Herefords in Sweetwater

The Handbook of Texas traces the breed to cattle of Herefordshire, England, established in its modern form by the late 1700s, and says Henry Clay brought the first Herefords to America in 1817. Charles Goodnight, finding shorthorns ill suited to West Texas, put twenty registered Hereford bulls on the JA Ranch in 1883, and between 1882 and 1888 several thousand Hereford bulls were trailed to the Panhandle. Herefords helped push the longhorn off the range. The Texas Hereford Association began in San Antonio in 1899, and Texas had about 150 Hereford breeders in the early 1990s.

What the plaque says

Organized 1922, the Sweetwater Hereford Breeders Association and Auction Sale (now Sweetwater Area Hereford Association) is considered Texas' third oldest group formed to promote this fine beef breed. First Officers: Walter L. Boothe, president; G.E. Bradford and J.D. Dulaney, vice presidents; E.P. Neblett, secretary. The Texas Hereford Association assisted local breeders in early sales. First sale was held March 1, 1922. Then semi-annual events, sales are now held annually. Some consignors to the Golden Anniversary Sale, December 4, 1972, are from families of the organizers. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pioneer Museum — 0.9 mi
  Nolan County's settlement story in a dozen rooms of Judge R. A. Ragland's 1906 house in Sweetwater, a town that started as a dugout store for buffalo hunters and a post office called Blue Goose.
• National WASP WWII Museum — 3.5 mi
  Hangar 1 at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, where the women of the WASP trained to fly every aircraft in the Army's arsenal in World War II, then waited thirty-three years to be called veterans.
• Heart of West Texas Museum — 27 mi
  Colorado City's museum in a restored downtown house, from a mammoth dug up at Lake Champion in 2001 to an Ice Age bison and the wartime telegrams sent to a local family.

More markers nearby

• S.D. Myres — 0.9 mi
• W.A.S.P. (Women's Airforce Service Pilots) Training Base: Avenger Field — 1.0 mi
• Nolan County — 1.0 mi
• Texas & Pacific Railway — 1.1 mi