DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. The town of Panhandle, Carson County — and friend, this place has seen some turns. Back in the 1880s, when most of this country was still wide open and blowing, Panhandle was already the capital of the whole Panhandle area.
Think about that. Out here in the flat and the wind, this was the hub. The center of things.
But to understand how it got that way, you have to go back a little further. The buffalo were slaughtered — and I mean slaughtered — and when the great herds were gone, the Indians who had followed them were sent to live on reservations. That's how this land opened up.
That's the truth of it, and it deserves to sit with you for a moment. Then in 1887, the Santa Fe Railway came through and made Panhandle its terminus. End of the line.
Which means it was also the beginning of the line for everything that came next. Immigrant trains rolled in carrying colonists — people who had come a long way, carrying everything they owned — and they broke the old Indian range open and plowed it into wheat fields. They called it civilization.
Here in Panhandle, settlers could bank their money, see a dentist, pick up supplies, lumber, mail, windmills, fencing. All the pieces of a life on the plains, right here. And in 1888, when Carson County was officially organized, Panhandle was named the county seat.
Made it official. But the story wasn't done. Nearby, in 1921, somebody drilled the first oil well in the area, and you know what that means out in West Texas — the ground itself had one more secret it hadn't told yet.
And nearby still stands the site of Pantex Farms of Texas Technological University, sitting right on top of what was once a World War II Ordnance Plant. From buffalo range to wheat fields to oil country to an ordnance plant to a university farm — this little town at the end of the Santa Fe line has been quietly watching the whole history of the Panhandle roll through, one chapter at a time.
What the marker says
In 1880s, capital of Panhandle area. Settled when slaughter of buffalo sent Indians to live on reservations. Terminus of Santa Fe Railway, 1887. Here immigrant trains brought colonists, who plowed old Indian range into wheat fields and civilization. Settlers banked here, saw the dentist, got supplies, lumber, mail, windmills, fencing. Was made county seat when Carson County was organized in 1888. Nearby is site of first oil well in area, drilled 1921. Also nearby, Pantex Farms of Texas Technological University, on site of World War II Ordnance Plant.