It was near Dunn's Fort, an early site for protecting Anglo settlers in Robertson's Colony.

Wheelock grew as a cattle ranching and cotton farming community in the 1840s, and it became one of the most well-known towns in Central Texas.

Wheelock began to decline in the 1860s when the railroad bypassed the town; many of its residents moved to Hearne, a nearby community with a railway station.

[5] The late State Senator William T. "Bill" Moore, sometimes called "the father of the modern Texas A&M University", was born in Wheelock in 1918.

[6] Hearne, Texas was named after the Wheelock resident who donated land for that town's railroad depot.