Site of Old Tascosa
Vega, Oldham County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(23 miles N.E.) Contains one of the famous Boot Hill cemeteries of wild west days and was the gathering place for pleasure-seeking cowboys, gamblers and "bad men" of the Panhandle in the 1870s and '80s. Outlaws such as Billy the Kid and lawmen like Pat Garrett and Bat Masterson walked its streets. At first an Indian camping place at a crossing on the Canadian River, then Mexican trading point and pastoral settlement, Atascosa (Boggy Place) rapidly became an open-range trading center and capital of a cattle empire from 1876 to 1887. Romero Plaza and Howard and Rinehart store marked the boom in growth. Struggles between large ranch owners like Charles Goodnight and the "Little Men" of the plains were focused there. Became seat of Oldham County, 1880, and the legal capital of ten unorganized counties. Progress spelled doom for the town. The railroad in 1887 created other important towns and barbed wire fences ended the vital trading routes and great roundups. The open ranges and cattle trails like the famous Dodge City Trail were gone. When county seat was moved to Vega in 1915, few residents remained. Today "Old Tascosa" retains only the courthouse. (1967)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Old Tascosa began as an Indian camping ground at a Canadian River crossing, became a Mexican trading point, and by 1876 had exploded into an open-range trading center and "capital of a cattle empire." Its streets drew cowboys, gamblers, and gunmen — Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and Bat Masterson among them — and its Boot Hill cemetery earned lasting fame. When the railroad bypassed it in 1887 and barbed wire ended the great cattle drives, the town withered, and by 1915 the county seat moved to Vega, leaving only the courthouse behind.
Why it matters
Tascosa is a quintessential Panhandle ghost town, embodying the brief, violent heyday of the open range and its swift end at the hands of the railroad and barbed wire.
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Related people
- · Billy the Kid
- · Pat Garrett
- · Bat Masterson
- · Charles Goodnight
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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