O'Neil Building

E. T. O'Neil was one of the three promoters, with John S. McConnell and John W. Swearingen, who laid out the Wellington townsite, and by 1893 he was running a two-story hotel there. The bricks in this front came from a kiln on Buck Creek, seven miles west of town, near the homesite of I. N. Bowers, who had settled there in 1876 as the county's first resident. The courthouse they built was finished in 1893; in 1898 Wellington's saloon closed when the county voted dry.

What the plaque says

O'Neil Building Bricks visible in the facade of this structure were left over from construction of the first Collingsworth County Courthouse in 1893. Contractor, J.A. White built the courthouse of locally-made bricks and then, with the extra materials, erected this store, the first brick commercial building in Wellington. He sold it in 1897 to E.T. O'Neil(1857-99), who ran a general store here. The space was later rented by a meat market, music store, drugstore, and several cafes. The courthouse was razed in 1931, but the old bricks survive in this structure, sold by O'Neil's heirs in 1965 to Cecil Browning. (1975) Incise on back: Sponsored by Zoe O'Neil Small (Mrs. Clinton C. Small, Sr.)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Methodism in Collingsworth — steps away
• First Methodist Church of Wellington — steps away
• Collingsworth County Hospital — 0.4 mi
• Collingsworth County — 2.6 mi