Mobeetie, Texas.
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Brilliant attorney and state senator from this county, 1885-1887. Son of Texas hero Sam Houston.
Old courthouse where he practiced law and his home were both near here. He gave dedicatory speech for Texas Capitol in 1888.
Married Laura Cross in 1882; they had three sons.
(Notable Persons) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Brilliant attorney and state senator from this county, 1885-1887. Son of Texas hero Sam Houston.Old courthouse where he practiced law and his home were both near here. He gave dedicatory speech for Texas Capitol in 1888.
Married Laura Cross in 1882; they had three sons.
(Notable Persons) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
The community celebrated Independence Day in 1917 by dedicating a flagpole at Main Street and Lafayette Road (now Mt. Diablo Boulevard) The flagpole served as a focal point for community ceremonies. Eventually, the City removed the flagpole because it was a traffic hazard.
Great peace officer of era of early settlement in Texas Panhandle. (During his term in office, lived near this site).
Oldest town in Texas Panhandle. Originally, a trading post, 2 miles south, 1874; moved nearer to Fort Elliott, 1875. Earlier called Sweetwater, was renamed in 1879.
Mobeetie developed from a buffalo hunters camp established in 1874 and Fort Elliott, which opened in 1875. Methodists Peter Gravis and J.T. Hosmer preached in the town in 1881, and by 1884, Mobeetie had a mission Methodist congregation. An 1898 tornado destroyed the sanctuary and most other buildings in town. In 1905, the community erected a shared Union Church building later bought by the Methodist congregation. The town moved closer to the railroad in the late 1920s. In 1930, church members built a basement in New Mobeetie and moved their worship services there. They built the present sanctuary in 1947, and the church continues to serve as an area spiritual center.
In Walnut Creek 
Soon after Wheeler County was organized in 1879, a Union church was formed at Old Mobeetie (2 mi S). On April 2, 1894, the 13 Baptist members of the fellowship organized this church. Services were held in public buildings until 1919, when a sanctuary was built. After, the Panhandle & Santa Fe Railroad bypassed Old Mobeetie, the town declined, and the church building was moved here in 1942. Through its heritage of service to two communities, Old and New Mobeetie, the church has played a major role in the development of the surrounding area.
The 1951 opening of Broadway Shopping Center led to almost daily gridlock at Main and Mt. Diablo, streets that were also part of two state highways. Local officials used photos to "plead their case" for traffic relief. The freeway to bypass downtown opened in 1960.
The Sherburne Building is Walnut Creek's oldest remaining commercial structure. The structure was built in 1861-62 but was partially destroyed by fire in 1879 and rebuilt the following year. Over the years, it was home to a number of mercantile and other businesses.
From its first meeting following city incorporation in October 1914, Walnut Creek's City Council held its meetings for a number of years in the courtroom of Judge George O. Duncan, adjacent to the San Ramon Bank.
Early mail service in Wheeler County was established at Fort Elliott. In 1879, a U.S. post office opened in the town of Mobeetie, previously known as Sweetwater. George A. Montgomery served as the first postmaster. In 1928, after the town moved one-mile north to this present site on the Santa Fe Railroad line, a new post office was built. Rural mail routes were expanded in the 1930s to serve the increasing numbers of farm families, but decreased in later years after drought and harsh conditions led to the abandonment of some farms.
First called "The Corners," Walnut Creek evolved at the junction of the regions's two main roads - Pacheco (running from Martinez to San Jose) and Lafayette (running west to Oakland). The Oak Saloon stood at the junction. The town was named Walnut Creek in 1862.
Joseph Silveria, owner of Valley Mercantile at Main and Cypress, was the first merchant to offer local banking services. Knowing the town needed a "real" bank, Silveria spearheaded the first bank - San Ramon Valley Bank - located directly across the street at Main and Railroad (now Duncan).
The most important corner in Walnut Creek has alway been a center of transportation. In the late 1800's and early 1900s, a livery stable (horse barn) occupied this entire block, allowing locals and visitors to board or rent horses and buggies.
Fort Elliott, established June 5, 1875 to help keep Native Americans on their Indian territory reservations, was partially garrisoned by African American soldiers called “Buffalo Soldiers” by Native Americans. Various companies of the 9th and 10th cavalry and the 24th and 25th infantry were stationed at Fort Elliott in its 15-year existence. Typical post duties included patrolling the boundary between Texas and Indian territory, keeping order among settlers, protecting mail coaches, and building roads and telegraph lines. Commanding officers of the troops were white, but the black soldiers were included in every part of daily and social post life.
Near this site Sept 12, 1874 Kiowa
Walnut Creek's namesake creek is formed under this plaza, where Las Trampas and San Ramon creeks merge. The two creeks bound land known as "Botelho's Island." which had been owned by the pioneer Botelho family. Broadway Plaza, opened in 1951, now occupies the "island."
Comanche, Kiowa & Cheyenne fought
In the early 1940s Pampa Mayor Fred Thompson and a delegation from the city's Chamber of Commerce traveled to Washington, D.C. to promote this area as a possible site for a military base. Attracted by the terrain, climactic history, available land and community response, Army officials chose this site for the establishment of an installation to train pilots and support personnel for World War II.
Settlers came to this locality in 1876. The county was organized in 1889. Pioneer school district no. 5 originated by court order in 1890 to serve this area with schools known as Tallahone, Poole, and Wayside, taught usually in homes. In 1914, Frederic Foster of New York gave this 2-acre school site to the county. The district bought materials, and patrons erected this 28 x 36-foot schoolhouse, painting it red. It soon became the focus for the community - site for elections, church services, and other activities, as well as housing the Wayside School. The trustees in 1914 were James A. Poole, J. M. Story, and Earl Talley.
