Hutchinson County Historical Markers
Hutchinson
County Courthouse (3)
Hutchinson County Museum
(2)
Lake Meredith Aquatic
& Wildlife Museum
Marcy Trail
Isaac McCormick
Plemons Cemetery
Spring Creek School
Twentieth Century Club
Half-Dugout Site of John
and Maggie Weatherly
Hutchinson
County Courthouse
Stinnett,
Hutchinson County, Texas
ID: 255
County: Hutchinson
City: Stinnett
Current Use: Active Courthouse
Owner: County
Construction Date: 1927
Architect: William C. Townes
Contractor: C.S. Lambie and Co.
Style: Renaissance Revival
RTHL Date: 1962/
Description: Four story buff brick and concrete
courthouse with limestone details. Distinguished by
low-relief lunettes over third floor windows, grand
arched entry, and steel casement windows. Discovery of
oil brought need for courthouse.
Substantial Modifications: -1981 - Jail added to
courthouse site.
ISTEA:
Federal Grant Project:
Federal Grant Amount:
Federal Grant Year:
State Grant Project:
State Grant Amount: 0
State Grant Year:
Historic Structure Report Date:
Historic Structure Report Author:
Master Plan Date:
Master Plan Author:
Historic Amer. Buildings Survey: no
County Population (1995):
Hutchinson County
Courthouse
Stinnett, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Number: 2602
Marker Title: Hutchinson County Courthouse
Index Entry: Hutchinson County Courthouse
City: Stinnett
County: Hutchinson
UTM Zone: 14
UTM Easting: 279404
UTM Northing: 3967629
Subject Codes: CT; DC; N/; SR
Year Marker Erected: 1995
Designations: Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Marker Location: S.H. 207, Courthouse Square, Stinnett
Marker Size: 27" x 42" and Medallion
Marker Text: Hutchinson County, named for prominent judge
and writer Anderson Hutchinson, was one of 54 counties
created out of the District of Bexar in 1876 by the Texas
Legislature. It was not until 1901, however, that the
county was officially organized. That year a temporary
county courthouse was erected in the county seat of
Plemons. A permanent courthouse was built in Plemons by
contractor E. E. Ackers. Stinnett replaced Plemons as
Hutchinson County Seat in 1926. The county courthouse was
temporarily housed in an office building in downtown
Stinnett in 1926 before this courthouse was erected in
1927 at a time of major oil discoveries in the area.
Designed by Amarillo architect W. C. Townes and built by
local contractor C. S. Lambie & Company, the Spanish
renaissance revival style building also housed the county
jail. It features brick construction with cut-stone
ornamentation, a 3-bay primary facade with grand entry
bay, raised basement with end entries, metal sash windows
and second floor window with round-arch stone lintels.
Friezes at the east and west entrances of the courthouse
depict the petroleum, farm and ranch, and cattle
industries, historically the three principal commercial
enterprises in the area. Recorded Texas Historic
Landmark, 1962.
Hutchinson County
Courthouse
Stinnett, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Number: 2603
Marker Title: Hutchinson County Courthouse
Index Entry: Hutchinson County Courthouse
City: Stinnett
County: Hutchinson
UTM Zone: 14
UTM Easting: 278234
UTM Northing: 3966987
Year Marker Erected: 1962
Marker Location: Located 5th and Main Streets, Stinnett.
Marker Size: Medallion Only
Marker Text: Application for Texas Historical Building
Medallion included.
Hutchinson
County Museum
Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas
Form Number: 91
Update: 1997-07-23 00:00:00
Date of Last Survey: 1994
Museum Name: Hutchinson County Museum
Mailing Address: 618 N Main
City: Borger
Zip code: 79007
Street Address: 618 N Main
Area Code: 806
Phone: 273-0130
County: Hutchinson
Admission Charges:
Senate District: 31
House of Representatives District: 88 : Ed Benz
Area Code: 806
Phone Number: 273-0130
Governing Authority: County
Annual Attendance: 12000
Number of Volunteers: 35
Approximate Number of Volunteer Hours Per Year: 7000
Number of Paid Staff: Full Time: 4
Number of Trustees on Board: 16
Director: Edward Benz
Other Key Staff:
Museum Classification: History, Art, Non-Historic
Structure, Museum Building Type: Historic Structure
Historic Designation: Subject Marker
Original Purpose: Multiple Buildings
Comments on Original Purpose: Hardware Store/Hotels
Types of Exhibits/Collections: Art, Military, Aviation,
Natural History, Archeology, Interactive, Photos,
Historical, Local/Pioneer History, Archives, Other
Type of Exhibits/Other: Oil Industry
Funding Sources: Federal, County, City, Grants,
Donations, Hotel/Motel Tax
Changing Exhibits? Yes: 1
Comments on Changing Exhibits: We have both changing and
semipermanent exhibits
Educational Programs: Guided Tours, Self-guided tours,
Traveling Trunks, Films, School Tours, Hands-on
Activities for Children, Demonstrations, Living History
Programs, Special Programs/Accomodations for Disabled
Visitors
Facility Accessible to Disabled?: 1
Programs Accessible to Disabled?: 1
Has Developed: Master Plan, Collection Policy, Collection
Management Forms
Fax Number: 273-0128
Web Site URL: serve.com/digital/ c/oBorgerHighSchool
Hutchinson County Museum
Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Number: 2604
Marker Title: Hutchinson County Museum
Index Entry: Hutchinson County Museum
County: Hutchinson
Marker Size: museum
Marker Text: HUTCHINSON COUNTY MUSEUM 618 N. Main Street
Borger, Texas 79007 History -Hutchinson
Lake
Meredith Aquatic & Wildlife Museum
Fritch, Hutchinson County, Texas
Form Number: 167
Update: 1997-07-17 00:00:00
Date of Last Survey: 1994
Museum Name: Lake Meredith Aquatic & Wildlife Museum
Mailing Address: P O Box 758
City: Fritch
Zip code: 79036
Street Address: 104 N Robey
Area Code: 806
Phone: 857-2458
County: Hutchinson
: Michelle Brown
Area Code: 806
Phone Number: 857-2458
Governing Authority: City
Annual Attendance: 10000
Approximate Number of Volunteer Hours Per Year: 20
Number of Paid Staff: Full Time: 4
Director: Michelle Brown
Comments on Original Purpose: Laundromat
Types of Exhibits/Collections: Natural History
Type of Exhibits/Other: Aquariums
Funding Sources: City, Grants, Memberships, Special
Events, Donations
Changing Exhibits? Yes: 1
Comments on Changing Exhibits: The museum has a large
community room where tempor
Educational Programs: Guided Tours, Self-guided tours,
School Tours, Hands-on Activities for Children, Lectures,
Special Programs/Accomodations for Disabled Visitors
Facility Accessible to Disabled?: 1
Programs Accessible to Disabled?: 1
Fax Number: 857-3229
Festival: 1
Elderhostel: 1
Marcy Trail
Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Number: 3205
Marker Title: Marcy Trail
Index Entry: Marcy Trail
Address:
City: Borger
County: Hutchinson
UTM Zone: 14
UTM Easting: 275545
UTM Northing: 3947142
Subject Codes: RD
Year Marker Erected: 1956
Designations: na
Marker Location: SH 136, .5 miles west of intersection
with SH 207
Marker Size: irregular Texas-shaped 45" wide
Repairs Completed:
Marker Text: Captain R. B. Marcy commissioned in 1840 by
the Federal government to establish a less hazardous
route with good water on an even terrain, to be more
direct from Fort Smith thru Santa Fe to the gold fields
of California. This historical marker was dedicated on
the path by the Rotary Club of Borger Texas, June 19,
1956. (1956)
Isaac
McCormick
Stinnett, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Number: 2
Marker Title: Isaac McCormick Cottage, "Birthplace
of Hutchinson County"
Index Entry: McCormick, Isaac
City: Stinnett
County: Hutchinson
UTM Zone: 14
UTM Easting: 279434
UTM Northing: 3967616
Subject Codes: BH; CO
Year Marker Erected: 1967
Designations: Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Marker Location: North side of Courthouse Square, SH 207
- Stinnett
Marker Size: 18 x 28"
Repairs Completed: weathered; refinish!
Marker Text: Built 1899 with materials hauled at great
peril across the Canadian - then without a bridge. Mr.
McCormick, his wife, Capitola, and eight children lived
in a covered wagon and a tent while they put up their
house. Home became cradle of county government when it
was site of first meeting to plan separate organization
of Hutchinson County (which previously had been joined to
Roberts County for judicial purposes). In 1901 it was one
of polling places in first county election. Moved to
town, 1928; donated by Edgar Britain, 1964, for museum.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1967.
Plemons
Cemetery
Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Number: 12096
Marker Title: Plemons Cemetery
Index Entry: Plemons Cemetery
City: Borger
County: Hutchinson
UTM Zone: 14
Subject Codes: GY
Year Marker Erected: 1999
Marker Location: 4.2 mi. N of Borger on SH 207/136/162
Marker Size: 27" x 42"
Marker Text: The town of Plemons was settled about 1898
when James A. Whittenburg, an area rancher, built a
dugout house in a hill overlooking a bend in the Canadian
River about seven miles northeast of this site. The town
was named for Barney Plemons, son of Amarillo judge and
State Legislator William Buford Plemons, and when
Hutchinson County was organized in Spring 1901, Plemons
was chosen county seat. E. E. Akers contracted to build a
brick courthouse in that year. According to local oral
history accounts, Mrs. E. E. Akers was the first to be
interred in the Plemons Cemetery, probably in 1902.
Plemons experienced slow growth as a river crossing town.
By 1905 a wagon yard, barbershop, doctor's office,
drugstore and mercantile store formed a business base for
about fifteen families. Former buffalo hunter, scout and
Hutchinson County's first Sheriff William (Billy) Dixon
and his family operated a hotel for three years. The
Amarillo branch of the Rock Island Line was completed
through the area in 1926, stopping in Stinnett instead of
Plemons. Voters chose Stinnett as the new county seat and
Plemons gradually declined. The new county oil boom kept
the town going for another two decades. The last burial
in the Plemons Cemetery, which includes 66 graves, was
that of Charles Ray Sessions, interred in 1953. In 1987
cemetery preservation efforts by local Boy Scouts
uncovered a sandstone grave marker reading "Mrs. E.
E. A.," lending significant credence to the oral
history accounts that Mrs. Akers was the first to be
interred on this site. The Plemons Cemetery serves as a
chronicle of early Hutchinson County history. (1999)
Spring
Creek School
Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Number: 12442
Marker Title: Spring Creek School
Index Entry: Spring Creek School
City: Borger vicinity
County: Hutchinson
Subject Codes: ED
Year Marker Erected: 2001
Marker Location: 2 miles east of Borger on SH 152, then 3
miles north on FM 2171
Marker Size: 27" x 42"
Marker Text: Established in 1900, a year before
Hutchinson County was formally organized, the Spring
Creek School is an early and significant part of the
county's educational heritage. In that year, W. B. Haile
and other area ranchers collected funds to buy materials
to build the first schoolhouse. Located on the Harvey
Ranch near Spring Creek, the schoolhouse served 13
students, taught by Mrs. L. S. Ford that first, 60-day
school year. In 1901, the Hutchinson County commissioners
court divided the county into four school districts,
Spring Creek being named district #4. At that time,
schools were under the supervision of a superintendent of
county education, who by 1903 was W. B. Haile. When the
area's population shifted, the first schoolhouse was
moved to Haile Ranch and later to the Terry Ranch before
becoming too small for the number of students enrolled.
It was replaced sometime before 1930; this second
building burned in 1932 but was rebuilt. The next
building, a red brick structure, was completed in 1938
and offered the students and teachers six classrooms, a
gymnasium-auditorium and a library. In 1949, the White
Deer Creek School District consolidated with Spring
Creek. At the turn of the 21st century, the Spring Creek
School retained its status as an independent school
district, serving this rural part of Hutchinson County.
Administrators have directed strong educational and
extra-curricular programs throughout the school's
history. (2001)
Twentieth
Century Club
Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Number: 5578
Marker Title: Twentieth Century Club
Index Entry: Twentieth Century Club
City: Borger
County: Hutchinson
UTM Zone: 14
UTM Easting: 283746
UTM Northing: 3950155
Subject Codes: LI; WN
Year Marker Erected: 1993
Marker Location: 625 N. Wavely, Bolger
Marker Size: 27 x 42"
Marker Text: Borger, the oil-boom town that sprang to
life here in 1926, had among its otherwise transient and
rowdy early citizenry, a social and professional group of
people accustomed to a more refined cultural and literary
environment. Such a person was Sadie McBride, society
editor for the "Borger Daily Herald" newspaper.
In early 1927 McBride arranged a meeting of several of
her women friends to consider an offer by a sales
representative of Berle's Twentieth Century Self-Culture
Company to subscribe to a monthly book plan. McBride and
her friends accepted and later that year organized the
Twentieth Century Club of Borger. The club became a
Federated Woman's Club and opened a subscription library
on Borger's main street in 1928. The club sponsored
fundraising activities, such as the exchange of books for
movie tickets and women's basketball contests to augment
their library collection. Club members' efforts to
establish a county library in nearby Stinnett in 1937
resulted in the building of a highly praised native adobe
brick branch library here by the Works Progress
Administration (WPA) in 1938. The Twentieth Century Club
helped open another branch library in nearby Fritch in
1967 and continues to be a positive influence in the
county's library system. (1933)
Half-Dugout
Site of John and Maggie Weatherly
Borger, Hutchinson County, Texas
Marker Number: 4818
Marker Title: Site of John and Maggie Weatherly
Half-Dugout Site
Index Entry: Half-Dugout Site, of John and Maggie
Weatherly
City: Borger
County: Hutchinson
UTM Zone: 14
UTM Easting: 282191
UTM Northing: 3948562
Subject Codes: BH
Year Marker Erected: 1978
Marker Location: next to stone building behind chain-link
fence, west of campus, Frank Phillips Junior College,
1303 W. Roosevelt, Borger
Marker Size: 28 x 18
Repairs Completed: weathered; refinish
Marker Text: This structure is a copy of a half-dugout
erected in 1898 near this location by John (1865-1944)
and Maggie Weatherly (1875-1968). The High Plains offered
no native stone or timber for building materials.
Instead, settlers lived in dugouts, built into the thick
sod. Well-insulated, the dugouts were cool in summer and
warm in winter. When building supplies became available,
more elegant homes were erected. The Weatherlys were
pioneer ranchers and civic leaders. Borger was founded on
their original homestead after oil was discovered here.
(1978)
This page was last updated June 9, 2004.