In 1884, a guy named William Jones settled in an area that became the town of Quanah. At the time, it was mostly open prairie used by ranchers and cowboys. Later that year, the Fort Worth and Denver railway came through and set up the town. They platted it and then sold lots.
The county was named for brothers Thomas Jones & Bailey Hardeman. The original county seat was a tiny town called Margaret. In 1890, the county seat was moved to this new town of Quanah, named for Quanah Parker. The citizens of Margaret were furious and they left Hardeman county to form another county, Foard. Oddly, the town of Margaret wasn't the county seat there either.
Like most towns, Quanah had a wooden courthouse for the first one. This courthouse was built in 1908. Note the white round disc by the cupola. It looks like there should be a clock there. It was very quiet on a Thursday morning.
Quanah was a cotton town. This is building was the cotton exchange where cotton growers were put in touch with buyers. There were three railroad companies that passed through town making Quanah a shipping hub. There was a "railroad diamond" where they all crossed right at the end of 1st Street and Main Street. There was the Fort Worth & Denver, The Quanah, Acme & Pacific and the St. Louis - San Francisco. A tall tower was in the middle and an operator controlled which train came in on the which tracks, similar to an air traffic controller.
The is the Quanah, Acme & Pacific Train Depot built in 1909. In the small town of Acme, gypsum deposits were discovered. Gypsum is used in stuff like cement, plaster and drywall. Gypsum was mined in Acme and sent to Quanah via this railway. Here it was transferred to the larger railways and shipped out. Today, this building is the Hardeman County Historical Museum. The railroad was named for Quanah because their headquarters was here. In fact, it was in a building directly across from the depot but it is long since gone.
Across the tracks was the Fort Worth & Denver Train Depot built in the late 1880s when the tracks came through. It was demolished some time in the 1960s. In the museum they had a sketch of the depot.
The Hardeman County Historical Museum is free. It's a cool jumble of old artifacts related to the history of the town. It was interesting but a little disorganized. The person who had been running the museum had retired at age 88 the previous month and the lady that took over had just started. She already had some good ideas of reorganizing the stuff into more of a story about the town and its history.
This is the Hardeman County Jail built in 1890. Like the jails in most small towns, it was also the residence of the sheriff and his family. Note the bars on the windows. The jail cells would have been upstairs and the family residence down. This was most likely just a temporary holding place for the prisoners until they went to trial. It ceased to be used as a jail in 1973 when new facilities were completed. We could have gone in but the lady that ran the museum couldn't find the key. Hmm...
Why was the town named after Quanah Parker? He never lived there but would visit often and stay at the Willis Hotel (according to the museum). It's because Quanah Parker was well known and respected in the area. He was the Comanche Chief and the son of Cynthia Ann Parker, a white woman who was abducted at the age of nine during a Comanche raid on the fort she staying at. Quanah was more of a diplomat based on what I've read. He wanted to get along which made him very popular.
These days only about 2,200 people live in Quanah. There's not much in Quanah. They have a United Grocery Store but nothing in the way of chain restaurants or fast food places. Most people work for Hardeman County or the Quanah ISD. But, Quanah is still largely rural and a lot of people still work livestock ranching or farming.
I would love to have spent more time exploring the museum and looking in the jail. Quanah was a quiet little town. I don't think I could live there but I certainly enjoyed the visit. But don't take my word for it. Check it out!
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