Site of Old Happy
Happy, Randall County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Hugh Currie family home, "Happy Hollow" (built 1891, near this site), was for many years only house on Amarillo-Tulia freight and stage lines. Settlers got mail and freight here. The U.S. Postal Department cut name to "Happy" for the post office. The town moved (2 miles west) to Santa Fe Line, 1906. (1973)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On the high, dry Texas Panhandle, the Hugh Currie family's 1891 home, "Happy Hollow," stood alone along the Amarillo-to-Tulia freight and stage route, doubling as the place where scattered settlers collected their mail and freight. The Postal Department shortened the cheerful name to "Happy" for the post office, and when the Santa Fe railroad came through in 1906, the whole town simply picked up and moved two miles west to meet the tracks.
Why it matters
It captures how the railroad, not the wagon road, decided which frontier settlements lived, died, or relocated across the American West.
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Related people
- · Hugh Currie
Themes & tags
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