DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Mobeetie, Wheeler County, Texas. Now, every corner of the Panhandle has a story, but Mobeetie — Mobeetie claims something none of the others can touch. The oldest town in the entire Texas Panhandle.
Let that settle over you like a good campfire does. It started out as a trading post, two miles south of where it would eventually stand, back in 1874. A rough-and-ready outpost at the edge of a vast and unforgiving country.
Then, in 1875, it picked itself up and moved — closer to Fort Elliott, where the action was, where the soldiers were, where a town had half a chance of becoming something real. For a while, folks called it Sweetwater. A gentle name for a hard place.
But in 1879, the name changed. Mobeetie. And Mobeetie it would remain.
Now the courthouse — that took the work of a man named Mark Huselby, who happened to be the first county tax assessor, along with other citizens who weren't content to let the place stay rough around the edges. They finished it, and they were right to push, because by 1881, Mobeetie had grown into something considerable. Hunters came through.
Cowboys drifted in. Gamblers, naturally, followed both. And that year, 1881, Mobeetie was named the judicial center of the 35th District.
And here's where the story gets a particular shine to it. The district attorney for that court was a man named Temple Houston — son of the hero Sam Houston himself. Temple Houston also became the first state senator for this district.
The son of a legend, carving out a legacy of his own right there on the Panhandle plain. But Mobeetie's story has a turn in it, the kind every old town knows. In 1888, the Santa Fe Railroad came through — and it did not come through Mobeetie.
It bypassed the town entirely. You know what a railroad bypass meant in those days. It meant the future was heading somewhere else.
And then, as if to underline the point, 1898 brought a tornado. Destructive. The kind that doesn't negotiate.
After the bypass and the storm, Mobeetie declined. The oldest town in the Texas Panhandle — the trading post, the cattle stop, the gamblers' haunt, the seat of the 35th District, the place where Temple Houston practiced law — quieted down, and let the Panhandle wind have more of it back. Some towns are remembered for how long they lasted.
Mobeetie deserves to be remembered for what it was.
What the marker says
Oldest town in Texas Panhandle. Originally a trading post, 2 mi. south, 1874; moved nearer to Fort Elliott, 1875. Earlier called Sweetwater, was renamed in 1879. Courthouse was completed by Mark Huselby, first county tax assessor, and other citizens. Popular with hunters, cowboys, gamblers - town in1881 became judicial center of 35th District. Temple Houston, son of the hero Sam Houston, was district attorney and the first state senator for this district. After bypass by the Santa Fe Railroad (1888) and a destructive 1898 tornado, Mobeetie declined. (1967)