TEXAS LEGENDS

Bushland and Wildorado

                 - Skeletons Along the Staked Plains

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.

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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