Editing White Deer, Texas (section)

==History==
The community was first settled around 1882, when the [[United Kingdom|British]]-owned [[Francklyn Land and Cattle Company]], later reorganized as the White Deer Land Company, occupied the area and began stocking it with cattle.<ref name="Texas Handbook">{{cite web | url = https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hjw08 | title = White Deer, Texas | publisher = [[The Handbook of Texas]] online | date =  | accessdate = August 10, 2009}}</ref> George Tyng, general manager of the property, built the headquarters for White Deer or Diamond F Ranch at the site in 1887. Around the same time, the Purcell Company purchased land in the vicinity as a right-of-way for the [[Southern Kansas Railway of Texas]]. A depot was built in 1888. The site was initially known as "Paton" (after John Paton), then "Whig", before being renamed White Deer in January 1899 – after nearby White Deer Creek. During the 1890s, British shareholders began selling land for small farms and ranches to settlers. The community moved to its present location near the railroad line in 1908.<ref name="Texas Escapes"/> A year later, Henry Czerner and Ben Urbanczyk established a community of [[Polish people|Polish]] farmers from [[Central Texas]] at the northeastern edge of town. About 50 people were living in White Deer by 1910.

The discovery of oil and gas in Carson County in 1919 brought growth to White Deer and the surrounding area. The community incorporated in 1921, and the population had risen to 200 by the mid-1920s. At the peak of the oil boom in the late 1920s, White Deer was home to nearly 3,000 people. Soon after, the city experienced a period of decline. A disastrous fire in 1931, the negative economic impact of the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]], and tornadoes in 1945 and 1951 were all contributing factors in White Deer's decline. In the late 1950s, the town became a shipping point for grain and cattle produced in the area.<ref name="Texas Handbook"/><ref name="Historic Marker">{{cite web | url = http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txcarson/cmarkers2.html | title = Carson County Historical Markers | publisher = Carson County, TX GenWeb | date =  | accessdate = August 10, 2009}}</ref> By 1980, the population was 1,210. That figure decreased to 1,125 in 1990 and 1,060 in 2000.

A statue of a white deer stands on a concrete pedestal in the middle of the town's main intersection.<ref name="Texas Handbook"/> At its base is a historical marker, erected in 1965, that commemorates the town's rich history.<ref name="Historic Marker"/>