Name: Colorado City, Texas
Address: Colorado City, TX

Colorado City: The Mother City of West Texas RoadyGoat

1877

Colorado City, the seat of Mitchell County on the Colorado River, is called the "Mother City of West Texas" — it began as a Texas Ranger camp in 1877 and rose to prominence as a cattlemen's center. Chosen county seat in 1881, it gained a station on the new Texas and Pacific Railway and became the region's great cattle-shipping point: ranchers drove herds here from as far north as Amarillo and as far south as San Angelo, hauled in tons of buffalo bones for shipment East, and loaded provisions for the trip home. Between 1881 and 1884 its five saloons multiplied to twenty-eight, and the population was estimated as high as 6,000 in 1884-85. Water was hauled in and sold at fifty cents a barrel. In May 1881 Texas Rangers shot rancher W. P. Patterson, and angry citizens forced the Ranger camp out to Hackberry Springs, twenty miles southwest. The boom faded when the railroads reached Amarillo (1887) and San Angelo (1888).

Colorado City, TX RoadyGoat

Colorado City, nestled right where Interstate 20 cuts through the mesquite-dotted landscape, might seem like a place you just pass through.

Colorado City, TX RoadyGoat

Colorado City owes its existence to two things: water and iron rails. The Colorado River, for all its sometimes-dry stretches, gave the promise of life in this part of West Texas. Then came the Texas and Pacific Railway in the early 1880s, transforming a scattering of ranches into a real town. Suddenly, goods and people could move easily, and Colorado City became a shipping hub for the surrounding agricultural lands. Before long, an opera house rose downtown, attracting performers from all over the Southwest, a sign of the town’s newfound prosperity and connection to the wider world. Today, Interstate 20 roars right through, a modern echo of that early railroad. Travelers heading to or from Dallas and Midland might stop to stretch their legs, maybe cast a line at Lake Colorado City State Park. But ask a local why people really end up here, and they’ll tell you it’s about something deeper. It’s about the quiet rhythm of life, the way neighbors still look out for each other, and the Friday night lights shining down on some of the fiercest high school football rivalries you’ll ever see.

Coleman, Dr. Preston C.; Physician and Leader (1853-1932)

1883

Born in Tennessee. Graduated from University of Louisville (Ky.). Coming in 1883 to Colorado City, rode horseback or by buggy to ranches in 100-mile radius, practicing here rest of his life. Religion, medicine, and education were his chief concerns. He was a Texas & Pacific Railroad surgeon; 1895-96 President, Texas Medical Association; a Fellow, American College of Surgeons; an Elder in his church; Moderator, 1930, Texas Presbyterian Synod; Trustee 1906-31, Austin College (Sherman); Vice President for Life, West Texas Chamber of Commerce; was called "Father of Texas Tech University". (1972)

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The Founding of Colorado City

1880

Founded, 1880, at the crossing of the Colorado River and Texas & Pacific Railroad right-of-way; central shipping point and supply depot for the sprawling cattle ranches of West Texas and New Mexico. From 1880 (when A.W. Dunn opened his dirt-floor, tent-roof general store) to 1890 the boisterous cattle town garnered notoriety as well as fame. The largest community between Fort Worth and El Paso, Colorado City had more millionaires than any other Texas town and the most saloons in the West. Law and order was housed in a dugout at the edge of town, where a company of Texas Rangers made all men check their guns. Modest, courageous Ranger Dick Ware was elected first sheriff in 1881. Population soared from 700 to 5,000 in the first two years, as cowboys, cattlemen, merchants, and (as a visitor said) "any number of bummers", vied for space. The first sermon was preached in a saloon and the town "jail" was a chain attached to a mesquite tree, but citizens could find beauty in the lantern-glow from dozens of tents in the center of town. Although drouth and the passing of the open range soon diminished Colorado City's glory, its first decade won for it the epithet, "Mother City of West Texas". (1968)

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Dies, Martin

1938

Martin Dies, congressman, son of Olive M. (Cline) and Martin Dies , was born on November 5, 1900, in Colorado City, Texas. He attended Cluster Springs (Virginia) Academy, graduated from Beaumont (Texas) High School, and earned a law degree from National University in Washington, D.C., in 1920. Dies soon joined his father's law firm in Orange and in 1930 was elected to Congress to represent the Second Congressional District, his father's old seat; he was the youngest member of Congress. In his early years he supported much of the New Deal but turned against it in 1937. Dies achieved fame as the first chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee, established in 1938 to investigate subversion. The Dies committee welcomed testimony against any suspected communists. The Texas Senate established a similar committee that attempted to ferret out communists at the University of Texas in 1941 but could not discover any. Dies ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 1941, finishing last in a four-way race won by Wilbert Lee (Pappy) O'Daniel . During World War II the Dies committee continued to oppose the New Deal and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, but in 1944 Dies announced his retirement after the CIO launched a vast voter-registration drive and found a candidate to oppose him. In 1952 he won election to a new congressman-at-large seat, but he was not allowed to return to the HUAC, which believed that he had damaged the cause of anticommunism. When he ran for the Senate in the special election of 1957, state leaders such as Lyndon B. Johnson and Samuel T. (Sam) Rayburn , believing that Dies was too conservative to defeat liberal challenger Ralph Yarborough , attempted to pressure him out of the race in favor of Lt. Gov. Ben Ramsey . Their effort failed, however, and they turned to another tactic. They attempted to change the laws pertaining to special elections, which required only a plurality, and make a majority vote necessary. The Texas leaders were hoping the change would necessitate a runoff and make a win for Yarborough more difficult. This gambit failed also, and Dies finished second to Yarborough. Dies married Myrtle M. Adams in 1920, and they had three sons. He practiced law in Lufkin between terms in Congress and after declining to run for reelection in 1958; he continued to warn that the United States was succumbing to communism. He wrote Martin Dies' Story (1963) and was the putative author of The Trojan Horse in America (1940), actually written by J. B. Matthews. From 1964 to 1967 Dies was a popular writer in American Opinion magazine. He died in Lufkin on November 14, 1972, and was buried there.

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Comanche Village Massacre

1840

In this vicinity on a bank of the Colorado October 21, 1840; A Comanche Indian village was completely destroyed and much stolen property recovered including 500 horses; 128 Indians were killed; 34 were captured; The expedition commanded by Colonel John Henry Moore; Consisted of 90 citizen volunteers; Mostly residents of Fayette County; Seventeen friendly Lipan Indians under Chiefs Castro and Flacu served as guides; No Texans were killed and but two wounded. (1936)

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Colorado City, TX (Mitchell County)

1877

Colorado City, the county seat of Mitchell County, is on the Colorado River, Lone Wolf Creek, U.S. Highway 20/80, State highways 208 and 163, and the Missouri Pacific Railroad, thirty-eight miles east of Big Spring and twenty-three miles south of Snyder in the north central part of the county. It has been called the "Mother City of West Texas" for its early origin as a ranger camp in 1877 and for its prominence as a cattlemen's center. In 1881 the town was chosen county seat and acquired a station on the new Texas and Pacific Railway. Local ranchers hauled in tons of buffalo bones ( see BONE BUSINESS ) for shipment to the East and loaded their empty wagons with provisions purchased from pioneer merchant William H. "Uncle Pete" Snyder and others. When the town was granted a post office in 1881 Prince A. Hazzard became the first postmaster. Water was hauled to town from Seven Wells and elsewhere and sold at fifty cents a barrel. The first school, conducted in a dugout in 1881, was moved to a building the next year, and soon a new building was built. By that time the town had between 200 and 300 residents and was a cattle-shipping center. Ranchers drove their cattle to Colorado City from as far north as Amarillo, from as far south as San Angelo, and from eastern New Mexico. Great herds were held until rail cars were available. After shipment, cowboys were free to enjoy the town's amenities. Between 1881 and 1884 its five saloons multiplied to twenty-eight, and other businesses showed the same growth. The population was estimated as high as 6,000 in 1884-85. The boom slowed after the 1885-86 drought, however, and the 1890 population was 2,500. In May 1881 W. P. Patterson, a prominent rancher, was shot down by Texas Rangers . Citizens blamed the shooting on the rangers' feud with cattlemen, and the ranger camp was moved from town to Hackberry Springs, twenty miles southwest. When Amarillo developed with the arrival of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway in 1887 and when the Santa Fe Railroad reached San Angelo a year later, business in Colorado City declined sharply. During the 1890s salt mining was important to the local economy, but salt declined in importance after 1900. A second boom between 1900 and 1906 followed the influx of farmers. The population of Colorado City was 3,000 in 1906. By 1910 the town had a new public school, a waterworks, and an electric plant. In 1914 the population was estimated at 1,500, and the town had two banks and a newspaper, the Colorado City Record . Though the drought of 1916-18 adversely affected local farmers, interest in oil increased. In 1916 the Consolidated Oil and Gas Company of Colorado was organized by local bankers, businessmen, and merchants to develop the area's oil and gas resources, and by 1920 oil production was a part of the local economy. The Col-Tex Refinery began operation in 1924. By 1926 a city hall had been built, the streets were paved, and a new sewage system was in operation. In 1931 Colorado City had an estimated population of 4,761 and 200 businesses. By 1940 the population had increased to 5,213, but by 1945 the number of reported businesses had declined to 120. In the late 1940s increased oil activity in Mitchell, Scurry, Coke, and Borden counties caused some growth, and by 1949 the number of businesses in Colorado City had increased to 176. During the mid-1950s a drought, the longest on record, affected the area's agricultural production, particularly of cotton. In 1955 the population was 6,774. Lake Colorado City , five miles southwest, was built in the late 1940s, and Champion Creek Reservoir , six miles south, was built in 1959. The population was estimated at 6,400 in 1965. The Col-Tex Refinery closed in 1969, but in the early 1970s new industries were established, including a meat-packing operation and a mobile-home plant. Colorado City had 5,300 residents and 126 businesses in 1975. In 1990 it had a population of 4,749, a hospital, and 104 businesses. Local attrac

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Mahon, George Herman

1935

Herman Mahon, United States congressman, one of eight children of John Kirkpatrick and Lola Willis (Brown) Mahon, was born on September 22, 1900, near Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. His father, a farmer, was plagued by bad health and in 1908 moved his family to a farm near Loraine, Mitchell County, Texas. He attended a rural school and graduated from Loraine High School in 1918. He married Helen Stephenson on December 21, 1923; they had one daughter. In the fall Mahon entered Simmons College (now Hardin-Simmons University), where he received his bachelor of arts degree in 1924. He then attended the University of Texas law school and received his LL.B. degree in 1925. That summer he did postgraduate work at the University of Minnesota. He was admitted to the bar the same year and began practicing law at Colorado City, Texas. In 1926 he was elected county attorney for Mitchell County; in 1927 Governor Dan Moody appointed him district attorney of the Thirty-second Judicial District. He was elected to successive two-year terms as district attorney from 1928 to 1932. In 1933 he announced for the new congressional seat of the Nineteenth Congressional District, established by the reapportionment of the Texas legislature after the presidential election of 1932. He won the seat in the congressional election of 1934 after a runoff with district judge Clark M. Mullican of Lubbock. Mahon retained his seat from then until his retirement in 1978, by which time his forty-four years of continuous service had made him the longest sitting member of Congress. He was sworn into office on January 3, 1935, during the height of the New Deal, and participated in the most momentous events of the century. He steadily gained in influence until he was elected chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations on May 18, 1964. He held this position, which made him one of the most powerful men in Washington, until his retirement in 1978 at the end of the Ninety-fifth Congress. His first appointments were to the House committees on census, civil service, elections, and insular affairs. In 1939 the Texas delegation supported him for the appropriations committee, to which he was elected on January 18, 1939. A year later he began his service on the subcommittee on War Department appropriations (later the subcommittee on defense appropriations). He maintained this membership throughout the rest of his career, using it as a base of power within the full committee on appropriations. He served as chairman of the subcommittee from 1949 to 1952 and from 1955 to 1978. Some considered Mahon the best-informed person in Washington on matters of national defense; he was one of the half-dozen men in Congress trusted with knowledge of the wartime Manhattan project for the development of the atomic bomb. He never forgot that he was a farm boy from West Texas and that he must represent the interests of his district. He worked throughout his career to limit government spending. He was little known to the general public but a representative upon whom the essential work of Congress depended. He was never an ardent New Dealer, although he supported many New Deal ideas. He said that he remained a Democrat because as such he could support or abstain from policies as he saw fit, whereas if he was in the opposition party he would lose whatever power and influence he had. He opposed early federal civil-rights legislation and Lyndon B. Johnson 's Great Society programs. In addition to his service on the appropriations committee Mahon was chairman of the joint Senate-House Committee on Reduction of Federal Expenditures and served on the joint Senate-House Study Committee on Budget Control and the President's Commission on Budget Concepts. He served also as a member of the board of regents of the Smithsonian Institution. His long series of honors and awards included the Distinguished Service Award of the American Political Science Association, the George Washington Award of th

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Colorado City, Texas

Music in Colorado City

Songs About Colorado City

Artists From Colorado City

Rivers & Roads in Song near Colorado City

History of Colorado City

Colorado City: The Mother City of West Texas RoadyGoat

Colorado City, TX RoadyGoat

Colorado City, TX RoadyGoat

Coleman, Dr. Preston C.; Physician and Leader (1853-1932)

The Founding of Colorado City

Dies, Martin

Comanche Village Massacre

Colorado City, TX (Mitchell County)

Mahon, George Herman

Everything Near Colorado City