Clarendon Cemetery
Clarendon, Donley County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In this first cemetery of Donley County, sixteen rods west lie the first dead of Old Clarendon. Here white civilization sank its roots in sadness and from the graves in this sacred acre strong pioneer spirits turned to face the future with greater love for the land and a firmer determination to build for a tomorrow which we know today. To those of the Old Clarendon Colony who first found rest on this bold promontory and to their survivors, this stone of imperishable Texas granite is loyally and lovingly dedicated. Erected by the State of Texas, July 4, 1938
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On this bold promontory lies the first cemetery of Donley County, resting place of the earliest settlers of Old Clarendon in the Texas Panhandle. Founded as a colony in the late 1870s, Clarendon was among the first Anglo settlements on the high plains, where pioneers faced hardship, isolation, and loss. In 1938 the State of Texas dedicated this granite monument to those first dead and the survivors who built on after them.
Why it matters
It memorializes the human cost of settling the Texas Panhandle, one of the last frontiers of Anglo-American westward expansion.
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Related events
- · Old Clarendon Colony
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
James T. Patman
Clarendon, TX
James T. Patman served as sheriff of Donley County from 1905 to 1916, a time when the great Panhandle ranches were being broken up and sold off as farmland. Born in Sulphur Springs and a Methodist, he married Allie Graves, raised a son and a daughter, and died in Clarendon. He was remembered as an outstanding peace officer of that transitional frontier era.
First United Methodist Church of Clarendon
Clarendon, TX
Methodist minister Lewis H. Carhart founded Clarendon in 1878 as a sober religious and educational colony on the Panhandle plains—cowboys mockingly dubbed the saloonless town "Saint's Roost." When the railroad arrived in 1887 the town moved to its present site, where circuit riders and then the Rev. Isaac L. Mills organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1888. As Clarendon College drew new members, the congregation built its large Classical Revival sanctuary in 1910.
Donley County Courthouse
Clarendon, TX
Designed by Bulger and Rapp and built by the Troutman Brothers of Trinidad, Colorado, the Donley County Courthouse opened in November 1891 as a striking Romanesque Revival landmark of towers, red brick, and limestone. Remodeling in the 1930s stripped away the entire third floor and much of its ornament, but a careful restoration returned it to its original grandeur, rededicated on July 4, 2003. It is now the oldest functioning courthouse in the Texas Panhandle.
The Clarendon News
Clarendon, TX
Clarendon began as the Rev. Lewis H. Carhart's dream of a colony grounded in Christianity, temperance, and education, and to promote it he launched The Clarendon News in June 1878—the very year the first colonists arrived. It was the first newspaper in the Texas Panhandle. Through many changes of name and owner, and from hand-set type to modern computers, it has never stopped chronicling its community.