If you have any information on towns, schools, post offices, historical churches, founding fathers, location, history, etc., please submit the information to me for inclusion on this site.
Box
Box was four miles southeast
of the site of what is now Vernon in central Wilbarger County.
The settlement was named for the surrounding five-mile-square school
district. The school, established there about 1893, became the
community center for nearby residents. In 1916 the school's name was
changed from Box to East Vernon.
A grocery store was built
nearby in 1925 but closed in 1931.
The school was divided
between the Vernon and Oklaunion school districts in 1949. Reunions
were held at the old school building, near the intersections of Farm
roads 1949 and 433, until 1981.
Doan
Doan's Store was at the
junction of Farm roads 2916 and 924, a mile southwest of the Red
River in north central Wilbarger County. Jonathan Doan and his
nephew Corwin Doan established a
trading post in 1878 to serve the
cattle drivers who used the nearby Western Trail to get their herds
to market. A post office was established at the store in 1879 with
Corwin Doan as postmaster. By the mid-1880s Doans had a school, a
hotel, a general store, a saloon, and a population estimated at 300.
A wide variety of people came to the town to do business: cowboys,
ranchers, Indians, buffalo hunters, peddlers, and itinerant
preachers; one of the more famous visitors was
Quanah Parker.
Elliott
Elliott is at the
intersection of Farm roads 1763 and 370, four miles south of the
Oklahoma state line in northeast Wilbarger County. Cotton was the
main crop of the region. Many of the first settlers in 1904 came
from Williamson County to escape a boll weevil outbreak. These early
farmers were successful, although they were told that cotton would
not grow in the area. The settlement was first called Waggoner's
Colony.
In 1907 the name was changed to honor the first
schoolteacher, probably Sarah Elizabeth Elliott, whose husband, J.
W. Elliott, had donated the land for a school established in 1906.
The community was also known as Bugscuffle.
The Bethel Baptist
Church was organized in 1906, and members erected a building the
next year. The church remained active in 1986 and also served the
communities of Oklaunion and Harrold. A Methodist church existed
during the early twentieth century but closed sometime after 1937.
In 1941 the school was consolidated with that of Oklaunion.
Elliott was large enough during the 1920s to support a
twenty-five-piece community band, and by 1940 perhaps 250 residents
lived there. The town population, however, was consistently reported
in census records from the 1930s through 2000 as around fifty.
In 1986 the community had the Elliott Co-op Gin, a combination store
and domino parlor, and the Baptist church. The Bugscuffle oilfield
is four miles west.
Farmers Valley
Farmers Valley is at
the intersection of Farm roads 925 and 392, nine miles west of
Vernon and one mile east of the Hardeman county line in west central
Wilbarger County.
A small community had been established in the
area when a school was built in 1887. By the early 1900s it had
grown to include a Methodist congregation established in 1881, a
cotton gin, and a combination grocery store and service station. The
Methodists built their church building about 1922. The school was
renamed Wells Chapel in 1924 and served the area until it was
consolidated with the Chillicothe school in 1946. Farmers Valley
population was reported at twenty-five during the 1930s and 1940s
and fifty in later records. The Methodist church dissolved in the
late 1970s, and the gin closed in 1982.
The reported population
was fifty in 1990 and again in 2000.
Grayback
Grayback is
on Farm Road 1763 just south of its junction with Farm Road 1811,
fifteen miles southeast of Vernon in south central Wilbarger County.
Much of the nearby land was bought up by the Waggoner Ranch
during the 1880s, when settlement began in the area. Local oil
discoveries about 1920 produced a regional boom, prompting oilmen to
establish the Grayback post office near Beaver Creek. The
community's population reached a reported peak of fifty during the
1950s before leveling off to twenty-five. The Grayback post office
was discontinued in the mid-1950s.
This rural community was
sometimes referred to as Rock Crossing, a now-extinct oil community
located several miles east of Grayback. The Phillips Petroleum
Company had a camp at that site and built several houses for
employees there in the mid-1920s. A school founded there about 1927
lasted for a short time.
County maps made in the 1980s did not
show the Rock Crossing community but indicated two businesses, a
church, and a community center at Grayback, where the population was
still reported as twenty-five through 2000.
Guyer
Guyer
was at the intersection of two local roads some four miles east and
two miles north of what is now Elliott in northern Wilbarger County,
about two miles south of the Oklahoma state line.
The settlement
grew up around a rural school established in 1909 and was named for
Henry and Jess Guyer, who owned the school land. Guyer comprised
only a school and a church but was known in the region for its
annual picnics. In 1927 its school was consolidated with that of
Harrold.
No sign of Guyer was shown on the 1980 county highway
map.
Harrold
Harrold is at the intersection of U.S.
Highway 287, State Highway 240, Farm Road 1763, and the Burlington
Northern line, seven miles southeast of Oklaunion in east central
Wilbarger County.
It was known as Cottonwood in the early 1880s,
when it had a stage station and a store near China Creek. In 1884
the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, building from the east,
reached the area. The community was renamed to honor promoter
Ephraim Harrold, who owned the nearby Bar-X Ranch.
As the
western terminus for the railroad, Harrold became an overnight
boomtown and was officially platted on May 20, 1885. On July 10 of
that year a post office was established there.
Prospective
settlers were offered train rides from Wichita Falls and were
welcomed to the town by a brass band. Within a year some 1,500
people had arrived, and Harrold became known as a spirited frontier
town. Churches were established. The town's numerous businesses
included sixteen saloons.
Harrold's boom days abruptly ended
when the railroad reached Vernon, though Harrold remained a railroad
shipping point and agricultural center with a population of several
hundred.
A school was established there about 1893, and
Methodist, Baptist, and Church of Christ congregations were
organized by 1900. The town experienced a second though less
spectacular boom when oil was discovered nearby in 1924.
The
population of Harrold in 1929 was 349 and by World War II was 375.
During the 1950s the post office, eleven businesses, and 375
residents were reported at the town. Later the population slightly
decreased. The community's Methodist church was closed in 1951, its
Baptist church in 1966, and its Church of Christ in 1974. In 1986
four businesses, the post office, and a population of 320 were
reported at Harrold.
Its population remained 320 through 2000.
Haulk
Haulk, about two miles from the site of what is now
Odell in extreme northwestern Wilbarger County, received a post
office in 1902, with Starling C. Kelly as postmaster. This post
office was discontinued and moved to Chillicothe in 1907. During the
early 1900s the community had a school (established in 1908), a
store, and a cotton gin.
When the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient
Railway bypassed Haulk in 1908, most of the town moved to the new
community of Odell, on the railroad. Haulk remained a school
district until 1919, when it was enlarged and renamed Haulk Hill. In
1935 the old district was absorbed by the Northside School.
Haulk was not shown on the 1984 county highway map.
Lockett
Lockett is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 70 and Farm Road 433,
six miles southwest of Vernon and seven miles west of the Foard
county line in west central Wilbarger County.
A settlement has
existed at the site from the early 1880s, and a school was
established in 1885.
In 1888 the community was named for local
residents T. J. and J. B. Lockett.
A Methodist group had been
present since 1887, and in 1898 its members built Wesley Chapel. A
Baptist church organized in Lockett in 1909, and the Lutherans were
established by 1910. Around 1918 a Church of Christ was organized.
In the early twentieth century the Streit family from
Switzerland founded a twenty-five-piece community band. By 1918
Lockett had a gin, two general stores, and several other businesses.
The population between 1940 and 1960 was 125. The Lockett school
was consolidated with that of Vernon in 1969.
In the mid-1980s
through 2000 the town reported a population of 200. The Zion
Lutheran and Lockett Baptist churches remained active.
Mack
The site of Mack is near present U.S. Highway 183/283 eighteen miles
southeast of Vernon in south central Wilbarger County.
The
community evolved in the 1880s and became a gathering place for
ranchers and farmers. A post office established in 1889 with George
W. McCollum as postmaster was discontinued and moved to Pinta in
1894. About 1893 a school was started. It served the area until it
was consolidated with the Grapevine school in 1932.
Early
settlers of Mack included the Boyle, Reed, Schaub, and Ferebee
families.
Nothing remained of the community by the 1980s except
a cemetery just east of the highway near Minnos Creek.
Odell
Odell is at the intersection of Farm roads 2379, 91, and 432 and the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, fifteen miles northwest of
Vernon in extreme northwestern Wilbarger County. Wanderers Creek
borders the town on the west.
The settlement, which began as a
railroad station when the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway
built into the area in 1908, was named for J. T. Odell, a New York
civil engineer. Much of the town's initial population lived in
Haulk, two miles away, but moved to land donated by T. H. Holloway
when the railroad came.
Charles W. Stults built the first store
in the new town, which was granted a post office on April 27, 1909.
By 1919 the town had thirty businesses, including two banks and a
picture show. The first newspaper was the Odell News, which began in
the early 1900s. Five churches were eventually built.
The peak
years came in the late 1920s, when the town reported over 800
residents. Incorporation occurred in 1928. Within a short time,
however, a gradual decline began.
In 1934 a number of fires
destroyed several businesses, and by 1945 only eight businesses and
301 citizens were reported. The population fell to about 130 from
1960 through the 1980s. Odell lost its incorporated status in the
1970s.
In 1986 the town consisted of a combination post office
and store, two Baptist churches, and a county maintenance building.
The local economy was based on cotton, cattle, grain, and oil.
In 2000 the population was 131.
Oklaunion
Oklaunion is on
U.S. highways 183, 283, and 70 and the Burlington Northern line,
nine miles east of Vernon and fourteen miles northwest of Electra in
northeastern Wilbarger County.
A settlement called Mayflower was
renamed Oklaunion about 1888 by "Buckskin Joe" Works in the hope
that the Frisco line would connect there with the Fort Worth and
Denver City Railway. Although the proposed linkage occurred in
Vernon, Oklaunion prospered as a station on the Fort Worth and
Denver.
A post office was established at the community in 1889,
when its population was sixty-five. The town's first school opened
about 1893.
By 1930 Oklaunion had grown to include a Baptist
church, a bank, a hotel, and several other businesses. With a
population of 400, the town voted to incorporate on June 6, 1928.
Oklaunion had a population of 223 in 1945, but it declined to around
130 in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1967 the town's school was
consolidated with the Vernon schools, and Oklaunion dissolved its
incorporation in the 1970s. The Oklaunion Baptist Church, organized
in 1908, was disbanded in November 1984.
In 1986 the town had
the post office, a gin, two grain elevators, and a store and gas
station. Located nearby was the West Texas Utilities Company,
established in 1982, which maintained a spur railroad line to its
plant south of town.
In 1990 and again in 2000 the population of
Oklaunion was reported as 138.
Parsley Hill
Parsley Hill
is at the intersection of Farm roads 1207 and 2074, eleven miles
southwest of Vernon in southwestern Wilbarger County. It developed
around a school that began in 1911, and was named after landowner J.
N. Parsley.
A gin and a blacksmith shop were built later.
In
1929 the school was consolidated with the Antelope, Haney,
Guggisberg, and Kincheloe districts to form the Five-In-One School.
During the 1940s the Parsley Hill population was 180, and the
community had two businesses. From 1950 through the 1980s, however,
forty residents were reported there. Parsley Hill was shown on the
1984 county highway map with two businesses. In 2000 the population
was again reported at forty.
Ronda
Ronda was on Farm Road
2326 just north of Beaver Creek and ten miles southeast of Harrold
in southeastern Wilbarger County.
The community developed in the
early 1880s, and a cemetery had been established by 1881. A post
office opened in 1889 with Alfred T. Bailey as postmaster. By the
time a school opened in 1893, the settlement of about seventy-five
people had the post office, a store, and scattered houses. The post
office was moved to Harrold in 1907, and the store closed. The
school served a large district until it was consolidated with the
Harrold school in 1929.
In 1986 nothing remained of the
settlement except the cemetery.
Sherwood
Sherwood was a
school community thirteen miles north of Vernon in northwest
Wilbarger County. It evolved during the mid-1880s, when settlers
began to move into the area.
In 1893 a rural school, which
became Sherwood, was established to serve a small district north of
Fargo. No businesses were founded. The mail came through Doan's.
Early residents of Sherwood included the Hamilton, Sanderson, Hull,
and Rogers families.
In 1935 the Sherwood district was absorbed
by the new Northside school.
No evidence of the former community
appeared on 1980 county maps.
Tolbert
Tolbert, on U.S.
Highway 287 and the Burlington Northern line in northwestern
Wilbarger County, was originally established in the late 1880s as a
shipping point by the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway.
It was
first named Wheatland for the abundance of wheat in the area, but in
1890 the postal department rejected the name Wheatland, and the town
became Tolbert instead, in honor of county judge J. R. Tolbert. The
new post office was granted on June 30 of that year.
Between
1910 and 1930 the town grew to comprise as many as 1,000 people and
numerous businesses, including a theater, a telephone office, and
three churches. By 1930, however, it had greatly declined, due
largely to the lack of an adequate water source. The post office was
discontinued in the early 1930s, and by 1940 the population was only
seventy-five. Between the 1950s and the 1980s it fell to thirty. The
population remained at thirty in 2000. The Tolbert school, first
established about 1893, consolidated with the Vernon and Odell
schools in 1954.
By 1986 only a few families and the cemetery
were left.
Tolbert was the home of state treasurer John W.
Robbins, who served from 1899 to 1907.
Shortly after the Doans settled in the north part of the county,
a trading post was located at Condon Springs, which is now the site
of Hillcrest Country Club, and a community was established there as
Eagle Flat, in recognition of the many eagles nesting in the area.
Though there may be others, two prominent theories abound as to how
Vernon got its name, though history has not substantiated one over
the other. The first is that the town was first called Eagle Flats,
due to the local eagle nesting population. The name was rejected by
postal authorities due to other offices with "Eagle" in the name.
So, the town named itself after George Washington's Mount Vernon.
The second theory is that the town was named after Vernon Brown, a
whisky drummer, the first to call on the new town site, and who
promised free samples of his wares if the then-new town was named
after him. It likely that the first theory is correct, however
nobody really knows for sure. What we do know is that the name was
changed by U.S. Postal authorities to Vernon after several other
names were given consideration.
The original town-site was laid
out on a half-section of land in 1880.
The first school in
Vernon was a one room, sod covered dugout. L. N. Perkins was the
teacher in 1880. Mrs. A. T. Boger taught the first public school in
a dug-out east of Vernon, a term that last four months. Her salary
was $12.50 a month. Subsequent teachers were: Prof. Nye, Judge J. R.
Tolbert, Miss Hattie Farrell (identified as Mrs. J. L. Swartwood),
and Prof. E. L. Witty. A succession of superintendents of schools:
Judge Tolbert, Joe Eagle, Prof. Johnson, T. S. Cox, and W. T.
Potter.
Founded 1882 in a dugout, Vernon drugstore was to be
noted as the oldest drugstore in the county. The present building
was erected 1901. In 1958, store filled its 1,000,000th prescription
The first actual building in the county was build in 1884 and housed
the office of Dr. H. H. Rhoads, Vernon county's health officer for
40 years. Dr. Rhoads co-owned the building.
The first newspaper
in the county, the "Vernon Hornet," had its shop in the store
building.
The city was incorporated in an election on April 3,
1889. The first meeting of the City Council after incorporation was
later that month. A special election was called to elect officers
for the town. The first officers were:
James R. Tolbert
mayor
S. W. Mabry
alderman
Joe Schmidt
alderman
W. E. Johnston
alderman
John R. Wood
alderman
George Langley
alderman
John L. Hammond
city marshal
John Brown
city secretary
H. C. Thompson
city attorney
One of the early ordinances decreed it "unlawful to ride or drive
faster than a slow lope through the streets of said city."
Speeders... even then.
Occupation taxes of $2.50 were levied
against those who had a trade or profession. Among others, those
made to pay were land agents, lawyers, physicians and dentists.
In April, 1916, the City Commission form was adopted. The following
officers were elected:
L. P. Bonner, mayor
M. G. Neathery, commissioner
J. P. King, commissioner
Harper Reed, commissioner
E. L. Witty, commissioner
Mayors of the City of Vernon 1889-1931:
James R. Tolbert
1889-1890
R. S. Kelly, (resigned)
1890-1892
M.E. Smith
1892-1894
George Anderson, (resigned)
1894-1897
J. S. Massie
1897-1898
J. A. Lucky
1898-1902
S. P. Huff, (resigned Dec. 13)
1902
Bismark Houssels, acting mayor
R. W. Hall
1903-1908
L. P. Bonner
1908-1912
I. S. Sewall
1912-1916
L. P. Bonner
1916-1918
Harry Mason
1918-1926
H. D. Hockersmith
1926-1931
Vernon City secretaries 1890-1931:
John Brown
1890
A. C. McKinney
1891
A. M. Hiatt
1892-1896
J. Y. Scott
1896-1898
C. F. Lanter
1898-1899
L. C. Eakle
1899-1906
R. B. Sherrill
1906-1910
S. H. Hall
1910-1914
T. P. Lisman, Jr.
1914-1916
S. h. Hall
1916-1931
Today Vernon remains the administrative, manufacturing, and
educational center of the county. Industries are agricultural
supplies and processing, seed propagation, textiles, meat packing,
cottonseed, and alfalfa milling.
Population 11,660 (2000) 12,001
(1990)
White City
White City is on Farm Road 924 ten
miles north of Vernon in northwestern Wilbarger County. It took its
name from James Franklin White, who came with his family to the area
in 1890. The Crescent Cove School had been established there a year
before.
By the early 1900s the town had a peach orchard, a gin,
a Baptist church, a school, and a store. Crescent Cove School was
consolidated with the Northside district in 1940. The White City
Gin, founded in 1908, remained active in 1986.
The population
was reported at forty from the 1930s through 1990. County maps of
the 1980s indicated three businesses in the community. The
population was forty in 2000.
Wildcat
Wildcat is on a
local road just north of Wildcat Creek and three miles north of
Vernon in north central Wilbarger County.
A school was
established near the creek in 1889 and became the meeting place for
area settlers. In 1911 a Sunday school was started at the school,
and a Methodist church was organized in 1915. The school served a
sizable district north of the Pease River until it was consolidated
with the Vernon schools in 1948.
County maps of the 1980s
indicated a church and a small community at the site.
West
Vernon
Located along the western border of what is now Vernon in
north central Wilbarger County, West Vernon grew up around the first
rural school district established in the county in 1893.
It
voted to incorporate on February 21, 1927, and by the 1930s had
grown to include twelve businesses and a population of 955.
In
1944 Vernon annexed West Vernon. The schools officially merged in
1945. A population figure of 955 was listed separately for West
Vernon through the 1960s.
No evidence of the former town was
indicated on 1980 county maps.
If you have questions, contributions, or problems with this site, email:
County Coordinator -Rebecca Maloney
State Coordinator: Paula Perkins
Asst. State Coordinators: Rebecca Maloney, Lela Evans and Carla Clifton
If you have questions or problems with this site, email the County Coordinator. Please to not ask for specfic research on your family. I am unable to do your personal research. I do not live in Texas and do not have access to additional records.