need your help.  

This Winter, TCU Press will publish our Foster Diaries, 1859 - 1881, an 800-page book of the personal thoughts and experiences of an early Texas circuit preacher's wife.  Louisa Foster, who kept a daily diary, was a part of Stephen F. Austin's Original Colony.

The Historical Society has collections of family genealogies, histories of local houses and business, schools, and churches located in southeast Tarrant County. All of this information will be available to students and families to access between Tuesday and Saturday and from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Our Needs

The Mansfield Historical Society needs help funding the renovation and restoration of our (City of Mansfield) early Tarrant County, Texas, one-room log cabin built around 1860.  We committed $38,000 toward this portion of the project.  The log cabin will host DEMONSTRATION PIONEER COOKING/HEARTH COOKING to the public, especially children. Preservation of our early Texas history, our Texas heritage, and family living will result from such cooking demonstrations.