Plymouth

Plymouth, in central Collingsworth County, was a local market for a farming and ranching area lying north of the Salt Fork of the Red River. Originally a part of the British-owned Rocking Chair Ranch, the town was said to have been named for Plymouth, England. It had its beginning with the organization of the Lake Creek school district in 1897. A post office was opened in Plymouth in March 1903. A gin was erected there in 1907, and the Lake Creek school moved there the following year. The post office was moved to the Willis store in Plymouth in 1908 and remained in operation until 1924, when mail was routed through Shamrock. By 1925 Plymouth had two general stores, two churches, two filling stations, a gin, an ice cream parlor, a four-teacher school, and a population estimated at twenty-five. One store and the school, churches, and gin remained by 1940. In 1945 the population was estimated at fifty, but it declined thereafter, and no population has been reported since 1950. In 1984 only the community cemetery remained.