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 request to find a sapling and planted it here. He watered it from a nearby lake that he dug from a buffalo wallow. The tree never grew but lived many years despite blizzard, heat, and drought. Gov. John Connally dedicated an historical marker in 1963 to the first tree in the Panhandle.

Credit: State Of Texas

‘(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. He married Laura Cross of Mobeetie, 1882.
Tall and handsome, he resembled his father– a fact cited when he ran for the Texas Senate in 1884. He won, and was seated before reaching legal age for the office. While serving in the Senate, he built a home near ”Panhandle City.” During his two terms, he became a leader in spite of his youth, advancing legislation favorable to frontiersmen in this area.
When a new capitol was dedicated in Austin in 1888, he made the major speech, taking pride that lands in the Panhandle had paid for the magnificent building. Amid the ovations of that day were pleas that he run for Governor or United States Congressman, but he declined.
About 1893 he moved to Oklahoma and gained added fame as a lawyer and orator. Thus the fledgling of ”The Raven” became a legend in his own time. He was the father of two daughters and three sons. The Oklahoma Historical Society has honored him by placing a marker at his grave in Woodward.’
Credit: State Of Texas

Founded in 1904 as a private bank by John Walter Knorpp (1867-1952), member of an established banking family of Missouri, New Mexico, and Texas, and Eugene Sherwood Blasdel (1878-1930), oil and grain business developer of this region. In 1905 Blasdel sold his interest to Knorpp. A state charter was obtained in 1908, but surrendered in 1926 for national charter. Patronage from diligent, thrifty early settlers advanced the career of this bank. On its Board of Directors have been members of the pioneer Britten, Fields, Fraser, Harrell, Johnson, Krizan, Slay, and Steele families. I. C. Unsell was cashier from 1908 to 1932. Cecil Culver (born 1903), who came to the bank in 1929 as assistant cashier, purchased the controlling interest from Knorpp and became president in 1951. Adjusting to the crises in the region, State National Bank weathered the panic of 1907, the adversities of the 1930s Dust Bowl, two World Wars, and other national and international experiences. It continues to bolster the cattle, grain, oil, beef feedlot, and other agribusiness interests, and the cultural facilities of Groom and surrounding area.
Credit: State Of Texas

‘The Niedringhaus brothers of St. Louis sent lumber by ox-cart from Dodge City and built this square house on their ”N Bar N” Ranch here in Carson County in the mid-1880s. In 1887 a railroad official occupied the pioneer cottage while the Southern Kansas Railway was being extended from Kiowa, Kansas, to Panhandle City. This was later the home of some distinguished settlers: pioneer banker and treasurer of Southern Kansas Railway Company, James Christopher Paul; rancher-judge J. L. Harrison; innkeeper James B. Wilks; and Sheriff Oscar L. Thorp. The oldest house in town, it was purchased in 1965 and restored as the Carson County Museum.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1966′
Credit: State Of Texas

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, and started ranching. But unlike the early ranchers who ran cattle on state-owned range, these pioneers bought land and worked to pay for it. (To tide them over drouths, such settlers sold buffalo bones and earned bounties for wolf-scalps.) In the 1905-1906 winter, the Simms Brothers used mule-drawn plows and walked from Washburn (18 mi. SW) to Higgins (115.4 mi. NE), constructing a 4-furrow railway fireguard. John Sparks, an early local teacher and a Simms brother-in-law, worked with them and led the group in gospel singing at nightly campfires. Also in the crew were Jim Calhoun and John Sterling. Family land ownership was preserved. Years later, oil and industry brought great prosperity to this region. A fourth generation now lives on the land. Frank Simms married Minnie Pugh Williams; George married Alice Jane King; and Dormer married Gertrude Talbot. Descendants are leaders in Texas business.
Credit: State Of Texas

In 1854, 100 Polish families (800 persons) came to America in one small sailing ship–a voyage of 9 weeks. None spoke English. From Galveston they walked 200 miles to Panna Maria in South Texas, arriving for Christmas Eve Mass. There they toiled at manual labor. In 1909, in response to White Deer Land Co. offers, they migrated here. Later the colony had additions from Washington State, Nebraska, Wisconsin. Their first Catholic church, completed May 13, 1913, was on this site. Today their descendants include some of the most outstanding citizens of Texas.
Credit: State Of Texas

‘ 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, for the schoolteacher or other guests. The cooking and heating stoves burned buffalo chips, cow chips.
This exact replica of a Carson County half-dugout was donated by Opal Purvines to honor her parents, the John F. Weatherlys, and other pioneer families.’

Credit: State Of Texas

Originally ‘Carson City’, town name was changed 1887 when this site appeared to be the future metropolis of the Panhandle: it was to be at the junction of Santa Fe (under name ‘Southern Kansas’) and Fort Worth & Denver City Railroads. Plans changed, however, and the F.W. & D.C. took a route 16 mi. south, bypassing Panhandle. (Amarillo was soon founded on the F.W. & D.C.) Even so, Panhandle became a major shipping center. During great ranching era and again in 1926 oil boom, it moved more freight than any other town on Santa Fe line except Chicago.

Credit: State Of Texas

‘Published since 1887. Oldest newspaper in the Texas Panhandle, second oldest business in the area. Founded by H.H. Brookes. Principal owner 1926-58, David M. Warren, oil man, banker, a Regent of the University of Texas. Don and Norene Peoples owners at 75th Anniversary.

In Memoriam – David M. Warren (1894-1958) by Mrs. David M. Warren, David M. Warren, Jr., Randolph J. Warren.’

Credit: State Of Texas

The oldest documented graves in this cemetery date to 1889, three years after the founding of Carson City (later renamed Panhandle), the first town in the county. Among those buried here are Civil War veterans and area pioneer families. Gravestone designs range from simple to elaborate, and the cemetery also contains many unmarked graves. The Panhandle Cemetery has also served people in surrounding communities. Additional land acquisitions have increased the size of the graveyard over the years, and a small chapel was built in 1965.
Credit: State Of Texas