George Morgan Perry

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, not every man gets a town named after him. Most folks pass through this world, do their work, and leave maybe a headstone and a few good stories.

But every once in a while, a railroad comes through, and somebody decides your name ought to go on the map. Permanently. George Morgan Perry was that kind of man.

Born in Iowa in 1862, he made his way down to the Texas Panhandle, to the town of Ochiltree, in 1886. The Panhandle in those days was a place still workin' out what it was going to be, and Perry stepped right into that work. He served as county clerk, district clerk, and county judge, which is to say he had a hand in the formal organization of the county itself.

The bones of the place, the legal and civic framework, Perry helped build it. But here's where the story takes a turn. Perry believed in railroads.

He was a supporter of railroad building out here in the Panhandle, and the Santa Fe Railroad, it seems, took notice. When a new town was established on the rail line in 1919, the Santa Fe honored him by naming it Perryton. His name, right there on every map, every sign, every letter sent and received in that corner of Texas.

And Perry didn't just sit back and admire his own name on the letterhead. He served as the first president of the Chamber of Commerce in Perryton and kept right on promoting settlement and business development in the city until his death in 1944. An Iowa boy who came to Ochiltree in 1886 and ended up with a whole town to show for it.

Some legacies you carve. Some you build. And some, if you're George Morgan Perry, you get the railroad to name for you.

What the marker says

A native of Iowa, George Morgan Perry (1862-1944) moved to the Texas Panhandle town of Ochiltree in 1886. Active in the formal organization of the county, he served as county clerk, district clerk, and county judge. A supporter of railroad building in the Panhandle, he was honored by the Santa Fe Railroad when the town of Perryton was established on the rail line and named for him in 1919. He served as first president of the Chamber of Commerce and continued to promote settlement and business development in the city until his death in 1944. (1994)