Historical Marker
Greer County, Texas
Shamrock, Wheeler County · Texas
Erected 1967
The 1896 ruling settled who owned Greer County but not exactly where its western line ran. The 100th meridian had been run in 1858 by A. H. Jones and H. M. C. Brown for the commissioner of Indian affairs, then by H. S. Pritchett for Texas in 1892 and Arthur Kidder for the United States in 1902, and none of the lines satisfied the landowners along it. Only in 1930 did the Supreme Court, with Texas and Oklahoma concurring, accept Samuel S. Gannett's survey. It moved the Panhandle's eastern border 3,800 feet east, a strip 132 miles long.
What the plaque says
Greer County, Texas (To the east, in present Oklahoma) Created 1860; until 1896, one of largest counties in Texas. Organized at Old Mobeetie, northwest of here. In 1880s settlement was rapid; by 1892 nearly 2,500 pupils were in county's schools. A post office, jail and many houses were built, and over 60,000 cattle grazed the 3,480 square miles of the county's area. But for a half-century (1846-1896) the United States and Texas waged a heated dispute over Greer County. Controversy had origin in an 1819 treaty fixing the line between United States and Spanish territory. A map designating the Red River and 100th meridian as boundary lines was part of treaty; but map aroused dispute, for it incorrectly marked 100th meridian and showed only one fork of two-forked Red River. Texas claimed the North Fork and meridian shown on map defined territory, and legislation and occupancy by Texans decided sovereignty. United States contended South Fork (larger of the two) and true 100th meridian marked boundaries. Three joint survey commissions failed to settle the issue. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1896 ruled that the region was in 1819 part of the Union and thus, was actually part of Oklahoma. Named for John A. Greer, senator, secretary of state, Republic of Texas; lieutenant governor, 1847-1853. (1967)
Where it stands
35.22716, -100.03669 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Tower Station and U-Drop Inn — 12 miShamrock's 1936 Conoco station and cafe at the corner of Route 66 and US-83, sketched in the dirt with a nail, named by a schoolboy and saved by the town.
- Beckham County Courthouse — 23 miSayre's domed 1911 courthouse, built to impress people stepping off the train and filmed by John Ford for The Grapes of Wrath once Route 66 came through the square.
- Old Mobeetie Jail Museum — 30 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.