Ochiltree Townsite
Perryton, Ochiltree County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Bordering this highway) This county was created in 1876 and named for noted Texas jurist William Beck Ochiltree (1811-1867). In 1876 it was attached for judicial purposes to Clay and later to Wheeler County. In 1886 pioneers began to settle in dugouts here on the prairies near Wolf Creek, saying they lived "in Ochiltree." For convenience in making land and tax transactions, and establishing law and order, they organized the county in 1889, making their village the county seat. First elected officials were William J. Todd, county judge; Dave C. Kettell, sheriff and tax collector; George M. Perry, county clerk; Myrtle L. Daily, treasurer. In 1891 a 2-story courthouse was built (100 yds E) of lumber freighted from Dodge City, Kans. This also served as church, schoolhouse, and social hall for the town. By 1903, Ochiltree had 600 people, churches, a high school, a newspaper, bank, flour mill, and other facilities. In 1919, the Santa Fe Railway founded a new town between Ochiltree and Gray, Okla., and induced people from both places to relocate by offering free lots. In 1919 steam engines and heavy equipment hauled the improvements from Ochiltree to the new site (8 mi. N), called Perryton, in honor of veteran county official George M. Perry. (1976)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Ochiltree County was created in 1876 and named for Texas jurist William Beck Ochiltree, but settlers only began digging dugouts near Wolf Creek in 1886, organizing the county in 1889 with their village as county seat. A two-story courthouse of Dodge City lumber rose in 1891 and doubled as church, school, and social hall; by 1903 the town of Ochiltree had 600 people, a bank, flour mill, and newspaper. When the Santa Fe Railway founded Perryton 8 miles north in 1919, the railroad lured residents with free lots and whole buildings were hauled to the new site.
Why it matters
Ochiltree's wholesale relocation to a new rail town captures how railroads dictated the fate of Panhandle communities, leaving behind ghost towns wherever the tracks passed them by.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Beck Ochiltree
- · George M. Perry
- · William J. Todd
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of the Trading Post
Perryton, TX
C. E. Jones opened this trading post in 1874 along the Jones and Plummer Trail, the freight and cattle route running from Dodge City, Kansas, down to Mobeetie in the Texas Panhandle. At first it dealt food and cloth to Native peoples in exchange for hides; as ranching took hold, it became a supply stop for cattlemen hauling goods up from Dodge City. The State of Texas marked the site in 1936.
George Morgan Perry
Perryton, TX
An Iowa native, George Morgan Perry came to the raw Texas Panhandle in 1886 and helped stitch a frontier region into an organized county, serving as clerk and judge. A tireless booster of the railroads then reaching the plains, he was honored when the Santa Fe placed a townsite on its line in 1919 and named it Perryton for him. As the town's first Chamber of Commerce president, he promoted its settlement and growth until his death in 1944.
Gray Community Church
Perryton, TX
Founded by settlers just across the line in Oklahoma, the Gray church was organized in January 1915 by the Rev. J. W. Duff, with lumber freighted from Kansas and furnishings bought by the ladies aid society. When the Santa Fe Railway laid track between Gray and Ochiltree in 1919, it created the new town of Perryton, and most of Gray's buildings were dragged south on horse and mule teams to the rails—leaving the church behind. For decades its blue neon cross and its message that "Jesus saves" drew travelers, until the congregation finally moved the building to Perryton in 2002.
Notla Community
Perryton, TX
As Texas sold public school lands to spur settlement, families like the Wambles and Taylors carved out a community in southeastern Ochiltree County around 1901. Located halfway on the Ochiltree–Glazier Road, the settlement gained a school, a general store with gas pumps, and in 1920 a post office named Notla—'Alton' spelled backward, since Alton was taken. As automobiles and better roads reshaped the region, the post office closed in 1944 and the school burned in 1966, leaving mostly memory behind.