Channing, Texas: The Well-Mannered Town

On our latest trek through the Texas Panhandle, we stopped for a brief visit in Channing, Texas. It's the county seat of Hartley County and was also the headquarters of the XIT Ranch. They were called "the Well-Mannered Town" because of the strict rules that were applied to the Cowboys of the XIT Ranch.

As a quick reminder, the XIT Ranch was used as payment for the building of the Texas State Capitol in Austin. Back in 1879, 3M acres of land was appropriated and used as payment to the a syndicate created for the purpose of handling the land until it could be sold. The syndicate established the XIT Ranch to make sure of the land in the interim.

Meanwhile, The Fort Worth and Denver City Railway was being built through the panhandle in 1888 and a town in Hartley County was built around it. The original name of the town was Rivers and it was named for the paymaster of the railroad, George Channing Rivers. Unfortunately, there was another town in Texas already using the name Rivers so this town was renamed Channing.

Shortly after, in 1888, the XIT Ranch established it's headquarters in Channing. Albert Boyce, the General Manager of the 3M acre ranch, built the first house in town. When the railroad passed nearby Tascosa, the businesses there picked up and moved to Channing.

In 1896, the XIT Ranch lobbied to have the county seat moved from Hartley to Channing so that they would have a hand in running things. A vote was taken and the motion was passed 91 to 25.  The citizens of Hartley, which was located geographically in the center of Hartley County, weren't happy and they sued.

In 1903, another vote was held and the motion upheld. Following the election, some cowboys from the XIT Ranch rode over to Hartley and loaded up the wooden courthouse on wheels and pulled it to Channing.

In 1906, a new brick courthouse was built and the old one was repurposed and became the Hotel Rivers. Unfortunately, in 1931 a fire swept through the business district in Channing and the Hotel Rivers, along with seven other businesses, burned to the ground.

Right next door to the county courthouse is the Hartley County Jail, which was built in 1908. It's currently used as an administrative building. Anyone arrested in Hartley County is taken to Dalhart for incarceration. The XIT Ranch, meanwhile, closed in 1911. Since then, the Channing has become an agricultural town.

The Channing Methodist Church was established in 1890 by Albert Boyce and his family. This site was purchased in 1901 and the church building was completed the next year.

Channing is a very small town in the panhandle of Texas. The population is 250. The biggest employer is the Channing Independent School District. I thought it odd that a town with such a small population had it's own ISD so I checked and there are about 120 kids that attend school there. About half the population. The school consists of one building for all grades. The student/teacher ratio is amazing! They only attend class four days a week.

There's not much going on in Channing. There's a La Casita Market that has some groceries as well as premade food, but most people drive the 30 miles to Dalhart or Dumas for any kind of commerce, like a grocery store, restaurants, etc. I would assume any big shopping would require a 60 mile trip to Amarillo.

Having passed through so many times, I was glad that I finally stopped to check it out.