Name: Childress, Texas
Address: Childress, TX

Childress, TX RoadyGoat

Childress is a town built on the promise of the railroad, a place where the prairie stretches out and the air is surprisingly crisp. It's easy to imagine the early days after the Fort Worth and Denver came through, folks drawn here hoping for a fresh start. They named the town after George Childress, a signer of the Texas Declaration, a bold statement for a new settlement. And while the legend of a stagecoach robbery and buried gold adds a touch of wild west romance, the real gold here has always been the land.

Childress, TX RoadyGoat

Childress sits high on the plains, a little over 1900 feet above sea level. That elevation, combined with the nearness of the Caprock Escarpment, gives the air a dry, clean quality you don't find everywhere in Texas. The land here isn’t gentle. It's a place of wide skies and horizons that stretch forever, a landscape that demands resilience. You can see how that shapes a people. Cotton fields ripple in the wind, and the lowing of cattle carries for miles. The Fort Worth and Denver Railway came through in the late 1880s, and just like that, Childress was born, named for the man who penned our declaration. Even now, you feel the pull of the land. It's a place where Friday night lights mean something, where the Bobcats' multiple state championships aren't just about football, but about pride in community. Childress offers a kind of quiet you won't find in the cities, a chance to breathe deep and remember what matters, shaped by the land and the people who call it home.

Childress, TX RoadyGoat

Childress, Texas. The name itself speaks to a certain kind of independent spirit. It honors George Childress, a man who penned the Texas Declaration of Independence – a bold act that set the stage for this whole state. When the Fort Worth and Denver Railway pushed through in 1887, folks decided it was fitting to name the new town after him, a nod to the pioneering, breakaway attitude that defined the region. Even today, you can feel that sense of self-reliance in the air, a quality that's as dry and clear as the air itself up here at 1,909 feet. Of course, Childress is more than just a name. It’s the kind of place where a quiet nostalgia settles in, a welcome change from the frantic pace of city life. And while the town keeps its own counsel, it's also a gateway to some spectacular country. Just a short drive away, the Caprock Escarpment rises up, a reminder that even here on the plains, there's beauty and drama to be found. Some say there’s even buried treasure out there, left over from a stagecoach robbery long ago – another piece of the legend that makes Childress what it is.

Goodnight Trail

1866

In hostile Indian years of 1866-71, route of great cattle drives from Texas to U.S. forts in Colorado and New Mexico. Col. Charles Goodnight, trailblazer, drove thousands of cattle to water here. Site later (1886) became Childress. Cattle watering hole is now lake in Fair Park. (1964)

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Palace Theater

1926

F.M. Phipps and G.S. Layton opened the Palace Theater in 1926. The theater suffered two fires, the second burning it to the ground in 1936. Phipps' widow, Mable, and Layton's son G.R. hired W. Scott Dunne of Dallas to design a new moviehouse at the site. Built by H.J. Naylor, the Palace reopened in February 1937, and the Palace Barber Shop and City Newsstand also operated from the building. The theater closed in the 1980s. The building's Art Moderne architectural features, including zigzag patterning, and the theater's history are significant reminders of 20th-century Childress. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2005

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Childress County

1887

Childress County, on the eastern edge of the Panhandle , is bounded on the east by Oklahoma, on the south by Cottle County, on the West by Hall County, and on the north by Collingsworth County. The county is named for George C. Childress , author of the Texas Declaration of Independence . The county seat, Childress, is located 116 miles southeast of Amarillo, on the Fort Worth and Denver Railway and U.S. Highway 287. The center of the county lies at approximately 34°35' north latitude and 100°13' west longitude. The county comprises 699 square miles of rolling prairies and rough riverbottoms. Its soils are a mix, usually a sandy loam mixed with alluvial sands from the county's many creeks and rivers. These soils support a variety of native grasses as well as cotton, wheat, and sorghum. Shin oak, mesquite, salt cedar, and hackberry grow in the bottoms. The county has a small yearly production of oil and gas, but minerals do not play a major role in the local economy. The elevation of the county ranges from 1,600 to 1,900 feet above sea level; the annual growing season averages 217 days, and annual precipitation averages 20.67 inches. The average minimum temperature is 26° F in January, and the average maximum is 99° in July. The major water feature of the county is the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River, which bisects the county as it flows eastward towards the main channel of the Red River. This stream and its tributary creeks (Dry Salt Creek, East Salt Creek, and Spiller, or Buck, Creek) render much of the central and northern part of the county unfit for farming. Thus ranching retains a significant role in the local economy. Baylor Lake and Lake Childress, two small bodies of water, lie to the northwest of Childress and provide recreation. Archeological discoveries along the banks of the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River indicate that permanent Indian farming communities existed in the area now known as Childress County between A.D. 1000 and 1600. The Indians lived in half dugouts and used stone and bone tools; they made pottery and supplemented their diet with buffalo, deer, dogs, turtles, and mussels. Apaches occupied the area from about 1600 to about 1700, when the more warlike Comanches entered the region to begin a rule of the Panhandle and South Plains of Texas until they were crushed by the United States Army in the Red River War of 1874. As the Comanches retreated to reservations in Indian Territory during 1875 and 1876, buffalo hunters spread across the area. By the late 1870s the buffalo herds were exterminated and ranchers entered the local picture. The Texas legislature formed Childress County in 1876. In 1879 the OX Ranch , owned by A. Forsythe and Doss D. Swearingen, was established in the southern part of the county. This large ranch occupied the entire southern half of Childress County and parts of Cottle and Motley counties. The Shoe Nail Ranch , owned by Chicago meat packer Gustavus Franklin Swift, was started in 1883 in the northern part of the county, while the Mill Iron Ranch spilled into the northwestern part of the county from Collingsworth County. These ranches dominated the local economy, and the unorganized county remained a sparsely populated ranching area until farmers began to appear in numbers during the early twentieth century. In 1890 the United States Agricultural Census enumerated 3,982 cattle in Childress County; in 1900 the number was almost 25,500. Farms began to be established in the Childress County in the 1880s after the Fort Worth and Denver City extended its tracks into the area. This railroad began construction of its line from Fort Worth to the Texas-New Mexico border in 1881 and crossed into Childress County in April 1887. Organization of the county soon followed. A move to organize the county began even as the rails were being laid across it. A lively competition for the role of county seat developed between two townsites: Childress City, favored by most of the county re

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Fires, Amos J.

1886

Amos J. Fires, lawyer, judge, and civic leader, son of Thomas J. and Emeline Fires, was born on June 16, 1860, on a farm in Clay County, Indiana. In May 1886 he received his law degree from the University of Louisville, Kentucky. After accompanying an attorney to San Antonio, Fires decided to move to Texas. On July 15, 1886, he joined the law firm of Matthews and Wood at Lampasas, but a severe drought caused him to move north to Vernon later that year. Hearing that Childress County was going to be organized, Fires and a companion named Upfold drove a covered wagon to the new townsite of Childress City, where they arrived on November 10, 1886, during a heavy snowstorm. Over the next few months Fires built up acquaintances by doing odd jobs for various farmers and ranchers. On April 11, 1887, he was elected the first county judge. During this time he led the fight to elect Childress City county seat. His satirical letters to Robert E. Montgomery, agent for the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, reflect his combined humor and earnestness in his attempts to get the line to build through the town. In the end Fires and his partisans accepted the railroad's compromise proposal to move their homes and businesses to the nearby depot town of Henry in September 1887, and Henry was renamed Childress. When Fires was first elected county judge, he boarded at a dugout and slept in his courthouse office. After the town moved in 1887 he entered private law practice and filed on a section of land northwest of Childress, on which the town of Carey was later located. Here he was said to have sown the first wheat in the county. From the time of his initial arrival in Texas, Fires kept in touch with his sweetheart, Margaret Warwick, in Bloomfield, Indiana. They were married in Kansas City on May 15, 1889. Afterward they settled on a section southeast of Childress, where Fires built a three-room house; they had a daughter and two sons. During his long career as the leading Panhandle trial lawyer, Fires defended 123 persons charged with murder and lost only four cases. People came from miles around to hear his trials; many camped out in the court towns. Temple Houston worked with him in several cases. Fires helped establish the county's first public school, organized the first bank, built the first brick business house, helped dig the first grave in Childress Cemetery, and did legal work to secure the railroad shops for the city. He also helped to organize Collingsworth, Cottle, Motley, and Floyd counties by preparing their petitions and representing them before the commissioners' court. In 1927 Fires retired as attorney for the FW&D and accepted appointment by Governor Dan Moody as district judge of the 100th Judicial District. He was elected to that office in 1928 and again in 1932. He strongly opposed the Ku Klux Klan as being un-American and became involved in a bitter feud with that organization. Throughout his later years Fires was looked upon as a one-man university by many aspiring young lawyers. In 1936 he retired from active public life to live quietly at his home in Childress. After a lengthy illness he was taken to the home of his daughter, Callie, in Wichita Falls, where he died on April 13, 1941. During his funeral in Childress, the entire town flew flags at half-mast.

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Childress Post Office Building

1935

The Childress Post Office was established in 1887, and in 1935 this post office building was constructed on the site formely occupied by the First Methodist Church. Reflecting the Spanish Colonial style of architecture, it features round-arched windows, a parapet above the main entrance, a 7-bay facade, round transom, and decorative brickwork. In 1981, when the post office relocated, the building was purchased for use as a museum. Recorded Texas Historical Landmark-1991

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