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HENRIETTA,
TEXASClay County
Seat, North
Central Texas
Highways 287, 82, 148, and FM 1197
On the Little
Wichita River
20 Miles SE of Wichita
Falls
28 Miles W of Nocona
Population: 3,264
(2000)
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A
Visit to Henrietta
History in a Pecan Shell
When Cooke County was separated into two counties, the day before Christmas
1857, Clay County needed a seat of government. The centrally located town of Henrietta
is the result – even though no one knows for sure the origin of the name. One
stretched (but somewhat believable) theory is that since the county was named
after Henry Clay, a feminized version of his first name was in order. (Ships,
cities, and countries were once referred to as feminine.)
There wasn’t
a fight for county seat, since it was the only real contender for the title. With
just a store and about ten residences, and less than 110 people, tiny Henrietta
had nowhere to go but up. In 1860, it was the North
Texas frontier. Although it was granted a post office in 1862, it was still
a wild place and open to Indian attacks.
Abandonment and Resettlement
When the Civil War demanded the troops that were stationed there, residents moved
into Cooke and Montague counties, and by 1862 Clay County was, for all intents
and purposes, a ghost county. Indians had reportedly left "strange” markings on
the town buildings, prompting a purifying fire by troops. This may have sent the
spirits on their way, but now the town would be starting from scratch if and when
people decided to resettle here. One attempted resettlement in 1865 was a little
too early. Several members of the group were killed and the rest retreated. A
second attempt by a Quaker group (1870) met a worse fate. The leader, Goodleck
Koozer was killed and his wife and daughters taken as captives (but eventually
released). That same year fifty soldiers and 300 Kiowas fought a pitched battle
in the foundations of the former town.
In time, settlers returned and
the post office was reopened in July of 1874. The isolation of the settlers made
the town the judicial “capital” of the region. The railroad arrived in 1882 (the
Fort Worth and Denver City) with the Gainesville, Henrietta and Western Railway
becoming the towns second rail connection in 1887. Travelers would arrive by train
and then ride stages to their final destinations. During the buffalo
slaughter of the 1880s, Henrietta was an outfitting center and a shipping center
for the bones of the slain animals.
During this period, Henrietta, dwarfed
the town of Wichita
Falls. Clay County's
first permanent courthouse was built in 1884 and is still standing. By 1890
the population was over 2,000 and the town had all the amenities of a large town
– and then some – including hotels, five churches, two newspapers, and a 400-seat
Opera House.
The population stayed about the same, but dropped slightly
during the Great Depression to just over 2,000. Growth was slow, and by the 1970s
it had peaked with 3,600 people calling Henrietta home. By 1990 the population
had declined to 2,896, growing to 3,264 for the 2000 census.
A
Drive Around Henrietta: |
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Painted
wall mural - "Clay County Pioneers Reunion and Rodeo"
Photo courtesy
Barclay
Gibson, April 2009 | |
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