DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the site of Parmerton, out in Parmer County. Sit with me a minute, because this is one of those stories where a whole town shows up, gets its heart broken, and then just... walks away. Literally.
Way out on the High Plains, at an elevation of four thousand two hundred and two feet, there's a spot along the old Pecos and Northern Texas Railroad where something remarkable once stood. In 1898, they called it Parmer Switch. Just a switch on a rail line.
Not much to look at, maybe, but the land had potential — and in 1906, somebody with vision decided to prove it. That year, the Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Company turned the site into a model farm. They were running it on the Campbell dry farming method — a careful, deliberate approach to coaxing crops out of country that doesn't give up its moisture easy.
It was meant to be a demonstration, a proof of concept for what this corner of Texas could do. Well, the demonstration must've been convincing. Because in 1907, the Parmerton Townsite Company came along, bought two hundred acres of that farm, and laid out a proper town.
Streets, lots, a future. And not just any future — Parmerton was designated the first county seat of Parmer County that very same year. A post office got established.
People moved in. Buildings went up. For one bright moment, Parmerton looked like exactly what it was supposed to be: the heart of a brand new county.
Then came the vote. Late in 1907 — same year the town had claimed its crown — Farwell was elected the new county seat. And here's the part that still stops me cold: Parmerton's citizens didn't just leave.
They took their homes with them. They took the other buildings with them. They packed up the whole enterprise and departed, leaving behind nothing but the railroad switch that had started it all.
Today, that switch is all that marks the site. No courthouse, no post office, no streets. Just iron on the ground, and the wind that was there before any of it.
Parmer Switch it was. Parmer Switch it is. The town in between lasted less than a year as a county seat — and when it left, it left completely.
What the marker says
(Elevation 4,202 feet) Founded as Parmer Switch on Pecos & Northern Texas Railroad in 1898. In 1906, became site of a model farm. Using Campbell dry farming method, run by Capitol Freehold Land & Investment Co. In 1907, Parmerton Townsite Co. bought 200 acres of the farm and laid out a town, which was designed first county seat that same year. A post office was soon established. When, in late 1907, Farwell was elected new county seat, Parmerton's citizens departed, taking homes and other buildings with them. Only the railroad switch marks the site today. (1971)