Clarendon Started as a Dry Methodist Colony on the Open Prairie

Rev. Lewis Henry Carhart led a group of Methodist settlers to Donley County in 1878. He named the settlement Clarendon, reportedly after his wife Clara. Because the colony banned alcohol, cowboys and neighboring ranchers nicknamed it 'Saints' Roost.' The settlement grew with backing from an English investment company and became the county seat when Donley County was organized in 1882.

The town moved in 1887 when the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway laid its tracks a few miles away — settlers picked up and rebuilt near the rail line. Clarendon College opened in 1898 and is still operating today. The Handbook of Texas at tshaonline.org has the full account of the county and town's early history.