Matador Texas. (original) (raw)
Motley County was named after Dr. Junius Mottley (2 Ts) a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence who was killed at San Jacinto.
Matador History in a Pecan Shell
1879: Matador Ranch founded
1886: Post Office opened under the name Matador
1891: Ranch Manager sponsored cowboys to set up businesses (for one day) to insure compliance with the General Land Office's requirement that county seats have 20 registered businesses.
1893: The county voted for prohibition
1894: Courthouse burns and Sheriff Joe Beckman (a former Matador Ranch cowboy) turns up missing
1896: Townspeople upset at Matador Ranch's domination vote out civic leaders that are ranch puppets
1900: The resourceful anti-ranch faction moves in 40 families from Erath County to vote for town interests
1912: Matador is incorporated
1913: The Motley County Railroad appears
1940: The population reaches its high water mark of 1,302
Matador Ranch cowboys enjoying a catered meal
Photo courtesy Paul Cloyd
Matador Attractions and Landmarks
The Motley County Historical Museum
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, July 2009
The Motley County Historical Museum
Early ranch and farm life, and the history of the Matador Land and Cattle Co.
Housed in the Traweek Hospital Building at Dunee and Bundy Streets. 806-347-2651
More Texas Museums
Traweek House >
Recorded Texas Historical Landmark
National Register of Historic Places
927 Lariat Street, Matador, Texas
Matador City Hall and water tower
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, September 2007
1930s Bob's Oil Well Gas Station
Jimmy Dobson Photo, June 2017
"Downtown Matador showing an abandoned grocery store, completely open to the elements. Locals pass by without so much as a second glance." - Wes Reeves, 2007 photo
Spot Grocery Interior
Photo courtesy Wes Reeves, 2007
Motley County History
A Family Story
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William Thomas "Billy" Cloyd Sheriff of Motley County November 1896 to November 1900 Photo Courtesy Paul Cloyd |
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"My great grandfather William Thomas �Billy� Cloyd was sheriff of Matador, Texas and also worked on the Matador Ranch.
His first wife was Floyd Mary Nelson, from Floydada, and they were married Dec. 24,1891. They had five children: Willie Gertrude, Sam Bedford, (my grandfather), Hattie M., Annabelle, and Chester.
Floyd Mary Cloyd died March 16, 1902.
His second wife was Ava Martin, from Motley Co., and they were married July 30,1903.
William Cloyd died six months later in January, 1904.
William Cloyd was a Mason and his last wish was that his children be placed in the Masonic Orphanage in Fort Worth.
Thomas, Floyd and Ava are in the Matador cemetery side by side.
I have been to the grave sites and also been through the old jail where they lived. The living quarters were downstairs and the jail was upstairs. My grandfather had told me about living in the jail when he was a little boy and watching his dad hang men from a trap door in the ceiling. Sure enough, when I visited the jail there was the trap door."
- Paul Cloyd, August 15, 2004
Related Stories
The Pitchfork Kid by Mike Cox
A cowboy�s cowboy, the Kid sat a horse well and had the reputation of being the best roper in the Panhandle. On the sprawling Matador Ranch, where he spent much of his career as a waddy, the foreman often worked him as an �outside man,� someone who didn�t mind saddling up and riding off by himself to hunt up a stray. more
Matador Texas Forum
- Subject: Motley County Jail
All the stories I heard as a boy growing up in Matador had it that no one was actually ever hanged in the Jail. It is true that the trap door is there. - Earle Price, May 22, 2005
Motley County 1940s map
From Texas state map #4335
Courtesy Texas General Land Office
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