April 5, 1926, the Childress City Council voted to rename all streets throughout the city. East/west avenues were to be letters of the alphabet and north/south streets were consecutive numbers. Prior to that time many streets carried the names of early citizens.
R.E. Montgomery, general agent for the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad, laid out the townsite and named the streets. Some streets were named for friends of Montgomery and newer residents of the city.
Street Name-- Named For
Albert-- Dr. J.W. Albert, Childress' second doctor
Anna-- Anna Crenshaw, wife of first postmaster
Bell-- Fort Worth lawyer
Brown-- Charles Brown, cowman and real estate promotor
Campbell-- H.H. Campbell, foreman of the Matador Ranch
Carter-- Quanah, TX family (friends of Montgomery)
Caswell-- Resident of Iowa (friend of Montgomery)
Cole-- Unknown
Cottle-- Named for county south of Childress
Crenshaw-- Mack Crenshaw, first postmaster
Davidson-- Sam Davidson, of Fort Worth & owner of Diamond Tail Ranch
Dickson-- W.L.R. Dickson, first general store operator of Childress
Dwight-- Oliver Dwight, first hotel operator
Ewing-- Ed Ewing, early settler
Estes-- Fred Estes, first county assessor
Fires-- Judge A.J. Fires, first county judge
Hancock-- Melin Hancock, ranch foreman
Johnson-- A local farmer
Jones-- Organizer of original town site & county surveyor
Judy-- C. Judy, a settler east of town whose wife laundered for the cowboys
Killough-- Unknown
Lawton-- Unknown
Meyer-- Unknown
Mundy-- Harry Mundy, first county sheriff
OX-- OX Ranch
Perry-- John W. Perry, first bridegroom in county and Shoe Nail ranchman
Reed-- James A. Reed
Roussean-- (Friend of Montgomery)
Swearingen-- Matt S. Swearingen, rancher & first county commissioner of Precinct 1
Van Hoy-- J.T. Van Hoy, first county clerk
Warren-- (Montgomery's lawyer)
Waysman-- (Friend of Montgomery)
Wilkinson-- T.A. Wilkinson, first county attorney
Wood-- O.P. Wood, merchant and partner in W.L.R. Dickson Mercantile Store
Compiled by Clemi Blackburn from information found in:
The Childress County Story by Michael G. Ehrle