Harden A. Douglass

Douglass took office in a county that had to fight to exist. As late as 1900 the census found four people in Bailey County, and ranchmen opposed organizing it for fear of taxes. Residents wanting schools and roads raised $1,500 to send delegates to Austin to lobby for lowering the minimum number of voters a county needed to seventy-five, and the delegates won. In the county-seat election of 1919 Muleshoe carried seventy-four of the 111 votes cast. By 1920 the county had seventy-nine farms and 517 residents.

What the plaque says

Harden A. Douglass (Aug. 20, 1885 - Feb. 24, 1955) Born in Bosque County. Came to this area in 1904. Elected first sheriff and tax collector of Bailey County, 1919; he served in this capacity until 1930. Married Maudie Ellen Vaughn and had two sons and four daughters. Recorded - 1968

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge — 23 mi
  The oldest national wildlife refuge in Texas, a ring of salt lakes in the sandhills south of Muleshoe where tens of thousands of sandhill cranes winter in a wet year.

More markers nearby

• Bailey County Cemetery — steps away
• Old Hurley — 2.9 mi
• The Mule — 4.8 mi
• The Founding of Bailey County — 4.9 mi