Shamrock, Texas on Old Route 66 in Wheeler County. (original) (raw)
History in a Pecan Shell
An immigrant shepherd applied for a post office in 1890, requesting the name Shamrock for his post office/ dugout home. Settlement began with the arrival of The Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway in 1902. The town lost the name for a brief period when a new post office was opened, but the railroad had named the stop Shamrock and the old name went back into use. Maybe it was Irish luck.
The towns of Story and Benonine moved to Shamrock for the railroad link - adding two more casualties to the long list of dissolved towns.
Shamrock was incorporated in 1911. The population had grown to 2,500 by 1925 and when oil was discovered in 1926, the population nearly doubled by 1930. The Wheeler County Texan, once published at Story, Texas evolved into the Shamrock Texan in 1928.
A second boom was experienced with the completion of "Route" 66 - but the town was bypassed by the improved Interstate 40.
Shamrock, Texas Landmarks / Attractions
- Shamrock holds a St. Patrick's Day celebration each year.
- Pioneer West Museum: In the old Reynolds Hotel 204 N. Madden Street
- A fragment of the famous Irish Blarney Stone is in Elmore Park.
The 1936 Conoco Station
Jimmy Dobson Photo
The 1936 U Drop Inn
Jimmy Dobson Photo, May 2016
The Magnolia Station
Jimmy Dobson Photo, May 2016
"The other vintage filling station in Shamrock, this beautiful old Magnolia station boasts 3 exquisitely preserved gravity feed gas pumps."
- Noel Kerns , January 2008 photo
More Texas Gas Stations
Shamrock, Texas Chronicles
The Great Greyhound Hijacking on Route 66 in 1931 by Mike Cox
"The bus had left Tulsa on the night of June 6, 1931 bound for El Paso. The last stop had been Erick, Oklahoma where two men boarded with tickets to the Panhandle town of Shamrock, Texas.
About 2:30 a.m. on June 7, driver W.E. Trammel felt something hard poke him in the back-the barrel of a pistol..." Read full article
Art Deco on the Plains by Clay Coppedge
"...Architect Joe Berry designed it as three buildings in one: the Tower Conoco Station, named for the four-sided obelisk rising from a flat roof and topped by a metal tulip; the U-Drop Inn Caf�, which a local schoolboy named by winning a naming contest; and a retail store. The caf� was so popular that the proposed store never materialized, utilized instead to seat more hungry customers.
In its heyday, the U-Drop-Inn was the only restaurant within 100 miles, small, vibrant art deco oasis on Route 66 set against a backdrop of unrelenting realism... " Read full article
Shamrock Cemetery & The Wild Bunch
"In the Byler plot in the Shamrock cemetery there's an unmarked grave--at least it was still unmarked the last time I was there. It contains Viana (or Vivian, there seems to be some question about her first name) Byler Carver & her stillborn infant. She was 17 when she died. She was the wife of William R. 'Will' Carver of Wild Bunch/Hole In The Wall Gang fame & the aunt of Laura Bullion, who may have been married to Ben Kilpatrick, also of Wild Bunch fame.
Carver was shot & killed by the Sutton County Sheriff, a deputy, & 2 constables, & is buried in Sonora in what's called the 'No Name Grave.' That's because the only thing on the gravestone is April 2, 1901. Kilpatrick was killed by Wells, Fargo agent David A. Trousdale in March of 1912, while he was attempting to rob the Galveston, Harrisburg, & San Antonio #9 at Baxter's Curve in Terrell County. He, along with his partner, is buried in Sanderson. Laura Bullion never remarried, supported herself as a seamstress in Memphis, Tennessee, & died in 1961--the last of the Wild Bunch to die."
-
C. F. Eckhardt, June 25, 2010
A parade in Shamrock
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
Shamrock street scene in the 1950s
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
Another view of Shamrock, Texas
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
Shamrock Court
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
More Rooms with a Past
Shamrock, Texas Forum Subject: "Caravan Stop"
...I've published a new series titled "Caravan Stop" that features the Shamrock, Texas, landmark of the Tower Conoco Station. The station was recently restored to its original 1935 condition and I decided its Route 66 heritage would make a great setting for my painting of all six generations of Corvettes. My wife and I host a number of Corvette caravans and such caravans were the inspiration for "Caravan Stop". Thanks. - Dana Forrester, A.W.S., N.W.S., November 08, 2006
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