Winkler County

The county waited decades for people. After the Comanches were driven out in 1876 and the Texas and Pacific crossed Ward County in 1881, ranchers such as John Avary, J. J. Draper and the Cowden brothers took up free state range. In 1890 eleven men and seven women lived in the county, and in 1900 it had sixty people and twelve ranches. The school-land rush raised the population to 442 by 1910, with 128 farms, but the drought of 1916 drove most of the newcomers out, and by 1920 only eighty-one people remained.

What the plaque says

Winkler County Formed from Tom Green County. Created February 26, 1887. Organized April 5, 1910. Named in honor of C. M. Winkler, 1821-1882, statesman, soldier and jurist. Kermit, the county seat. A petroleum producing and cattle raising area.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Roy Orbison Museum — 8.3 mi
  A volunteer-run room in the oil town where Roy Orbison spent his high school years, opened on request, with a guitar he played and his tinted prescription sunglasses.
• Million Barrel Museum — 21 mi
  An oil reservoir that could not hold oil, then a water park that lasted one day, now a museum in Monahans with the story of the Pyote bomber base beside it.
• Monahans Sandhills State Park — 23 mi
  A small corner of a 200-mile dune field east of the Pecos, where fresh water lies just under the sand and a forest of shin oak grows no higher than your knee.

More markers nearby

• Moorhead Cable Tool Rig — steps away
• Kermit — 0.3 mi
• Colonel C. M. Winkler — 0.9 mi
• Old Duval Townsite — 2.9 mi