Rhea Community

The Rhea brothers did not stay long on the land that kept their name. Joe E. and John W. Rhea developed a ranch on former XIT land in July 1901, then sold out in 1906 and moved to Roswell, New Mexico. Two years later Herman F. Reinking bought a section of their land and brought in German Lutheran farmers from his home state of Indiana, who quickly built a school and a church; a post office opened in 1909. Since 1924 the community's mail has come through Friona, and it reported ninety-eight people in 1980 and in 2000.

What the plaque says

Rhea Community In 1901, brothers John and Joe Rhea purchased property from Capital Freehold Land Company, owners of the XIT Ranch. They later sold parcels of the land to farmers, establishing the Rhea Community. Many settlers, including a number of German immigrants, migrated here from the midwestern U.S. Early institutions included a post office, Immanuel Lutheran Church, which became one of the earliest of that denomination in the Texas panhandle when it organized in 1910, and a school. The schoolhouse also functioned as a community center until 1949, when the Rhea School District was divided into the Friona and Bovina districts. Today, Rhea remains a viable farming and ranching community. (2009)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Site of Parmerton — 14 mi
• Bovina — 15 mi
• Bovina United Methodist Church — 15 mi
• Friona Schools — 16 mi