The Half-Way Oak has served for 200 years as a popular resting place that provided shade and comfort to travelers on foot, horseback, wagons, and automobiles. The live oak took its name from its location halfway between Breckenridge and the towns of Cisco, Eastland, and Ranger, and also from its place as a midway point on the original route from Stephenville to Fort Griffin. It was one of only two trees used as landmarks on an 1858 map of Stephens County. The tree measures 69 inches in diameter and 18 feet in circumference. It survived plans for removal in the mid 1970s during the widening of U.S. 183 after Breckenridge residents refused to let it be harmed, and it also endured storm damage, telephone lines placed through its top, a fatal automobile crash, and accidental spraying with herbicide in 1980 that caused it to lose all its leaves. On Arbor Day, 2011, the Texas Forest Service designated it a Famous Tree of Texas.