DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Sheffield, out there in Pecos County. Now, some places earn their name the quiet way — and some earn it by being first. Sheffield is one of the second kind.
Before there was ever a town, there was a trail. Spanish explorers were traveling Indian routes through the Pecos River Valley as early as 1590. That is not a typo.
Fifteen ninety. Centuries before anyone thought to put a post office there, boots and hooves were already wearing a groove through that country. Later came the U.S.
Cavalry. Later still, a camel train — yes, camels, right here in West Texas — and stage and mail lines running all the way between San Antonio and San Diego, California. That route had seen some miles.
What finally convinced people to stay, though, was water. Pecos Spring, sitting just nearby, drew settlers into the area in the 1880s and 90s. And I want you to picture this: families living in tents on the north side of the creek, hauling water from that spring by hand.
That is not roughing it for a weekend. That is life. Around 1890, the community got together and dug a water well — which, out in that country, is its own kind of miracle.
The early residents were sheep and cattle ranchers, and if they needed mail or supplies, they had to go fetch them from San Angelo or Ozona. Nothing came to you out there. You went to it.
Then, about 1901, a man named Will Sheffield built a grocery and dry goods store approximately one mile from the spring. A post office opened right along with it, and Will Sheffield became postmaster. The marker tells us plainly: since he was the first to operate a store, the settlement was named for him.
That is how you get a town named after you in West Texas — you show up with goods and a counter to sell them from. That same year, 1901, a saloon was opened, and a school was begun with sixty-four pupils. Sixty-four children, in a place where folks were still living in tents.
You start to get a feel for the kind of stubborn optimism it took to build something out there. After those years of tent life, residents began putting up permanent homes. Then in 1905, a man named Garrett Bean purchased a section of land from the state — right where the present townsite stands — and drew off the town lots.
Sheffield had itself a proper shape. And here is the detail that tends to make people sit up a little straighter: well-known Texas Ranger Frank Hamer got his start in law enforcement right here in Sheffield. Whatever came after — and plenty did — it started in this small trade-center town in Pecos County.
Sheffield today still offers churches and serves as a trade center for the ranches around it. Same country. Same purpose.
Just with a few more years of story behind it.
What the marker says
Spanish explorers traveled Indian trails here in the Pecos River Valley as early as 1590. Later, U.S. Cavalry, a camel train, and stage and mail lines between San Antonio and San Diego, California, used the route. Nearby Pecos Spring attracted settlers to the area in the 1880s and 90s. Families lived in tents on the north side of the creek and hauled water from the spring. About 1890 a community water well was dug. Early residents were sheep and cattle ranchers. Mail and supplies had to be brought from San Angelo and Ozona. About 1901 Will Sheffield built a grocery and dry goods store approximately one mile from the spring. A post office opened with Will Sheffield as postmaster. Since he was the first to operate a store, the settlement was named for him. A saloon was opened, and in 1901 a school was begun with sixty-four pupils. After living for several years in tents, residents began building permanent homes. Garrett Bean purchased a section of land from the state where the present townsite is located and drew off town lots in 1905. Well-known Texas Ranger Frank Hamer got his start in law enforcement here. Sheffield offers churches and a trade center for area ranches.