DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — the founding of Colorado City, Mitchell County, Texas. Now, some towns ease their way into existence. Colorado City was not one of those towns.
In 1880, two things converged out in the wide open country of West Texas: the Colorado River and the right-of-way of the Texas and Pacific Railroad. Where those two lines crossed, Colorado City was born — a central shipping point and supply depot for the sprawling cattle ranches of West Texas and New Mexico. That was the practical version.
The real story has a little more dust on it. The very same year, a man named A.W. Dunn opened up a general store.
No walls to speak of — dirt floor, tent for a roof. That was the commercial foundation of what was fixing to become the largest community between Fort Worth and El Paso. You couldn't have guessed it standing there in the dirt, but you couldn't have guessed a lot of things about Colorado City.
In those first two years, the population went from seven hundred souls to five thousand. Cowboys, cattlemen, merchants, and — as one visitor put it — "any number of bummers" all vied for space in a town that was barely a town yet. The first sermon preached there was delivered inside a saloon.
The town jail was a chain attached to a mesquite tree. Law and order itself was housed in a dugout at the edge of town, where a company of Texas Rangers made all men check their guns at the door. In 1881, a modest and courageous Ranger by the name of Dick Ware was elected the first sheriff.
Now, between 1880 and 1890, Colorado City garnered — and the marker uses both words, so hold onto them — notoriety as well as fame. It had more millionaires than any other Texas town. It had the most saloons in the West.
And if you stepped out at night into the center of town, you could find something almost tender: the lantern-glow coming through the canvas walls of dozens of tents, lighting up the darkness like paper lanterns at a celebration. Of course, drouth came. The open range passed on.
The glory that had blazed so fast and so bright over Colorado City began to diminish. But that first decade — that wild, improbable, dirt-floor, mesquite-chain, sermon-in-a-saloon decade — had already sealed its reputation. They called it the Mother City of West Texas.
And having heard the story, it's hard to argue the point.
What the marker says
Founded, 1880, at the crossing of the Colorado River and Texas & Pacific Railroad right-of-way; central shipping point and supply depot for the sprawling cattle ranches of West Texas and New Mexico. From 1880 (when A.W. Dunn opened his dirt-floor, tent-roof general store) to 1890 the boisterous cattle town garnered notoriety as well as fame. The largest community between Fort Worth and El Paso, Colorado City had more millionaires than any other Texas town and the most saloons in the West. Law and order was housed in a dugout at the edge of town, where a company of Texas Rangers made all men check their guns. Modest, courageous Ranger Dick Ware was elected first sheriff in 1881. Population soared from 700 to 5,000 in the first two years, as cowboys, cattlemen, merchants, and (as a visitor said) "any number of bummers", vied for space. The first sermon was preached in a saloon and the town "jail" was a chain attached to a mesquite tree, but citizens could find beauty in the lantern-glow from dozens of tents in the center of town. Although drouth and the passing of the open range soon diminished Colorado City's glory, its first decade won for it the epithet, "Mother City of West Texas". (1968)