Bonham is a city in Fannin County, Texas. The population was 9,990 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Fannin County. James Bonham (the city's namesake) sought the aid of James Fannin (the county's namesake) at the Battle of the Alamo. Bonham, one of the oldest cities in Texas, dates back to the year 1837 when Bailey Inglish built a two-story block house named Fort Inglish. Inglish and other acquaintances settled there in the summer of 1837 and the settlement was named Bois D'Arc. In 1843, the Congress of the Republic of Texas assigned the name Bloomington to the city, but finally renamed it Bonham, in honor of James Butler Bonham, a hero and defender of the Alamo. On February 2, 1848 Bonham was incorporated as a city. After the connection to the Texas and Pacific Railroad the city began to grow and in 1885 there were six churches, three colleges, two public schools, three weekly newspapers, a saw mill, two grain mills, a power plant and 2300 inhabitants. 1890 saw the addition of streetcars, an ice plant, and the opening of the Texas Power and Light Company, a utility provider to the area. In 1925, the city was connected to natural gas lines. During the Second World War, there was a training camp and an aviation school for the US Air Force in the vicinity of Bonham, as well as a prisoner-of-war camp for Germans and German soldiers. Parts of the camp can still be visited today. http://www.cobon.net/
