Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were both natives of Dallas. Though Clyde, the son of
sharecroppers, was born in Telico (Ellis County) and Bonnie's family moved to Dallas from
Rowena (Runnels County) after the death of her father, they both considered the Eagle
Ford area - West Dallas - home.

After running from the law for a little over two years, while criss-crossing the Mid-West,
they died together in a violent ambush near Lebanon, Louisiana (close to Arcadia, in
Bienville Parish).

Traces of their past can still be seen in the Dallas area and thereabouts. If you are
interested in learning more about their story, go to Bonnie and Clyde's Hideout or take a
tour through the Dallas County Historical Society. Soon, yours truly will have a book for
sale which will provide a tour of Bonnie & Clyde places!
Know Your History!

West Dallas, which Bonnie
and Clyde called home, was
called "Devil's Back Porch" by
poor whites in the 1930s.
West Dallas wasn't
incorporated into Dallas until
1952. Today, the
neighborhood, which is
predominantly hispanic now,  
still feels neglected.
Above: Bonnie's elementary school, now defunct,
sits on Chalk Hill Road.
Above: After the Barrows moved to Dallas, they lived
under the Houston Street Viaduct before finding a place
to live in West Dallas. Henry Barrow, Clyde's father, built
a shack on land owned by one of his daughters. Henry
had been collecting scrap metal for a living when his
mule and cart were struck by a car - and with the
modest settlement he received from the accident, he
built the Star Service Station, attaching the shack to a
small store. The building seen above is a the actual gas
station, now bricked over and remodeled some
(Singleton Blvd).
Above: The Kemp calaboose in Kaufman County, where Bonnie
spent a long, sleepless night after an attempted robbery of a
hardware store. Calabooses are small jails built for small
towns, meant to hold a crook until he (or she) can be transferred
to the county slammer. From Spanish, meaning "dungeon."
Right: Bonnie
is buried at
the Crown Hill
Cemetery off
of Webb
Chapel Road.
Her mother
and her niece
and nephew
are also
buried in the
same plot.
Above: Clyde is buried next to his brother
Buck in Western Heights Cemetery, Fort
Worth Ave (access restricted).
Knowing her end was near, Bonnie told her
mother at their last meeting that she wanted
to be buried next to Clyde. Emma Parker did
not grant that wish. Instead, Bonnie was
buried at a graveyard in West Dallas (La
Reunion Cemetery off of Fish Trap Road), but
was moved later to her current site just north
of downtown Dallas. Her and Clyde's
tombstones have been encased in concrete
because the original markers have been
stolen by vandals.
Left above and below:
Clyde ran off the road
while driving in the Texas
panhandle, near the
town of Wellington. His
car landed in the dry river
bed of the Salt Fork of the
Red River. Bonnie was
severely burnt in the
crash. The Pritchards, a
family who lived closest
to the accident scene,
took Bonnie, Clyde, and
their running mate, W.D.
Jones, inside their
house to help the injured
Bonnie. They ended up
being in the middle of a
shootout between the
gangsters and  local
police. Above left are old
pillars of what may have
been the bridge that
Clyde thought he was
going to cross back then
(the bridge had been
washed out). Left are the
remains of the old
Pritchard farm house.
Above: The old McKinney jail housed
Raymond Hamilton, one-time member
of the Barrow Gang, before he once
again tried to escape. In recent years,
the jail was home to an excellent
restaurant (now closed). The bars that
Hamilton tried to saw through can still
be viewed, as well as his jail cell and -
supposedly - the gallows plank.
Left and Right:
Bonnie and Clyde
stayed at tourist
camps whenever
they could, although
most often they slept
in the car while on
the lam. The Texas
Tourist Camp in
Decatur (left) could
have been a stop, as
well as this old Hwy
77 tourist camp
(right).
Left and below: On May 23, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were shot down by the Texas
Rangers, with help from Bienville Parish law enforcement and Dallas County
deputies. Henry Methvin, their running partner at the time, is said to have negotiated a
plea bargain if he could deliver the pair to justice. The order was to shoot to kill on
sight, as everyone knew Barrow would never be taken alive (he already had had a
hand in killing 12 people). Bonnie and Clyde had been hiding out at the old Cole
farmhouse in Bienville Parish, and were completely surprised by the ambush.
Bienville Parish erected this marker at the sight. Below is the front, and the back of the
marker can be seen at left - where some misguided soul wants God to do something
rather odd.
Above: An old dogtrot house on the Lebanon
Road, about two miles from the ambush site, is
worth a gander! It was built in 1857!
Above: After the ambush, Bonnie and Clyde, shot to
pieces and all gory, were towed inside their stolen car to
the coroner's office in Arcadia. The way to Arcadia is
through the little town of Gibsland. Right in front of the
town school, the tow truck with its gruesome cargo broke
down. Above is that old Gibsland school, where the kids
spilled out of the doors to get a first hand look inside the
"death car" (a lesson that crime doesn't pay?)
Above: The Huntsville Prison Museum houses some
really cool stuff, like this pistol that was in Bonnie's
lap the day she died. Ted Hinton, a Dallas County
Deputy sheriff and member of the ambush posse,
certified the gun as authentic.
Green pictures above: : The Texas Ranger
Museum in Waco has a display case dedicated to
the ambush. Above are the weapons that killed the
duo; left is a pocket watch found on Barrow's body.
Read about Bonnie and Clyde in my article!

I also give tours of Bonnie and Clyde hideouts.
Check out my tour list if you're interested!
Bonnie & Clyde Haunts