April 12 - Texas History

Speaker 1: This is today in Texas history on this.

Speaker 2: Day, April twelfth. In eighteen seventy nine, Wheeler County became

the first organized county in the Texas Panhandle. The kiawas

and Comanches, who displaced the earlier Apache peoples around seventeen hundred,

dominated the area until the mid eighteen seventies. By that time,

buffalo hunters had already established a settlement called Hidetown in

the area. The US Army established Fort Elliott near Hydetown

in eighteen seventy five, and the first post office in

the Panhandle opened there in eighteen seventy eight. Wheeler County

was established in eighteen seventy six. Three years later, the

residents of the area petitioned for county organization, which became

official in April. The small camp of Sweetwater became the

first county seat.

Speaker 1: I bet you didn't know rad that was today in

Texas history and