Pampa
Pampa, Gray County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1888 a telegraph station on the Southern Kansas Railroad developed here, and was named Glasgow. Renamed Sutton a year later, a post office was established in 1892 and the town was named Pampa by George Tyng (d. 1906), manager of the White Deer Land Company. Surveyor A. H. Doucette (1884-1964) laid out the town in 1902. The first school opened in 1903 and the first church was organized in 1906. J. N. Duncan (1858-1941) became Pampa's first mayor in 1912. Following a 1920s oil boom, the county seat was moved here from Lefors in 1928.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Pampa began in 1888 as a telegraph station on the Southern Kansas Railroad, cycling through the names Glasgow and Sutton before manager George Tyng of the White Deer Land Company named it Pampa. Surveyor A. H. Doucette platted the town in 1902, and its first school, church, and mayor followed over the next decade. A 1920s oil boom transformed the sleepy railroad town, and in 1928 it captured the Gray County seat from Lefors.
Why it matters
Pampa's story — railroad siding to land-company town to oil boomtown — compresses the whole settlement and industrialization of the Texas Panhandle into a single place.
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Related people
- · George Tyng
- · A. H. Doucette
- · J. N. Duncan
Related events
- · 1920s oil boom
Themes & tags
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