Bushland and Wildorado, Texas - Skeletons along the Staked Plains

TEXAS LEGENDS

Bushland and Wildorado

- Skeletons Along the Staked Plains

Fourteen miles west of Amarillo is the old settlement of Bushland, Texas, established as a station on the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway. Named for Chicago real estate baron, William Henry Bush, who owned the Frying Pan Ranch, Bush donated the land for the town site and the railroad right-of-way. The town site was dedicated by Bush and an associate named S. H. Smiser on July 3, 1908 and the settlement was named Bush Stop. On January, 1909, the post office opened soon a few farmers and ranchers began to settle there.

An old station along Route 66 in Bushland, Texas,

December, 2004, Kathy Weiser

A couple of years after its beginning, William Bush’s wife determined that the town’s name did not properly represent the family and soon talked the train station master into repainting the west walls of the depot with the name “Bushland.”

Though Bushland never became the booming farming community that Bush had envisioned, it built a church in 1917 that continues to conduct services today. By the 1920s the population had grown to approximately 175 and the town supported four businesses and an elementary school. By the 1960s the town’s population had dropped to about 130, a number which it continues to maintain.

A few remnants of the old Mother Road can still be spied in this small town.

Wildorado, Texas

Wildorado, some 23 miles west of Amarillo on old Route 66, was named for nearby Wildorado Creek in 1900. Located along the old cattle trail from Tascosa to Canyon City, Wildorado was born when the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railroad marked it as a shipping point on the new line.

The town was first settled by Eugene Binford and John R. Goodman, who was already ranching in the area. When the post office was established in 1904, Goodman became its first postmaster. In 1908, the railroad was completed and a town site was laid out. An enterprising man, Goodman soon organized the Wildorado State Bank and built the Wildorado Hotel. The town’s first newspaper the Wildorado Progress began publication in 1909.

A lonely windmill sits along the Mother Road in

Wildorado, Texas, December, 2004, Kathy Weiser.

As the town began to grow many small ranchers and farmers were attracted to the area and by 1915, Wildorado had telephone connections, a grocer, a general store, a lumber company, a blacksmith, a hardware store, a school, two churches, and a population of 100.

Texas Panhandle Dust Storm

A Texas Panhandle dust storm in 1935, photo courtesy

NOAA Photo Library.

During the dustbowl days of the late 1920s and early 1930s, Wildorado suffered along with the rest of the Midwest as crops were ruined by drought and many a pioneer gave up and headed West to escape the blinding dust storms. Along with numerous refugees from Oklahoma, these desperate folks loaded up their belongings seeking a better life and headed down the newly founded Route 66.

To make matters worse during this time, the state bank, the grain elevator, and the mercantile store were robbed and burglarized several times by even more desperate men from nearby Borger, Texas. By 1936, the one time settlement with a bright future had been reduced to seven businesses and a population of just a little more than fifty.

However, after World War II when travel became a popular past time, Wildorado responded with services along the Mother Road and its population grew to more than 200 by the late 1950’s.

Seemingly doomed, Wildorado suffered another blow when I-40 barreled through town and many businesses on the south side of old Route 66 were destroyed.

Today the town hangs on as a Feedlot settlement with its accompanying aroma, and farm trucks rolling through its old streets. However, there still remains some picturesque glimpses of the once busy Route 66.

This old garage ain't doin' alot of business anymore,

December, 2004, Kathy Weiser.

Jesse's Cafe isn't faring any better, December, 2004,

Kathy Weiser.

These old cars sit out front of a flea market in Wildorado, Texas, December, 2004, Kathy Weiser.

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