Reagan County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, out here in West Texas, the land itself has a long memory. And the marker for Reagan County, carved right out of Tom Green County, has a story worth slowing down for.

On March 7, 1903, the Texas Legislature created Reagan County. Just a few weeks later, April 20, 1903, the county was organized. Quick work, that.

Like somebody had been waiting a long time to get it done. They named it for John H. Reagan, born in 1818, died in 1905.

Now there is a life with some chapters in it. Reagan was an Indian fighter and a surveyor, which tells you right away he knew this country the hard way, on foot and on edge. He served in the Texas Legislature, then climbed further, into the United States Congress.

And then history handed him one of its more complicated assignments. He became postmaster general of the southern Confederacy. That is not a small line on a man's resume, whatever you think of it.

The marker doesn't flinch from it, and neither should we. When the county was organized in 1903, it needed a seat of government, and Stiles stepped up to fill that role. Stiles held that distinction from 1903 all the way to 1925.

Then, quiet as the wind shifting out here on the Permian Basin, Big Lake took over, and Big Lake has been the county seat ever since. Two county seats, one county, one man's name on all of it. Reagan County.

Still out there, still keeping time.

What the marker says

Formed from Tom Green County; created March 7, 1903, organized April 20, 1903. Named in honor of John H. Reagan 1818-1905. Indian fighter and surveyor member of Texas Legislature and United States Congress postmaster general of the southern Confederacy. County seat, Stiles 1903-1925, Big Lake since.