Clarendon

City of Clarendon, Donley County, Texas.

City of Clarendon, Donley County, Texas.

Welcome Sign in the City Of Clarendon located in Donley County, Texas. Clarendon is the county seat. Photograph by Billy Hathorn.
Product photo
Promotion: Nearby

Map of Donley County

Clarendon, on U. S. Highway 287 in central Donley County, is the county seat and chief commercial and shipping center of the county. Rev. Lewis Henry Carhart, a Methodist minister, promoted the colonization of the town through a partnership with his brother-in-law, Alfred Sully, of New York. The promoters bought railroad land scrip entitling them to 343 sections of land, most of which was in Donley County. In 1878 the Clarendon Land Investment and Agency Company, an English firm, began backing Carhart. The original site of Clarendon was on a flat at the junction of Carroll Creek and the Salt Fork of the Red River. There, in the spring of 1878, Carhart and his brother-in-law, W. A. Allen, established a "Christian Colony." Although tradition maintains that Clarendon was named in honor of Carhart's wife, Clara, it has also been argued that the name was borrowed from Clarendon, England, to compliment the British backers. The townsite was platted, and construction from such available materials as rock, adobe, and pickets began immediately. A post office was opened, and stagecoach communication with Mobeetie and Tascosa established. Supplies were freighted down the cattle trails from Dodge City. Soon Carhart and his associates attracted a substantial population. The church atmosphere in Clarendon (at one time the town had seven Methodist ministers) and the absence of bars caused the rowdier Panhandle inhabitants to call it "Saint's Roost." Indeed, the first edition of Edward E. Carhart's Clarendon News (August 2, 1879) declared the town "a sobriety settlement." A public school was opened, and W. A. Allen made plans to establish a Methodist college, initially called Allenton Academy. In 1880, after L. H. Carhart left to resume his ministerial duties in East Texas, another of his brothers-in-law, attorney Benjamin Horton White, provided equally effective leadership for the colony. When Donley County was organized in 1882, Clarendon became the county seat and White was elected the first county clerk. A rock building originally used as a hotel was converted into a courthouse. White subsequently built a two-story frame hotel. Several stores, a meat market, a blacksmith shop, and a doctor's office were among the town's businesses by 1885.

In 1887, when the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway planned its line six miles south of the townsite, Clarendon's citizens voted overwhelmingly to move their homes and businesses to the tracks. Clarendon became a railroad division point and cultural center for the Panhandle, complete with an opera house. The first bank was organized in 1889, and a permanent brick-and-stone courthouse was completed in 1890. Homer Mulkey opened a photography studio in 1895. Although saloons and gambling dens flourished briefly in the Feather Hill section of town, these were shut down and cleared away in 1898 to make room for Clarendon College, which opened in the fall of that year. At about the same time, the Catholic populace built St. Mary's Academy. By then Clarendon had 200 residences, forty-six business establishments, six churches, and forty-five windmills. The town's reputation as a conservative bastion and the "Athens of the Panhandle" continued into the twentieth century.

Continue Reading

H. Allen Anderson | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Belongs to

Clarendon is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Clarendon is classified as a Town

Associated Names

  • (Methodist Colony)
  • (Saints' Roost)

Location

Latitude: 34.93664450
Longitude: -100.89179000

Has Post Office

Yes

Is Incorporated

Yes

Population Count, 2021 View more »

1,867

Place Type Population (Year/Source) Currently Exists
College or University Yes

Proud to call Texas home?

Put your name on the town, county, or lake of your choice.


Search Places »