Editing Panhandle, Texas (section)

==History==
Panhandle derives its name from its central location in the [[Texas Panhandle]]. Originally named "Carson City", it was later changed to "Panhandle City".<ref name="Anderson">{{cite web | last = Anderson| first = H. Allen| title = PANHANDLE, TX | work = Handbook of Texas Online | publisher = Texas State Historical Association| url = https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hjp03}}</ref>

In 1887, Panhandle obtained a post office, and in 1888, the city was planned as the terminus of the [[Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway]].  At that time, the city was surrounded by several large cattle ranches. The community soon acquired a bank, a mercantile store, a wagonyard, a school, a newspaper, and three saloons.<ref name="Anderson"/>

In 1888, Carson County was organized, and Panhandle became the county seat.<ref name="Anderson"/> The area's cattlemen were reconciled to the arrival of farmers because they produced needed [[forage]] crops, such as [[hay]], and introduced more families with eligible young women for the cowboy bachelors of the cattle kingdom.<ref name=lfs>Lester Fields Sheffy, ''The Life and Times of [[Timothy Dwight Hobart]], 1855-1935: Colonization of West Texas'' (Canyon, Texas: Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, 1950), pp. 120-121</ref>

Panhandle was scandalized in 1897 after George E. Morrison, a preacher at the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]], poisoned his wife Minnie with a [[strychnine]]-laced apple so that he could marry his mistress Miss Annie Whittlesey of [[Topeka, Kansas]]. Morrison was sentenced to die in the gallows at [[Vernon, Texas|Vernon]] in [[Wilbarger County, Texas]], his last words being: "[[Jesus]], Lover of My Soul".<ref>{{cite web | title =  WILBARGER COUNTY, TEXAS EXECUTION NEWS STORIES |  publisher = Genealogy Trails |  url = http://genealogytrails.com/tex/panhandle2/wilbarger/news_execution.html}}</ref>

In 1909, Panhandle voted to incorporate with a [[mayor-council government]].

The population grew in the 1920s when Panhandle became the center of a [[natural gas]] field.

A new county courthouse was completed in 1950.

Panhandle continued to thrive in the 1980s as a regional marketing and shipping center for cattle, [[wheat]], and [[petroleum]] products.<ref name="Anderson"/>