First County Officials
Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas
Marker Inscription
First Anglo-Americans settled in Wichita County in 1856. The county was named for Indians, and Indian troubles delayed local organization until 1882. The first officials were: Judge, James S. Akers; Attorney, Robert E. Huff; Sheriff, F.M. Davis; County and District Clerk, W. E.Brothers; Assessor, James H. Banta; Surveyor, A. Warren; Treasurer, John A. Williams; Inspector of Hides and Animals, B. M. Saxon; Commissioners--Precinct No. 1, Thomas J. Williams; Precinct No. 2, Joseph McFarland; Precinct No. 3, M. B. Bynam; Precinct No. 4, E. G. Bullard. (1970)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The first Anglo-American settlers reached Wichita County in 1856, but frontier conflict with Native peoples—for whom the county was named—delayed its formal organization until 1882. That year residents finally seated a full slate of officials, from Judge James S. Akers and Attorney Robert E. Huff down to the inspector of hides and animals. The roster captures the moment a raw frontier district became a functioning county.
Why it matters
The marker records the bureaucratic birth of local self-government on the North Texas plains, a milestone in the settler expansion that displaced the region's Native inhabitants.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Wichita County lies on the Red River in North Texas, along what was for years the edge of Anglo-American settlement. According to the marker, the first Anglo-American settlers arrived in 1856. The county is named for the Wichita people, one of several Native nations whose homelands and hunting ranges covered this region.
For decades after those first settlers came, the area was contested ground. Comanche, Kiowa and other Native peoples defended their lands against the advance of settlement, and conflict along the Texas frontier went on through the Civil War years and after. The marker notes that these troubles held back the county's formal organization for a long time.
That changed in the mid-1870s. Once the U.S. Army's campaigns on the Southern Plains had forced the remaining free Plains tribes onto reservations in Indian Territory, just across the Red River, settlers moved into North Texas in growing numbers. Ranchers, farmers and townspeople arrived, and the railroad soon followed.
People & events
In 1882 Wichita County finally organized its local government, and the marker preserves the names of the people who first filled its offices. James S. Akers became county judge, Robert E. Huff county attorney, and F. M. Davis sheriff. W. E. Brothers took on the duties of both county and district clerk. James H. Banta was assessor, A. Warren surveyor, and John A. Williams treasurer.
The roster also includes an office that shows exactly what kind of place this was: B. M. Saxon served as Inspector of Hides and Animals. In cattle country, where brands and ownership were constantly disputed, someone had to check that hides and livestock matched their owners. Four commissioners represented the county's precincts: Thomas J. Williams, Joseph McFarland, M. B. Bynam and E. G. Bullard.
Most of these names are not famous. Put together, though, they show a frontier district deciding to govern itself, with courts, taxes, records, roads and a sheriff to keep the peace. Each of these people accepted the unglamorous work of turning a scattered settlement into a functioning county.
Its place in the American story
The American frontier was not settled only by cowboys and cavalry. It was also settled by county clerks, surveyors and commissioners. Organizing a county was the moment a region formally joined the machinery of American government, with elected officials, property records and courts. Scenes like the one recorded here took place across the West.
The marker is also candid about the cost of that process. The county carries the name of a Native people, and its organization waited on the end of Native resistance in the region. The same years that brought local self-government to Anglo settlers brought the loss of land and independence to the Native nations who had lived here. Both halves of that story are part of the history.
Wichita Falls, the county seat, later grew into a significant North Texas city, helped by the railroad and eventually by oil. This modest list of first officials marks where that growth began.
If you visit
Wichita Falls is the largest city in the area and a natural stop on a road trip through North Texas, especially on routes heading toward Oklahoma. The marker is a good place to stop and imagine the city's beginnings, when it was a small settlement on the Wichita River in a newly organized county.
Reading the list of officials gives you a sense of what a young county needed to run: a judge, a sheriff, a surveyor to mark out land, and an inspector to sort out cattle claims. Try matching each office to the problems a frontier community would have faced.
North Texas also has other sites connected to the Red River frontier and to the Native nations of the Southern Plains. If you have time, visiting them alongside this marker will give you a fuller picture of who lived here before 1882 and what changed afterward.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · James S. Akers
- · Robert E. Huff
- · F. M. Davis
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Felix L. Lindsey
Wichita Falls, TX
Born in Kentucky in 1847 to a mulatto mother and a full-blood Creek father, Felix Lindsey carried food to Union troops as a boy during the Civil War before joining the U.S. Army in 1882 with the 10th Cavalry "Buffalo Soldiers" at Fort Davis. His unit pursued Geronimo across Arizona in 1885, where he was wounded three times before a leg injury ended his career in 1893. He then settled in Wichita Falls, married, raised nine children and ran a cleaning business until his death in 1939 at age 92.
Wichita County
Wichita Falls, TX
Carved from the Young Land District in 1858 and formally organized in 1882, Wichita County took its name from the Wichita people who had long lived along these rivers of North Texas. The gap between its creation and organization reflects how sparsely settled the region remained until railroads and settlers pressed westward after the Civil War. Wichita Falls became its seat, anchoring the county's growth.
Tom Lloyd Burnett
Iowa Park, TX
Son of the noted rancher Burk Burnett, Tom L. Burnett was raised on the famous 6666 Ranch and became a leading cattleman in his own right, running the Triangle Ranch and range land across several North Texas counties. A civic leader and philanthropist, he was known for his friendship with Native people, including the celebrated Comanche chief Quanah Parker, and for his backing of area rodeos, which earned him the nickname the "Rodeo King." He died at his residence on this site in 1938.
Lake Creek Cemetery
Scotland, TX
In the late 1800s this part of Archer County was open range, opened to settlers only after the U.S. government forced Native American tribes onto reservations in Indian Territory. Homesteaders and ranchers clashed over the land even as the county organized in 1880, and around 1900 the McDonald family buried a visiting relative—remembered only as Grandma Crisp—in what became the Lake Creek community cemetery. Deeded to the county in 1908 and later cared for by a descendants' association, it holds generations of area residents and military veterans.