Childress, Texas Childress, Texas Veterans Memorial at the Childress County Courthouse (built 1939) Veterans Memorial at the Childress County Courthouse (built 1939) Location of Childress, Texas Location of Childress, Texas County Childress Childress (/ t ldr s/ chill-driss) (established 1887; incorporated 1890) is a town/city in Childress County, Texas, United States.
It is the governmental center of county of Childress County. The town/city and county were titled in honor of George Campbell Childress, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, who was the principal author of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
The county and town/city were incorporated more than four decades after Childress's death. In December 2015, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer voted Childress ninth among the ten "most conservative" metros/cities in the United States in regard to political contributions.
Childress advanced from two rival townships, Childress and Henry, which were about four miles (six km) apart on the former OX Ranch.
Childress County was organized in February 1887 with the arrival of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway.
An election was held on April 11, 1887 to determine which town would be the governmental center of county with Childress prevailing.
However, the Donley County court, to which Childress County was still attached for judicial purposes, declared the election illegal.
Montgomery, the right-of-way and townsite agent for the barns , favored the Henry locale because it had a smoother terrain than Childress, a situation which would make the erection of a depot easier.
Harrison launched the Childress County Index (later Childress Index), the first journal in the community.
There were also a several saloons in Childress until 1904, when a fatal shooting prompted Childress to adopt small-town prohibition of alcoholic beverages. The large Childress Hotel operates with limited clientele.
In 1901, when the Fort Worth and Denver City barns began considering Childress as a division point, Childress voters allowed bonds and donated territory to build shops and terminal facilities.
Chrysler served as general foreman of the Childress barns shops from 1905 to 1906.
After a fire finished the first Childress County courthouse in 1891, a new contemporary building was constructed and used until 1939, when the present structure was built.
The barns remained the economic center of Childress into the 1940s.
Extension of the Fort Worth and Denver barns to Pampa, the seat of Gray County in the Panhandle, ameliorated the hardships of the Great Depression in Childress.
In 1929, the Childress News appeared in competition with the Childress Index.
In 1947, the Childress Reporter was established.
Lanchart Industries, Royal Park Fashions, and Fiberglass Corporation of America supplanted the barns as the economic anchor of Childress.
According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 8.3 square miles (21 km2), of which 8.2 square miles (21 km2) is territory and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km2) is water.
Childress is bordered on the west by Hall County, on the southeast by Hardeman County, on the northeast by Harmon County, Oklahoma, on the north by Collingsworth County, and on the south by Cottle County.
Childress is situated 110 miles (180 km) from Amarillo on the west, 155 mi from Lubbock, Texas to the southwest, and also 110 miles (180 km) from Wichita Falls on the east.
Because of its location, Childress is known as the "Gateway to the Panhandle".
Childress is only a several miles from the Oklahoma state boundary, but because of the routing of Highways 83 and 62, the one-way drive to Hollis is about thirty miles.
The region surrounding Childress is prominent with hunters for quail, deer, dove, and wild hogs.
Republican Drew Springer, Jr., a businessman from Muenster in Cooke County, has since January 2013 represented Childress in the Texas House of Representatives. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the Childress Distribution Center and the Roach Unit in two locations in Childress. The United States Postal Service operates the Childress Post Office. Nearby is the stadium for the Childress High School football team.
Across from the First Baptist Church at C and Third streets, the Childress County Heritage Museum is homed in a former postal service building constructed in 1935.
The exhibition maintains a display of the Childress Army Airfield, which directed amid World War II before to the establishment of the United States Air Force. Like many other Texas communities, Childress holds an annual Old Settlers' Reunion.
Initiated soon after the establishment of Childress, the reunion, held in July and features a eveningly rodeo.
In June, Childress hosts the annual Greenbelt Bowl football classic, a contest between chose high school all-stars from the tri-state region of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Childress is served by the Childress Independent School District which operates an elementary school (grades Pre - K to 5), Childress Elementary School, middle school (grades 6 to 8), Childress Junior High School, and a high school (grades 9 to 12), Childress High School.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre film - Childress is mentioned in the movie as the locale with the nearest pay phone.
Brokeback Mountain book and movie - In both the movie and the book, Childress serves as the locale from which Jack Twist's wife, Lureen, hails.
Hell or High Water film - Although the movie was not filmed in Childress, much of the action encircling the story and characters takes place in Childress.
The Red River Sun, formerly The Childress Index Minnie Lou Bradley, matriarch of Bradley 3 Ranch in Childress County and a pioneer in the breeding of Angus bulls with Hereford cows.
Roy Furr, founder of Furr's grocery store and cafeterias chain, lived in Childress County as a youth and worked with his father in Kirkland.
Harry Mundy, First Sheriff of Childress County.
Childress welcoming sign Childress Municipal Building The steeple of the First Baptist Church of Childress (pastor Chad King) can be seen throughout the city.
The Childress County Heritage Museum is homed in a former postal service building athwart from the First Baptist Church.
The refreshing fountain in the summer heat at Fair Park in Childress Bobcats Stadium in Fair Park in Childress 2008 City Limits sign for Childress a b c d e f g Handbook of Texas Online - CHILDRESS, TX "Childress Distribution Center." "The Childress Rotary Greenbelt Bowl Classic".
City of Childress Childress, Texas in The Handbook of Texas Online Childress Independent School District The Childress Index Municipalities and communities of Childress County, Texas, United States
Categories:
Cities in Childress County, Texas - Cities in Texas - County seats in Texas - Populated places established in 1887
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