Texola, Oklahoma

(To the east, in present Oklahoma) Created 1860; until 1896, one of largest counties in Texas. Organized at Old Mobeetie, northwest of here. In 1880s settlement was rapid; by 1892 nearly 2,500 pupils were in county's schools. A post office, jail and many houses were built, and over 60,000 cattle grazed the 3,480 square miles of the county's area. But for a half-century (1846-1896) the United States and Texas waged a heated dispute over Greer County. Controversy had origin in an 1819 treaty fixing the line between United States and Spanish territory. A map designating the Red River and 100th meridian as boundary lines was part of treaty; but map aroused dispute, for it incorrectly marked 100th meridian and showed only one fork of two-forked Red River. Texas claimed the North Fork and meridian shown on map defined territory, and legislation and occupancy by Texans decided sovereignty. United States contended South Fork (larger of the two) and true 100th meridian marked boundaries. Three joint survey commissions failed to settle the issue. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1896 ruled that the region was in 1819 part of the Union and thus, was actually part of Oklahoma. Named for John A. Greer, senator, secretary of state, Republic of Texas; lieutenant governor, 1847-1853. (1967)

Early area settler George Nickel and his wife, Dora (Haggard), raised their family in a dugout home in Wheeler County. For his Irish heritage and for its symbolism of luck and courage, George suggested “Shamrock” for a post office approved for their home in 1890. The name was retained when the town of Shamrock was platted along the Rock Island Railroad built through the county in 1902. Shamrock bandmaster Glenn A. Truax envisioned the town capitalizing on its Irish name by producing a one-day celebration to draw thousands of visitors to the “Irish city.” With the help of the Shamrock Boosters Club, the first St. Patrick’s Day festival was celebrated in 1938, linking the local celebration with the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland. The first observance featured such free attractions as a parade, street dance, matinees at the Liberty and Texas theaters, a massed band concert of five hundred pieces from twelve cities, and historical and dramatic presentations, attracting about 12,000 people to a town of less than 4,000. The following year attendance topped 30,000, with parade spectators positioned along streets and the roofs of downtown buildings. The annual event continued until it was suspended during World War II and again during the Korean War. The Chamber of Commerce took over sponsorship in 1952. Shamrock’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration has welcomed many state and national figures in politics, sports, music and entertainment. It has evolved to a multiple-day affair, retaining many original activities and adding several others that have become annual tradition and an important part of the economy. In 2013, the Texas Legislature adopted House Concurrent Resolution 83, proclaiming Shamrock’s celebration the official St. Patrick’s Day celebration for the state of Texas. (2016)

The Tower Conoco Station (U-Drop Inn) in Shamrock is one of the most iconic Art Deco buildings on Route 66. Built in 1936, it inspired Ramone's House of Body Art in the Pixar film Cars.

John William Poe, buffalo hunter, lawman, and businessman, was born in 1850. During his youth on his grandfather's farm near Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky, he was impressed by the novels of Sir Walter Scott and became possessed with a desire to seek adventures out west. Accordingly, in 1870 he left home and made his way to Missouri, working as a farm hand and with a railroad construction crew. He traveled from Kansas in the company of Dan Hudson and arrived in 1872 at Fort Griffin, Texas, as a center for commercial buffalo hunting; Poe worked briefly on Jim Barton's ranch nearby. Among other occupations he and John C. Jacobs trapped wolves for pelts to sell to the government commissary at Fort Griffin. In 1873 Poe and Jacobs formed a buffalo hunting partnership. By his estimate Poe killed twenty thousand buffalo. The partners hunted until 1878, when Poe became town marshal at Fort Griffin and was commissioned a deputy United States marshal. These positions were good training for him as a peace officer because of the number and variety of crimes at Fort Griffin. In 1879 Poe became a deputy sheriff at Fort Elliott in Wheeler County and continued as a deputy United States marshal. In 1881 the Canadian River Cattle Association employed him as a detective to help end the lawless activities of Billy the Kid ( Henry McCarty ) and his gang. In March of that year Poe went to White Oaks in Lincoln County, New Mexico, where he met county sheriff Patrick Floyd Garrett . Garrett made Poe a deputy sheriff, and when shortly thereafter McCarty escaped from jail, Garrett and Poe searched for him. After some three months, Poe received a tip that McCarty was at Fort Sumner, and he and Garrett, together with Thomas L. McKinney, another of Garrett's deputies, rode there. On the night of July 14, 1881, Poe and McKinney accompanied Garrett to Pete Maxwell's ranchhouse, where Garrett shot McCarty. Later, Poe was instrumental in securing an indictment against Pat Coghlin, a shady New Mexico rancher accused of hiring assassins to murder neighbors who were scheduled to testify against him at his trial in Mesilla, New Mexico, for cattle rustling. Aided by his reputation as a law enforcer, Poe was elected sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, in 1882. The next year he married Sophie Alberding. The couple lived for a year in Lincoln, then in 1884 moved to a ranch southwest of Fort Stanton. After resigning as sheriff, Poe moved to Roswell, where he engaged in the mercantile business with Smith Lea and W. H. Cosgrove. In 1887 he accompanied Lea to Argentina to seek out a location for a cattle ranch, but he later decided against the venture. Poe founded the Bank of Roswell in 1890 and the Citizens Bank of Roswell in 1900. During this time he became a charter member of the Roswell Masonic lodge and also served on the board of regents of New Mexico Military Institute. During World War I Poe was fuel administrator of New Mexico and served two years as president of the New Mexico State Tax Commission. He died at Roswell on July 22, 1923, and was buried there in South Park Cemetery. The Poes, childless after the death of their newborn son in 1884, enjoyed traveling and made several tours abroad. After Poe's death his widow wrote several books about their overseas travels and in 1936 published Buckboard Days , a biography of her husband. Much of this book deals with Poe's adventures as a buffalo hunter and peace officer in West Texas.

Benonine is on Interstate Highway 40 near the Oklahoma state line, a mile west of Texola, Oklahoma, in southeastern Wheeler County. G. W. Burrow, who later opened a general store in Benonine and served as a deputy sheriff, built the first homestead near the site in 1900. The town started out as a cattle loading point along the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Texas Railway (later the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway) and was called Benonine by 1906. Some historians have mistakenly claimed that the site was named after the Benonine Oil and Gas Company, which was not chartered until 1910, with C. F. Rank of Benonine listed as one of the directors. According to a cattleman's tale, the name Benonine was the result of a card game among cowboys at the loading pen in which a lost nine had been replaced with another card. After a player claimed a winning hand using this card as a nine, he defended himself to a confused newcomer by saying it had "been a nine all night." The town was established by J. Harry Seright, a large broomcorn dealer looking for a place to ship goods out of Texas (to take advantage of the cheaper shipping rate) that was close enough to the state border to get Oklahoma business as well. In early 1909 he, along with his father, A. W. Seright, bought a section of land near the Benonine station and started the Benonine Townsite Company. Seright laid out a townsite and sold lots for the new town. He also unsuccessfully sought to have a Rock Island depot constructed at Benonine, which became a point of contention between the peoples of Benonine and Texola on the other side of the state line. The Benonine plat was recorded in Wheeler County on September 20, 1909. The Benonine State Bank was chartered in September, a post office was established in October, and Seright established the Benonine Democrat newspaper in November. In the winter of 1909-10, Charley Harbert platted an addition to the town. By May 1, 1910, the town boasted, among other enterprises, lumber yards, three general stores, two hotels, grocery stores, restaurants, a livery stable, a bakery, a butcher shop, retail stores, a pool hall, and two barber shops. The 1910 Census showed a population of almost 200 people in the area. A large townsite opening was held on June 15, 1910. Soon after, on July 20, a fire burned the east side of the business district to the ground, causing an estimated $20,000 in damages. It was alleged to have been started by a Texola resident, but no proof was ever discovered. For a short time Benonine had high hopes of prospering as a shipping point. However, growth faltered in the wake of the fire and the emergence of Shamrock as the county's leading business center. People began moving their residences and businesses to the nearby towns of Texola and Erick. By 1913 a lumber yard was still present, but in 1915 the Benonine State Bank was dissolved. By 1918 the post office had been discontinued, and mail rerouted through Texola. Only fifty-seven men registered for the World War I draft with Benonine as their place of residence. According to the 1920 U.S. Census, Benonine and its surrounding area (Justice Precinct Seven) had 307 residents, with the only occupations being those related to farming, the railroad switch and loading pens, school teaching, and the operation of a garage and a telegraph. U.S. Highway 66, opened in 1926, went through Benonine. J. Harry Seright pushed to get the Wheeler County section of the highway fully paved, which was accomplished in 1932. In 1936 the school was closed and consolidated with Bethel Rural School. Seright died in 1942, and by 2025 there were no visible remnants of Benonine. The nearby Brooks Ranch became noted, however, for its experimental buffalo herd.