Kermit

Duane's take

Now, I'm tellin' this one straight from the official marker, the way the record has it. Settle in. This is Kermit, county seat of Winkler County, and there is more packed into this little stretch of West Texas than you might expect from a town sitting at the edge of New Mexico.

Winkler County was organized in 1910, and Kermit eventually got itself incorporated in 1938. That's a span of years that saw a whole lot of nothing turn into a whole lot of something. But here's the detail that tends to stop people cold when they hear it.

The town is named for Kermit Roosevelt. Son of President Theodore Roosevelt. And not just named for him in some abstract, respectful, from-a-distance sort of way.

Kermit Roosevelt had actually visited a local ranch out here. Came all the way to this corner of Texas, to this wind-scoured country where the land runs flat and wide toward New Mexico, and somebody thought, yes, that name ought to stay on this place. So it did.

Now, the land itself had something to say about its own importance, and it said it loud. Winkler County ranks among the top oil and gas producing counties in the entire state of Texas. The entire state.

In a place that also functions as a ranch center and sits right on the gateway to New Mexico. Three things at once: cattle country, energy country, and the last town before the state line swallows the horizon. That's Kermit.

Named for a president's son who once rode out to a local ranch, and it has been earning that distinction ever since.

What the marker says

County Seat of Winkler County. Organized in 1910. Incorporated in 1938. Name for Kermit Roosevelt, son of President Theodore Roosevelt, who had visited a local ranch. One of the top oil and gas producing counties in state. Ranch center. Gateway to New Mexico. (1964)