Gunsight existed on a wagon road from Fort Griffin to Stephenville in 1858, though settlement did not occur until the 1870s. The first recorded burial there was Lewis McCleskey in 1877. Gunsight developed as a stage stop and by 1880 had a post office, school, two churches, gristmill, general store, and cotton gin. Its economy was sustained by cotton farming and ranching and was boosted by an area oil boom in the 1920s. After World War II, the town began a steady decline, and today it consists of a few houses, a few buildings, and the cemetery.