Hartley County

Hartley's turn as county seat was short. Voters chose Channing in 1896 and confirmed it in a final election in 1903, and the Handbook of Texas says armed deputies and XIT cowboys moved the wooden frame courthouse out of Hartley on wheels despite threats from some residents; at Channing it became a hotel once the brick courthouse went up in 1906. Oliver Cromwell Hartley, one of the two namesakes, was reporter of the state Supreme Court's decisions from 1846 until his death in 1859 and compiled A Digest of the Laws of Texas, published in 1850.

What the plaque says

Formed from Young and Bexar territories. Created August 21, 1876. Organized February 5, 1891. Named in honor of two brothers, Oliver Cromwell and Rufus K. Hartley. Distinguished members of the Texas Bar. Hartley, the county seat. (1936)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• XIT Museum — 13 mi
  Dalhart's museum of the three-million-acre ranch Texas traded for its capitol, in a 1929 Chrysler dealership that once housed a USO club for Black soldiers.
• Window on the Plains Museum — 25 mi
  Moore County's free museum on the Dumas highway, telling an industrial Panhandle of zinc smelters, helium and gas plants alongside the farm and ranch rooms.

More markers nearby

• Dalhart Army Air Field — 13 mi
• Mrs. Cordia Sloan Duke — 13 mi
• Heartland of Old XIT Ranch — 13 mi
• Dallam County — 15 mi