Chillicothe: Named for Missouri, Rebuilt After Fire

Chillicothe, in western Hardeman County, began in the early eighteen eighties on Wanderer's Creek near the headquarters of a large cattle ranch. The community was named by A. E.

Jones for his hometown of Chillicothe, Missouri. A post office opened in eighteen eighty-three. When the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway arrived in eighteen eighty-seven, the town's future seemed set.

Then, in eighteen ninety, a fire destroyed much of Chillicothe. Rather than rebuild in the same spot, residents moved the town south of the rail line and started over. Wheat elevators went up in eighteen ninety-two and eighteen ninety-three, reflecting the shift from open-range ranching to farming that was reshaping the entire eastern Panhandle.

A second railroad, the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway, began service through Chillicothe in nineteen oh eight. The town incorporated in nineteen oh seven with eight hundred residents and remained a market center for wheat and cotton farming.