Dermott

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm telling it to you. The town of Dermott, Scurry County, Texas. A place that didn't just grow, it moved.

Twice. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. It started out as a community called Dark.

Dark. Not exactly a name that draws a crowd, but there it was, sitting about a mile and a half northeast of where Dermott stands today. The school in that area went by the name Bookout.

And the man who gave the whole operation its eventual identity was a fellow named S. P. McDermott, who ran a crossroads store out there and served as an early postmaster.

The town that would carry his name, more or less, was just getting started. Now, 1909 rolls around, and the Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railroad comes laying track through the county. When a railroad shows up in West Texas, you don't sit there a mile and a half away.

You pick up and you move. And that's exactly what Dermott did. The town relocated to meet the R.S. and P., and before long it had a hotel and a number of businesses.

Things were looking up. Then came 1911, and the Santa Fe Railroad laid its own line through. Now you've got two competing railroads running through the same stretch of Scurry County, and that kind of competition has a way of making a place hum.

Dermott became a busy cattle shipping center. Full loading pens. Cowboys, cattle, commerce.

But here's the thing about having two railroads. You've got to pick a favorite eventually. By 1915, the town moved again, this time over to the Santa Fe line.

The R.S. and P. had lost the tug of war, and in 1942, its tracks were taken up entirely. Gone. Just gone.

Dermott was quieter after that, but it wasn't finished. In the late 1940s, the county oil boom brought a new wave of population rolling in. The town that had been named for a storekeeper, born as Dark, moved twice chasing railroads, found one more reason to keep going.

Some towns plant themselves and dare the world to come to them. Dermott just kept moving toward whatever was next.

What the marker says

Named for S. P. McDermott, who had crossroads store and was an early postmaster. Began as a community called Dark, 1-1/2 miles northeast. (School in area was named Bookout). Town moved 1909 to the Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific Railroad. It had a hotel and a number of businesses. The Santa Fe was built in 1911, and the competing railroads made this a busy cattle shipping center, with full loading pens. Town moved 1915 to Santa Fe Railroad. The R.S. & P. tracks were taken up in 1942. The town had new population in the late 1940s, during county oil boom. (1966)