Texas Historical Marker #01075
Cottle County. Formed From Young and Bexar territories created August 21, 1876, organized January 11, 1892. Named in honor of George Washington Cottle a private who died at the Alamo. Paducah, the County Seat. #1075
?, Paducah, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #01480
Martin, Emmett. Son of trapper, J. A. Martin. In 1898, at the age of ten, Emmett was sent to his home in Shinnery settlement to remain overnight and return the next day with provisions for his father's trapping camp, ten miles south. While returning to the camp, he was caught in a blizzard, losing his way. Night fell and he perished from the cold. His frozen body was found several days later in King County. Recorded, 1967 Incise on Base: Erected by Paducah Jaycees, 1967 #1480
?, Paducah, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #13813
Cee Vee Cemetery. The Cee Vee community dates to 1926, with earlier ties to cattlemen Clairborne Varner and Charles Goodnight, who grazed herds in the area using the C V brand. As ranchland gave way to family farms, the community that developed here soon boasted a cotton gin, stores, churches and a school. Tradition holds the first grave at this prairie cemetery was that of a cowboy buried near the C V ranch house. The earliest marked grave is for Eugene Ballard, who died in 1931, the year W.J. Tyson donated land for the cemetery. In the 1950s, the Cee Vee Home Demonstration Club named the site Haven of Rest Cemetery. Citizens donated funds for a fence, and over the years burial sites have remained free. Graves include those of veterans of U.S. military service dating to World Wars I and II. Curbed plots enclose the burials of family members whose names reflect the early history of the area. Maintained by an association, Cee Vee Cemetery (Haven of Rest Cemetery) serves as an important link to the early history of this part of Cottle County. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004 #13813
?, Paducah, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00798
Chalk. Drought conditions in the early 1900s prompted local rancher W. Q. Richards in 1903-04 to subdivide land in this area into small farms complete with water wells. A farming community known as "Richards Colony" or "Dutch Colony" developed here. In 1906 a post office named "Chalk" was established and located in a general store opened by Richards earlier that year. In 1907 Richards established a cotton gin managed by James M. Chalk, who later served as postmaster in 1908-09. A community school opened in 1914 and sanctuaries were constructed by the Church of Christ in 1916 and the Baptist congregation in 1922-23. By the early 1920s, 54 farms were operating in the area and Chalk's gin, stores, and other enterprises served as a mercantile and business center for southern Cottle County. A steady exodus of people from the community began during World War II, and resulted in the school's closing and consolidation with the Paducah school system in 1942. Chalk's Church of Christ disbanded in 1944 and the Baptist Church ended services in 1969. Farming activity decreased and many residents, businesses, and institutions in Chalk moved to the county seat of Paducah. The post office ceased operations in 1985 and the cotton gin closed in 1988. (1994) #798
?, Paducah, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #02194
Gober-Barron-Williford House. Late Victorian structure, has fine glass and gingerbread trim. Built 1896 and lived in by first (1892-1898) Cottle County Sheriff, Joe L. Gober. At that time, many townspeople lived in dugouts. Building materials had to be hauled from railroad towns of Childress and Quanah. (Paducah acquired railway line in 1909). Gober sold home to W. M. Barron, who was County's third sheriff. Since, 1941, it has been owned by the J. H. Williford family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1962 #2194
1314 Easley Street, Paducah, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #13447
Cottle County Courthouse. The Texas Legislature created Cottle County in 1876 and named it for George Washington Cottle, who died defending the Alamo forty years earlier. Stage routes connected early ranches, including the OX, SMS, and Matador, to established towns in other counties. In late 1891, settlers petitioned for the county to be organized, and an election in January 1892 formalized Cottle County's boundaries. A geographically central site was selected as county seat and named for Paducah, Kentucky, hometown of settler Richard Potts. County business was conducted in existing homes until a permanent courthouse, a small one-story frame building, was finished in May 1892. That was replaced in November 1894 with a two-story brick buildling, with a prominent bell tower, designed by J. A. White. The Cottle County economy flourished, and in April 1929, county commissioners awarded a contract for a new courthouse to architect C. H. Leinbach. Four days later, they rescinded that order and the citizens voted on $150,000 in courthouse bonds, a measure that failed outside Paducah but passed in the city and carried overall. The county gave a new contract to the Wichita Falls firm of Voelcker and Dixon, designers of 11 courthouses across Texas. In the fall of 1929, work began here on one of the premier Art Deco style courthouses in the state, a four-story brick and terra cotta building that looms over the square. Stepped blocks project from a central mass, with carved eagles, stylized figures of justice and liberty, and inscriptions above each of four entries. The unusual design, which has drawn comparison to an Egyptian temple, makes it one of the most distinctive public buildings in the region. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2005 #13447
?, Paducah, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #05346
The Gray and The Blue. Into the western part of Texas, about 1885 came Civil War veterans of the Gray and the Blue, to tame the wilderness. They grazed cattle where drought parched the grass. Lived in dugouts. Found daily existence a siege that reminded them of war hardships. On occasional trips into town, verbally refought the war on the Courthouse Square, but lived peacefully together to build a great county. In Cottle County, 85 per cent of the early pioneers had worn the Gray. One out of 3 had been in Texas units. Others, were from Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia. Of the great early brands, most were owned by Confederate veterans, but one in Cottle was run by a strong pro-Unionist. 8,722 Union veterans lived in Texas in 1890. One example in Cottle County at this time was Union veteran, William Frederick Liedtke (1836-1914), who had migrated to the U.S. from Prussia, in 1856. He served as a county official and then as state auditor of Nebraska before settling in Paducah. He was legal advisor, abstractor and Justice of the Peace here. Gray or Blue in the 1860s, the 1890 uniform tended to be cowman's regalia on an American looking to the future rather than at the past. (1964) #5346
?, Paducah, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #00616
CV Ranch and Cee Vee Community. The CV cattle brand was first registered in 1850 in McLennan County by Claiborne Varner. In 1856 his brother in law, J. Wes Sheek, and Sheek's stepbrother Charles Goodnight took the CV herd westward. Sheek bought Goodnight's portion of the herd in 1869, and later moved the cattle to Cottle County. The CV Ranch was established in the northwest corner of Cottle County in the 1880s and originally contained 47,000 acres. The ranch became a large operation under various owners. By 1889 the CV Ranch was purchased by Mill Iron ranch owner Col. W. E. Hughes. The ranch house was located 65 yards west. Following Hughes' death in 1918, his granddaughter Annie C. S. Hughes divided 37,000 acres of the ranch into smaller farms and sold them in 1927-28. The community of Cee Vee developed here and contained four stores, a blacksmith, barber shop, cafes, four churches, and a cotton gin. Cee Vee Mercantile store was located on this site. A post office was granted July 4, 1928. A school was built in 1929. By 1935 about 100 families had settled in Cee Vee. However, drought, the depression, and World War II caused many people to leave the area. By the 1990s about 20 families remained. (1996) #616
?, Paducah, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #01074
Cottle County. Created in 1876, organized in 1892, in area where the Pease and Little Wichita Rivers break level terrain. Named for George Washington Cottle (1798-1836), an 1832 settler in DeWitt's Colony, who after fighting in 1835 Battle of Gonzales entered the Alamo March 1, 1836, and died there defending Texas. Of the 254 counties, 42 bear Indian, French or Spanish names. 10 honor such colonizers as Stephen F. Austin, "Father of Texas." 12 were named for Washington, Clay and other American patriots. 96 were named for men who fought in the Texas War for Independence (15, including Cottle, dying at the Alamo), signed the Declaration of Independence or served as statesmen in the Republic of Texas. 23 have names of frontiersmen and pioneers. 11 honor American Statesmen who worked for the annexation of Texas; 10 leaders in Texas since statehood, including jurists, ministers, educators, historians, statesman; and 36 men prominent in the Confederacy during the Civil War. 8 have geographical names. 2 were named for battles, 2 for trees, one for a fort. Cottle is noted for fine farms and ranches, with Paducah the principal market and shipping point. (1964) #1074
?, Paducah, TX, United States