Wheeler County, Texas

Cities, Towns and Communities

Benonine | Mobeetie | Ransdell | Shamrock | Wheeler – county seat

History

Wheeler County 1922. The oldest organized county in the entire Panhandle, Wheeler, has had rather more than its proper share of the vicissitudes of growth and progress, and only in recent years has it begun to develop on a substantial basis. The figures of population would indicate one phase of its history. In 1880 there were 512 inhabitants, probably more than all other Panhandle counties combined. By 1890 the population was 778, and then followed a decline so that only 636 inhabitants were found in 1900. Since then a new era has been inaugurated, and in 1910 the population of the county was 5,258, in 1920, 7,397.

As elsewhere noted, the pioneer stockmen began operations in the Panhandle about 1876. A year or so later Fort Elliott was established as a military garrison in Wheeler County, and in that general vicinity a number of stockmen established their headquarters. One of the results of this settlement in the Panhandle was the organization in 1878 of Wheeler County, parent county of all the Panhandle counties.

Location

Wheeler, TX 35° 26′ 43.1736″ N, 100° 16′ 15.438″ W

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