Ochiltree Townsite

Ochiltree County was created in 1876 and named for Texas jurist William Beck Ochiltree. That year it was attached for judicial purposes to Clay County and later to Wheeler County. In 1886 pioneers began settling in dugouts on the prairies near Wolf Creek, saying they lived in Ochiltree. For convenience in land and tax transactions and in establishing law and order, they organized the county in 1889 and made their village the county seat. The first elected officials were William J. Todd, county judge; Dave C. Kettell, sheriff and tax collector; George M. Perry, county clerk; and Myrtle L. Daily, treasurer. In 1891 a two-story courthouse was built east of here from lumber freighted from Dodge City, Kansas, and it also served as a church, schoolhouse, and social hall. By 1903 Ochiltree had 600 people, churches, a high school, a newspaper, a bank, a flour mill, and other facilities. In 1919 the Santa Fe Railway founded a new town between Ochiltree and Gray, Oklahoma, and persuaded people from both places to relocate by offering free lots. That year steam engines and heavy equipment hauled Ochiltree's improvements to the new site eight miles north, called Perryton in honor of veteran county official George M. Perry.

Texas · United States