DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker tells it, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, most flagpoles don't have a story worth telling. This one does.
It starts back in 1875, when Fort Elliott was established out on the Texas Panhandle — put there to protect the region from Indians. The fort stood about a mile to the northwest of where you're at right now. And like any proper fort, it needed a flagpole.
Enter J. J. Long.
Teamster. Merchant. The kind of man who, when the soldiers showed up, showed up right along with them.
They hired him to provide a flagpole for the fort, which sounds simple enough — until you realize there's not exactly a lumber yard out here in the Panhandle. So Long did what a man does. He went to the cedar breaks near Antelope Hills, thirty miles away, and he cut two huge trees.
Two. Hauled them back by wagon. And from those trees, he built a fifty-foot pole.
Fifty feet. That is not a small flagpole, friends. That flag could be seen coming.
Fort Elliott flew its colors under that pole until 1890, when the fort closed. Now here's where it gets interesting — Long bought the pole. The man who built it turned right around and bought it, and planted it in front of his store.
After that, it stood at the Mobeetie school for twenty years. Twenty years of kids running past it, probably not giving it a second thought. Then, in 1949, it was erected right here, where you can see it today.
One flagpole. Cedar trees from thirty miles out. A fort, a store, a schoolyard, and finally — this spot.
Some things just keep finding a place to stand.
What the marker says
First stood about a mile to the northwest, at Fort Elliott, established 1875 to protect the Texas Panhandle from Indians. J. J. Long, teamster-merchant, who arrived with the soldiers, was hired to provide a flagpole for the fort. In cedar breaks near Antelope Hills, 30 miles away, he cut two huge trees and hauled them here by wagon to build this 50-foot pole. After Fort Elliott closed in 1890, Long bought the pole and placed it in front of his store. Later, at Mobeetie school for 20 years; it was erected here 1949. (1966)