Homesite of W. F. Heller, Pioneer Farmer

Heller's homestead lay on Tierra Blanca Creek about two miles from the T Anchor headquarters, in a county still given over to cattle. Oats and sorghum were early crops, and alfalfa was grown successfully in 1888. As late as 1900 the county had only 8,278 acres under cultivation. The next decade changed that: with the railroads, improved land grew elevenfold to 94,404 acres by 1910, most of it in wheat and forage, and the average farm shrank from 6,014 acres to 767 as ranch country turned to mixed farming.

What the plaque says

Homesite of W. F. Heller, Pioneer Farmer Native Texan, Civil War veteran (1861-65); settled here in 1887. Was first to farm area successfully. Was elected first clerk when county organized 1889. Also, helped organize first Sunday School, 1890. Married Susan Roberts, September 1897. Helped start West Texas State Normal College. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum — 1.4 mi
  The Panhandle's great collection, some two million objects behind a 1933 Art Deco hall carved with cattle brands, closed to the public since March 2025 over fire-safety violations.
• Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 10 mi
  A 1938 Depression-era lake on Tierra Blanca Creek that has gone dry, now 7,664 acres of shortgrass, cottonwood canyon and a prairie dog town on the High Plains south of Umbarger.
• Palo Duro Canyon State Park — 14 mi
  The upper end of the canyon the state bought in 1933, where CCC crews built the road to the floor and the army burned the winter camps of the Comanche, Kiowa and Cheyenne in 1874.
• TEXAS Outdoor Musical — 14 mi
  A summer pageant of Panhandle settler life staged since 1966 in the Pioneer Amphitheater, built into a basin of Palo Duro Canyon below a 600-foot cliff.

More markers nearby

• Site of Conner Dugout — 0.7 mi
• The Sad Monkey Railroad — 0.8 mi
• Neblett Hospital and Clinic — 0.8 mi
• The Canyon News — 0.9 mi