Name: Happy, Texas
Address: Happy, TX

Happy, TX RoadyGoat

Happy, Texas, out on the high plains, wasn’t always so quiet. They say a train once wrecked nearby, spilling oranges everywhere – a real windfall for the town. But there were harder times, too. Early on, a fire swept through, nearly wiping out the businesses that were just getting started. You can imagine the grit it took to rebuild from that. Named for a brand of flour, of all things, Happy was founded way back in 1898, and it's been tied to the land ever since. Cotton's always been king here, part of the lifeblood of the community. You can feel it in the wide-open spaces, see it in the fields stretching out toward those incredible West Texas sunsets. At over 3,500 feet, the air's clean and the light is something special. And speaking of spirit, you’ve never seen a rivalry until you’ve witnessed Happy High School take on Nazareth. That’s something that really gets the town going. It's the kind of place where folks work hard, know their neighbors, and appreciate a good baseball game over in Amarillo.

Happy, TX RoadyGoat

Happy, Texas, might not be on every map, but it's carved its own little niche into the Panhandle. Seems like everywhere around here has a story etched into the dirt, and Happy's no different.

Happy, TX RoadyGoat

Happy, Texas, has always been a place where the rhythms of the seasons dictate life. Folks here are used to the long, hot summers and the constant battle against the wind that whips across the plains. But even for a town as resilient as Happy, the drought of '22 and '23 felt different. We're talking about dryland cotton farmers watching their crops wither under a relentless sun, the kind of heat that seemed to suck the moisture right out of the soil. You could see it in the faces around town, a worry that went deeper than just the price of cotton. What made it stick in people's minds wasn't just the hardship, though. It was how the community pulled together. Benefit dinners at the school, neighbors sharing what little water they had, and the way the whole town seemed to be praying for rain – it reminded everyone what Happy is really about. It's a spirit that's been here since the town was founded, and it's the reason why even after a disaster, folks here remain, well, happy.

Knox, Buddy Wayne

1956

Musician, songwriter, and early rock-and-roll singer Buddy Wayne Knox was born on a wheat farm northeast of Happy, Texas, on July 20, 1933. He was the son of Lester and Gladys Knox. Buddy and his younger sister, Verdi Ann, grew up during the Great Depression and World War II years with relatives who enjoyed singing and playing country , folk , and gospel music . At a young age Buddy showed his own knack for music, and in his teens bought his first guitar with money he had saved from a summer job with a surveying crew in New Mexico. After graduating in 1951 from Happy High School, at which he lettered in football, Knox enrolled at West Texas State College (now West Texas A&M University) at Canyon. There he was active as a cheerleader and rodeo clown, took part in college drama productions, and in his senior year was elected vice president of his class. In addition, Knox and several of his college buddies began serenading the girls' dorms during after-curfew hours; soon Knox and his "Serenaders" received requests from adoring coeds to perform at dances and other campus functions. Although he was working on a master's degree in accounting and already had prospects of a steady job with a major oil company, Knox's appetite for the music business was further whetted when he and Dumas natives Jimmy Bowen and Donald Lanier formed a three-man band, which later numbered four with the addition of Dave Alldred on drums. Calling themselves the Orchids after the color of their matching shirts, the combo played area clubs and fraternity dances to help defray their education costs. When Elvis Presley performed in Amarillo during his path-breaking 1955 tour, Knox attended the concert and afterward met the upcoming "king of rock" backstage. Presley further encouraged the group to do some recording, declaring prophetically that rock-and-roll was "fixing to happen." From another aspiring young West Texas musician, Roy Orbison , Knox and the Orchids learned of Norman Petty 's recording studio in Clovis, New Mexico. In 1956, after scraping together sixty dollars, the group arranged with Petty to make their first studio recordings there. With Alldred drumming on a cotton-stuffed cardboard box, Knox on lead vocals, and his sister Verdi and three other WTSC coeds as backup singers, the Orchids launched their session with "Party Doll," a song Knox had written at age fifteen in 1948. He later recalled that they did the song "at least fifty-seven times before we got it right," but the effort paid off. The song was first issued locally on the Triple-D label, which was formed by Knox and his publisher, Chester Oliver, and named after KDDD Radio in Dumas. "Party Doll" subsequently became the first release on Roulette, a new record company formed by New York nightclub owner Maurice Levy. Knox's band became the Rhythm Orchids after executives of Gee Records in Harlem mistakenly assumed that the group was black. At any rate, Levy and Roulette Records signed up the hot new act from Texas, and in 1957 "Party Doll" soared to the top of the charts in the United States. At that same first session in Clovis, Jimmy Bowen had recorded another Knox composition, "I'm Stickin' With You," which rose to Number 14 on the charts, and Knox's Rhythm Orchids were among the guest performers invited to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show on April 7, 1957. With his light tenor voice skimming over the insistent rhythms, Buddy Knox thus became the first in a line of young West Texas-born rock singers that included Orbison and Buddy Holly . It was Knox who reportedly coined the term "rockabilly" for his new sound, similar to straight rock-and-roll but with less instrumentation. In 1957-58 Knox and his Rhythm Orchids placed a total of eight songs on the charts that they recorded on the Roulette label, including "Rock Your Little Baby to Sleep," "Hula Love" (a Top 10 hit), and "Somebody Touched Me." Knox appeared in the 1957 movie Disc Jockey Jamboree , along with other top rock stars of th

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Happy - The Cowboys Who Found Water

1880

Small town between Amarillo and Tulia on the Llano Estacado. The name comes from Happy Draw, a creek where 1880s cowboys driving cattle across the dry Panhandle finally found water. Town founded in 1906 when the railroad arrived.

Old Happy

1891

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)

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First United Methodist Church of Happy

1905

Meetings held in early settlers' homes led to the formation of a Methodist fellowship in Happy in 1905. Services were first held in a schoolhouse and then in a small, frame church constructed by carpenter J. F. White. The structure stood on land donated by Tom Gilliland about 4 miles northeast of the present site of Happy. The Methodists shared their building with other congregations, including the Baptists, Christians, and Presbyterians. A Union Sunday School was organized with P. J. Neff as the first superintendent. In 1906, Happy moved to its present location along the Santa Fe line. The Methodist church building was hauled to the new townsite by wagon in 1909. The Rev. B. F. Sharp, a circuit rider, reorganized the 15-member church at its new location. Happy remained on a circuit with 4 other congregations until 1919. The original church building was remodeled in 1920, during the pastorate of the Rev. C. W. McNeely. The present sanctuary was constructed in 1930-31, under the direction of the Rev. H. C. Smith. Two years later, a fire gutted the interior, forcing services to be held in the basement. After repairs, the structure was dedicated on October 18, 1942. Recent renovation occurred in 1974, when the Rev. Carl Oglesby was pastor. (1976)

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Tulia Drug Bust of 1999

1999

The Tulia drug bust of 1999 was a major drug sting that occurred in the town of Tulia, the county seat of Swisher County, and subsequently caught national attention and criticism for convictions and harsh sentences based on scant evidence and questionable undercover work. The mass arrests, ensuing court cases, and public outcry were illustrative of the impact of federal drug enforcement funding on a Texas town worried about illegal drugs in a situation fueled by racial division. Tulia, located south of Amarillo, had a population of about 5,000, including less than 400 Black residents, at the time of the drug bust. Historically, the town's Black population came to work cotton fields and other agricultural labor in the 1940s and 1950s. Subsequently, "The Flats" neighborhood became a social center for African Americans in the Panhandle/South Plains region, a circumstance that changed when highway development effectively desegregated the community. The town's declining agricultural economic prospects beginning in the 1980s led to a general dearth of economic opportunity and to a degree of entrenched poverty. Early in the morning on July 23, 1999, the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force, based in Amarillo and cooperating with local authorities, executed a drug sting. Ultimately, authorities arrested forty-seven individuals on charges of drug distribution, of whom the vast majority (author Nate Blakeslee reported thirty-eight) were Black, constituting approximately 10 percent or more of the town's Black population. The remaining accused were Hispanic and White, most of whom had close connections to the Black community. In the July 23 arrests, authorities found no drugs, drug paraphernalia, weapons, or significant amounts of cash. Those arrested were paraded, many disheveled and half-clothed, before regional news media cameras. Tulia newspaper reports, including comments from law enforcement officers, painted those arrested in negative terms that seemed to presuppose guilt. The headline in the Tulia Sentinel after the raid was "Tulia's Streets Cleared of Garbage." Other regional papers took a similar tone. Many of those arrested did have criminal records, including drug convictions. Some were crack cocaine addicts and small-time dealers. Others, however, had no criminal records and were not involved with drugs. The roundup resulted from the police work of Tom Coleman, son of a Texas Ranger . Coleman was hired by Sheriff Larry Stewart of Swisher County in 1998 with federal Byrne Grant drug war funds. Using the alias T. J. Dawson, Coleman spent eighteen months undercover in Tulia where he claimed to have made more than 100 drug buys, primarily of powder cocaine, rather than the crack cocaine typical of such a scenario. He subsequently was awarded Outstanding Officer of the Year by the Texas Department of Public Safety . In the course of the trials that followed, prosecuted by Swisher County District Attorney Terry McEachern before Judge Ed Self, Tulia authorities became aware of an arrest warrant for Coleman on the charge of theft from Cochran County. Stewart, McEachern, and Self kept this and other troubling details of Coleman's background in Cochran and Pecos counties suppressed at trial. The defendants, generally unable to afford bond, awaited trial in the Swisher County or other nearby jails. Almost all received court-appointed counsel. Defendants initially pled innocent and at trial appeared before almost all-White juries. The only evidence against them was the testimony of Coleman, who, during his sting operation, produced no video or audio surveillance and had no corroborating witnesses. The first defendant, Joe Moore, who had prior convictions, was given a ninety-year sentence. Another, William Cash Love (a White defendant who had a Black wife), received 361 years. Some with absolutely no record, like Freddie Brookins, Jr., received twenty or twenty-five years. Many penalties were "enhanced" due to alleged crimi

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Happy, Texas

Music in Happy

Songs About Happy

Artists From Happy

Rivers & Roads in Song near Happy

History of Happy

Happy, TX RoadyGoat

Happy, TX RoadyGoat

Happy, TX RoadyGoat

Knox, Buddy Wayne

Happy - The Cowboys Who Found Water

Old Happy

First United Methodist Church of Happy

Tulia Drug Bust of 1999

Things to Do in Happy

Everything Near Happy