Panhandle, TX ‘ In the 1874-1888 era the High Plains (a sea of grass) had no native timber, stone, or adobe building materials. Homes were dugouts, or, if settlers’ wagons went some 300 miles for lumber, half-dugouts. Dugouts were warm in winter, cool in summer. Some were carpeted and cloth-lined. Some had an extra room, [ Read More ]
Panhandle, TX Permanent citizens, forgers of local civilization. Walter Franklin (1869-1963), George Leonard (born 1875) and Dormer D. Simms (born 1884) moved to Texas in 1886 and to this county in the early 1900′s. They arrived later than visiting hunters, soldiers and others who in the 1870′s cleared this land of buffalo and hostile Indians, [ Read More ]
Panhandle, TX ‘(August 12, 1860 – August 15, 1905) Born in the Texas Governor’s Mansion, the eighth and last child of Sam Houston (1793-1863) and his wife Margaret; educated at Baylor University, Texas A&M, and in a law office, Temple Houston came in 1881 to this region as district attorney for the 35th Judicial District. [ Read More ]
Panhandle, TX After serving as a teamster in the Civil War (1861-65), Thadium (Thomas) B. Cree worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1888 he and his wife came to the High Plains. They acquired this land and, with no trees for lumber, they built a dugout home. Cree traveled 35 miles at his wife’s [ Read More ]
Panhandle, TX Cattle firm that had brought first Herefords to region– Lue Finch, W. H. Lord, O. H. Nelson– in 1887 promoted Panhandle City, as railroad line approached. They sent in ten cowboys to stake claims around city, which prospered as county seat. The Finch-Lord-Nelson firm (which included John A. Finch after 1887) left descendants [ Read More ]
Panhandle, TX In October 1923, W. T. Willis, J. E. Trigg, and H. D. Lewis, partners in one of Texas’ largest drilling firms, broke ground at the S. B. Burnett 6666 Ranch with the first rotary drilling rig used in the Texas Panhandle. Success of this drilling method was a major event in this region. [ Read More ]
Panhandle, TX ‘First tree on the Texas High Plains, set in front of dugout home by Thomas Cree, 1888. Good luck symbols of settlers throughout drouth, blizzard and heat. Cree’s bois d’arc tree died in the 1970s. County residents planted a new tree here in 1990 as a memorial to the area’s early pioneers.’ Credit: [ Read More ]
White Deer, TX Each Spring and Summer after 1880, many Texas herds went up the trail to Northern states for fattening. For the cowboys, trail drives meant hard work. They had to turn stampedes, ford rivers and quicksand streams, and fight Indians and cattle thieves. They endured hunger, thirst, and other physical hardships. The Last [ Read More ]
Panhandle, TX In 1880s, capital of Panhandle area. Settled when slaughter of buffalo sent Indians to live on reservations. Terminus of Santa Fe Railway, 1887. Here immigrant trains brought colonists, who plowed old Indian range into wheat fields and civilization. Settlers banked here, saw the dentist, got supplies, lumber, mail, windmills, fencing. Was made county [ Read More ]
140 Quitman St. at Market, Pittsburg, TX Anglo settlement of this area began in the 1850s. The W. H. Pitts (1815-1898) family arrived from Georgia in 1854, and soon were joined by more settlers from the southern United States. Pitts donated land for a townsite, which was named in his honor. In 1874, when Camp [ Read More ]
