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Donley County is named for Stockton P. Donley, skilled criminal lawyer and elected Texas Supreme Court Judge. He didn't live in the Panhandle, but he's said to have been as clever an attorney as Patrick "give me liberty, or give me death" Henry. Donley County, created in 1876, was also cattle country, with the JA Ranch (established that year by Goodnight and John Adair), the RO Ranch, and Carhart's Quarter Circle Heart Ranch covering most of the area.
Donley County is one of the squared counties located in the Panhandle. Formerly the domain of Plains Apaches and later the Comanches and Kiowas, this region was once overrun with buffalo until White men settled in the latter 1870s. Many battles ensued between the tribes and the Whites, including the decisive Red River War of 1874-75. Thereafter, the Indians were put on reservations in Indian Territory, and the buffalo were slaughtered. With the buffalo gone, vast cattle ranches could be established.
The county remained largely unchanged until the arrival of the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway in 1887 as it built westward from Fort Worth to Colorado. As the railroad crossed the county, it passed five miles south of Clarendon, prompting that settlement's residents to move the town to a new site on the tracks in October 1887. By 1888 little remained of the old Clarendon; the site was later inundated by Greenbelt Reservoir. The relocated Clarendon was a division point on the railroad until 1902. Shops and offices were built there in 1887-88, and in 1887 Clarendon College, a Methodist School, was established.
Cities and towns Clarendon Hedley Howardwick
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