Seminole

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. The story of Seminole, Texas, seat of Gaines County, and a town that had to earn every bit of what it became. Now, some towns are born in a hurry, all noise and commotion.

Seminole was not that kind of town. But patient things have a way of outlasting the flashy ones, and this place is proof. It all started in 1905.

That was the year Gaines County was organized, and in that same year, Seminole was founded and named the county seat. One year, one stroke, the whole thing settled at once. The name itself came from the Seminole Wells, Indian watering places lying to the south and west.

The wells were there before the town, and the town took their name. Also in 1905, a man named W. B.

Austin, who came out of a nearby settlement called Caput, set up the first store and the first post office. So in a single year you've got a county organized, a county seat founded, and a store and post office open for business. Then in 1906, they built the courthouse.

And then, well, Seminole settled in and grew slowly. Chiefly important, the marker says, as a trading center. A hub.

A place people came to do business and then headed back out across that wide West Texas land. For years, that was the rhythm of it. But 1918 brought a change that tends to change things, the arrival of the Midland and Northwestern Railroad.

Railroads had a way of redrawing the map of what was possible, and this one helped seed Seminole's later expansion, along with the development of highways and the discovery and development of oil resources. Slowly, then more surely, the town that had started as a patient little trading post grew into something more. Today, by the marker's own account, Seminole stands as a business center for both farming and the petroleum industry.

Started with a well, grew into an oil town. Some stories just have a shape to them.

What the marker says

Founded and designated county seat in 1905, same year county was organized. Took name from Seminole Wells, Indian watering places to south and west. First store and post office were established in 1905 by W. B. Austin of nearby Caput. The courthouse was built in 1906. Seminole grew slowly, being chiefly important as a trading center. Arrival of the Midland & Northwestern Railroad (1918) and development of highways and oil resources all helped seed the town's later expansion. Today it is a business center for farming and petroleum industry. (1970)