Carson County, Texas
Panhandle is home to 31 official Texas Historical Commission markers — each one telling a piece of the city’s story. Browse the markers below, then find them on the map and discover more nearby with RoadHistorical.
Created 1876. Organized 1888. Named for Samuel Price Carson, Secretary of State, Republic of Texas. A pioneer county in oil and gas development. Panhandle, county seat, promised main lines of 3 railroads, was by-passed…
View on map ↗Set front dugout home by Thomas Cree, 1888. Good luck symbol of settlers through 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…
View on map ↗Built 1906-08 in land of lumber scarcity by Carroll and Kate Purvines, (from Illinois) of cement blocks they made by hand, using local sand. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1964
View on map ↗Takes name from creek where noted buffalo hunter and scout Billy Dixon established first dugout home on High Plains, 1874. Ranch founded, 1882, by Francklyn Land and Cattle Co., English firm backed by Cunard Steamship…
View on map ↗Formed from Young and Bexar territories; created August 21, 1876, organized June 29, 1888. Named in honor of Samuel P. Carson 1798-1840, statesman of the United States and the Republic of Texas. Wheat, oil and gas…
View on map ↗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…
View on map ↗Second commercial bank opened in the Panhandle of Texas. Oldest in continuous service. Founded by James Christopher Paul, pupil of Sam Houston's son, lawyer Temple Houston. Early settlers throughout the High Plains area…
View on map ↗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…
View on map ↗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.…
View on map ↗Among first landowners in area. In 1898 started ranch 25 miles to the north. Ran country store, post office, phone exchange. Moved 1915 to Panhandle. The 1924 discovery of oil on their ranch led to the founding of…
View on map ↗In use 1938-1957. Based at the county library on this site. A bright red, visible for miles, this first bookmobile in Texas was called "The Library Bus." It stopped at ranches, schools, oil camps; circulated 2,000 books…
View on map ↗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…
View on map ↗(1886-1929) Born in Mississippi; received law degree from University of Texas. Became county attorney of Roberts County. Elected district attorney of 31st Judicial District in 1922. In 1928, appointed district attorney…
View on map ↗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…
View on map ↗The 33rd Anniversary National Convention, Men's Garden Clubs of America, meeting at Amarillo, June 14-17, 1965, formally recognized and paid tribute to the significance of Thomas Cree's little tree and to the memory of…
View on map ↗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…
View on map ↗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…
View on map ↗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…
View on map ↗Named in honor of renowned pioneer family of Asbery A. Callaghan. Erected 1970 through bequest of local businessman H.J. "Friday" Hughes (1901-1968), son-in-law of Asbery Callaghan. In 1890 A.A. Callaghan came to Texas…
View on map ↗(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…
View on map ↗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…
View on map ↗The 1920s oil boom brought increased business to this railroad town,and a new depot was built here in 1928. The structure exhibits elements of the Prairie School, Mission, and Tudor styles of architecture. Prominent…
View on map ↗The town of Panhandle became an important stronghold for Methodism in this part of Texas in the late 19th century. The county's first congregation was the Northern Methodist, established in 1889. It was attended by…
View on map ↗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…
View on map ↗Union church built 1912 by popular subscription. Only country church in this area in continuous use for more than 50 years. Serves great-grandchildren of the pioneers who contributed funds for its erection. Recorded…
View on map ↗Residents of Conway, established 9 miles south of here in 1905, attended non-denominational services in a relocated schoolhouse until this union church building was completed in 1912. It became an important gathering…
View on map ↗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.…
View on map ↗(1 mile southeast) The Panhandle's first oil well, Gulf Burnett No. 2, was struck by the Gulf Production Company on May 2, 1921, on the 6666 Ranch of S. B. Burnett. The prediction of oil in this area by U.S. geologists…
View on map ↗Texan Hotel During the height of Carson County's oil boom in the 1920s, the major oil field supply houses headquartered in Panhandle, and lodging was in great demand. In 1926, Clark B. (d. 1946) and Margaret (d. 1967)…
View on map ↗First Baptist Church has served residents of Panhandle (originally Carson City later Panhandle City) since the late 1800s. In 1897, a group of Baptist residents, under the direction of the Rev. William H. Younger, came…
View on map ↗Established 1907. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2016.
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