Claude, Texas
Encyclopedia
Claude is a city in Armstrong County
, Texas
, United States
. The population was 1,313 at the 2000 census. Located east of Amarillo
, Claude is the county seat
of Armstrong County
in the south Texas Panhandle
. Claude is part of the Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area
but is some thirty miles east of Amarillo.
During the first half of the 16th century, the Spanish
conquistador
Francisco Coronado and his party passed through Claude and Tule Canyon, a scenic wonder to the south of Claude off Texas State Highway 207
.
Claude was originally named Armstrong City after several area ranches named Armstrong. The name, however, was changed to Claude in 1887. Claude Ayers, the engineer
of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway
, the first train to travel through the area, requested that the town be named in his honor.
competed to be the county seat. The tie-breaking vote for Claude was reportedly cast by the legendary cattleman Charles Goodnight
, former co-owner of the nearby JA Ranch
. The Armstrong County Courthouse
in Claude dates to 1912.
W.A. Warner (1864-1934), a physician
in Claude, organized Boy Scouts of America
Troop 17 in the spring
of 1912. Thirty boys met in his drugstore. As scoutmaster, Dr. Warner trained many of the future civic leaders of Claude. During his medical career, Warner delivered some two thousand babies. Mrs. Warner, the former Phebe Kerrick (1866-1935) became an active community leader in Claude. Both were Illinois
natives.
W.S. Decker established a weekly newspaper, The Claude Argus, which later merged with the Goodnight News to become The Claude News in 1890.
s, including The Sundowners
, Hud
starring Paul Newman
(1963), Leap of Faith
, and Sunshine Christmas (1977), starring Cliff DeYoung
and the closing sunset scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
(1989), were made in and around Claude.
(1898-1989), considered to have been the oldest cowboy
in the American West, lived in Claude. He worked in ranching, mostly on the JA Ranch, for seventy-three years until his death in 1989.
Laura Vernon Hamner
, an historian, was the postmistress
in Claude from 1913-1921. In 1935, she penned a novel
about Charles Goodnight entitled The No-Gun Man from Texas. In 1943, she published the acclaimed Short Grass and Longhorns.
Charles E. Maple
, a journalist, chamber of commerce
official, and Texas state parks figure, graduated in 1950 from Claude High School.
Charles Howard Roan, Medal of Honor Recipient, Battle of Peleliu - 1944 - United States Marine Corps
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 1.7 sq mi (4.4 km²), all of it land.
serves Claude.
The first school in Claude was built in 1883. In 1907, a three-story building replaced the original building at a cost of $14,000. Unfortunately, years later a fire burned most of this building down. The portion of the building that was restored currently houses the Claude Junior High School.
During the 1930s, Claude had the only official-sized gymnasium in the area. The West Texas State College (now West Texas A&M University) basketball team used it on numerous occasions.
Armstrong County, Texas
Armstrong County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas, and was formed in 1876 from Bexar County. It is part of the Amarillo metropolitan area. As of 2000, the population is 2,148. Its county seat is Claude. Armstrong is named for one of several Texas pioneer families named Armstrong...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 1,313 at the 2000 census. Located east of Amarillo
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...
, Claude is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Armstrong County
Armstrong County, Texas
Armstrong County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas, and was formed in 1876 from Bexar County. It is part of the Amarillo metropolitan area. As of 2000, the population is 2,148. Its county seat is Claude. Armstrong is named for one of several Texas pioneer families named Armstrong...
in the south Texas Panhandle
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east...
. Claude is part of the Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area
Amarillo metropolitan area
The Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area is a metropolitan area in the Texas Panhandle that covers four counties - Armstrong, Carson, Potter, and Randall...
but is some thirty miles east of Amarillo.
During the first half of the 16th century, the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
Francisco Coronado and his party passed through Claude and Tule Canyon, a scenic wonder to the south of Claude off Texas State Highway 207
Texas State Highway 207
State Highway 207 or SH 207 is a state Highway that runs from the Texas/Oklahoma state line south through the Texas Panhandle, ending in Post. The highway was originally designated between 1933 and 1936 between Floydada and Ralls. By 1939, the designation was extended north to Silverton and south...
.
Claude was originally named Armstrong City after several area ranches named Armstrong. The name, however, was changed to Claude in 1887. Claude Ayers, the engineer
Railroad engineer
A railroad engineer, locomotive engineer, train operator, train driver or engine driver is a person who drives a train on a railroad...
of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway
Fort Worth and Denver Railway
The Fort Worth and Denver Railway , nicknamed "the Denver Road," was a class I American railroad company that operated in the northern part of Texas from 1881 to 1982, and had a profound influence on the early settlement and economic development of the region....
, the first train to travel through the area, requested that the town be named in his honor.
History
When Armstrong County was formed in 1890, Claude and WashburnWashburn, Texas
Washburn is an unincorporated community in Armstrong County, Texas, United States. It is located along U.S. Highway 287 in northwestern Armstrong County, approximately 20 miles east of Amarillo. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had an estimated population of 120 in 2000. Washburn...
competed to be the county seat. The tie-breaking vote for Claude was reportedly cast by the legendary cattleman Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight , was a cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J...
, former co-owner of the nearby JA Ranch
JA Ranch
The JA Ranch, jointly founded by John George Adair and Charles Goodnight, is the oldest privately owned cattle ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon section of the Texas Panhandle southeast of Amarillo. At its peak size in 1883, the JA, still run by descendants of the Adair family, encompassed some of...
. The Armstrong County Courthouse
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
in Claude dates to 1912.
W.A. Warner (1864-1934), a physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
in Claude, organized Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
Troop 17 in the spring
Spring (season)
Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and broadly to ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and...
of 1912. Thirty boys met in his drugstore. As scoutmaster, Dr. Warner trained many of the future civic leaders of Claude. During his medical career, Warner delivered some two thousand babies. Mrs. Warner, the former Phebe Kerrick (1866-1935) became an active community leader in Claude. Both were Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
natives.
W.S. Decker established a weekly newspaper, The Claude Argus, which later merged with the Goodnight News to become The Claude News in 1890.
Film history
Several filmFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, including The Sundowners
The Sundowners
The Sundowners is a 1960 film that tells the story of an Australian outback family torn between the father's desires to continue his nomadic sheep-herding ways and the wife's and son's desire to settle down in one place...
, Hud
Hud (film)
Hud is a 1963 western film whose title character is an embittered and selfish modern-day cowboy. With screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, Jr., based on Larry McMurtry's 1961 novel Horseman, Pass By, it was directed by Martin Ritt and stars Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Patricia Neal and...
starring Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
(1963), Leap of Faith
Leap of Faith (film)
Leap of Faith is a 1992 American dramedy film, directed by Richard Pearce and starring Steve Martin, Liam Neeson and Debra Winger. The film is about Jonas Nightengale, a fraudulent Christian faith healer who uses his revival meetings, in Rustwater, Kansas, to bilk believers out of their money.-Plot...
, and Sunshine Christmas (1977), starring Cliff DeYoung
Cliff DeYoung
Clifford Tobin DeYoung is an American actor and musician.DeYoung was born in Los Angeles, California. He attended California State University....
and the closing sunset scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. It is the third film in the Indiana Jones franchise. Harrison Ford reprises the title role and Sean Connery plays Indiana's father, Henry...
(1989), were made in and around Claude.
Notable residents
Tom BlasingameTom Blasingame
Thomas Everett Blasingame, known as Tom Blasingame , was a Texas cowboy for seventy-three years. At ninety-one, he was still on the job at the JA Ranch south of Amarillo. Two days after Christmas in 1989, he dismounted his horse, Ruidosa, stretched out on the grass, folded his arms across his...
(1898-1989), considered to have been the oldest cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
in the American West, lived in Claude. He worked in ranching, mostly on the JA Ranch, for seventy-three years until his death in 1989.
Laura Vernon Hamner
Laura Vernon Hamner
Laura Vernon Hamner was an American author, ranch historian, radio commentator, educator, and public official from the Texas Panhandle who was known informally in her later years as "Miss Amarillo", a reference to her adopted city of Amarillo, Texas.-Life:Born in Tennessee to James Henry Hamner...
, an historian, was the postmistress
Postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. Postmistress is not used anymore in the United States, as the "master" component of the word refers to a person of authority and has no gender quality...
in Claude from 1913-1921. In 1935, she penned a novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
about Charles Goodnight entitled The No-Gun Man from Texas. In 1943, she published the acclaimed Short Grass and Longhorns.
Charles E. Maple
Charles E. Maple
Charles Edward Maple, known as Charlie Maple , was a journalist, chamber of commerce official, and state parks executive during the second half of the 20th century in the four-state region of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.-Early years, education, military:Maple was born in Oklahoma City...
, a journalist, chamber of commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
official, and Texas state parks figure, graduated in 1950 from Claude High School.
Charles Howard Roan, Medal of Honor Recipient, Battle of Peleliu - 1944 - United States Marine Corps
Geography
Claude is located at 35.107524°N 101.364094°W, about 28 mi (45.1 km) east of AmarilloAmarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 1.7 sq mi (4.4 km²), all of it land.
Education
The Claude Independent School DistrictClaude Independent School District
Claude Independent School District is a public school district based in Claude, Texas .The district has two campuses - Claude High School and Claude Elementary ....
serves Claude.
The first school in Claude was built in 1883. In 1907, a three-story building replaced the original building at a cost of $14,000. Unfortunately, years later a fire burned most of this building down. The portion of the building that was restored currently houses the Claude Junior High School.
During the 1930s, Claude had the only official-sized gymnasium in the area. The West Texas State College (now West Texas A&M University) basketball team used it on numerous occasions.