Historical Marker
Fletcher and Donley Stage Station
Hemphill County · Texas
Erected 1970
When the station was a rest stop, Hemphill County existed mainly on paper. The legislature formed it in 1876 and attached it to Wheeler County for government. A. G. Springer had set up a ranch in 1875, the Cresswell outfit spread over the western part of the county, and the PO Ranch arrived in 1878. By 1880 fourteen ranches ran about 9,600 cattle, and the census found 149 people in the county. Only after the railroad came through in 1887 did residents petition for organization, choosing Canadian as the seat that July.
What the plaque says
(Site 3 miles northwest) A rest stop in the 1870s and 80s on military and stage line. Serviced wagon trains, buffalo hide caravans, and cattle herds. Was also mail pick-up station. Former buffalo hunter-scout Ed Fletcher ran the station. His partners were Jimmie Donley (the head cook) and Tobe Robinson. All had been Indian fighters. Station consisted of a log cabin with a sod roof (where springtime flowers grew) and 2 other buildings. A brush arbor shaded cabin door and a pump stood nearby. First election in the area that became Hemphill County was held here in 1882. (1970)
Where it stands
35.69225, -100.27330 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Lake Marvin — 14 miA small 1930s conservation lake on Boggy Creek east of Canadian, named for the Panhandle congressman whose name is on the 1937 law that turned the plains' ruined farms back to grass.
- Old Mobeetie Jail Museum — 15 miThe 1886 stone jail of the Panhandle's first county seat, the buffalo hunters' Hidetown on Sweetwater Creek that ran the courts for fifteen counties before losing its fort, railroad hopes and county seat.
- Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area — 15 miFive thousand acres of sand sage and cottonwood bottomland along the Canadian River east of Canadian, bought by the state in 1950 for wildlife research and open to walkers with a permit.
- The Citadelle Art Museum — 16 miA 1910 Baptist church saved from demolition in 1977, made into a family home filled with art, and given to Canadian in 2009 as one of the Panhandle's few art museums.