The city of Electra Texas is a tiny dot on the map in northwestern Wichita County. It may be best known now for its brick streets, worn unevenly and pockmarked by time. Nevertheless, those same brick streets demonstrate a vestige of days gone by.
Waggoner Ranch
It all began in 1852, when Daniel Waggoner began developing a ranch, growing to over a half-million acres mostly in Wilbarger County and sprawling westward from there. His son, W.T. Waggoner sought to drill water for his cattle, but time and again struck oil instead. He gave up on using that parcel of land for ranching and sold it off. Known as the largest ranch under one fence, the ranch is still in operation. You can check out more info about the ranch HERE.
The Boom of Electra Texas
With the discovery of oil a mile north of Electra Texas in the early 1900s, a boomtown sprang to life. Here, they established a railroad station, and railroad executives named it Beaver Switch after the now-dry nearby Beaver Creek.
Waggoner’s son, Daniel Waggoner also established a thriving Mercantile to provide supplies for the Electra Texas area and the Waggoner Ranch. In 1907, they built the post office. Electra’s population named the new little city after Electra Waggoner, W.T.’s fashionable and somewhat risque daughter.
Present Day Electra Texas
The railroad tracks are still in use but much of the zest of its heyday is abandoned. Electra Texas residents can still see the former power plant about a half mile south of the Electra Independent School District Administration Building. The public schools do their best to educate the few students left in town. A Scarecrow Festival replaced the annual Pump Jack Festival. Electra citizens still celebrate it downtown near the seldom-used Grand Theater each fall. Unfortunately, the Goat Barbecue is a thing of the past.
Present-day Electra is just over a hundred miles west of Fort Worth, and fifteen miles west of Iowa Park along Hwy 287. The United States Census Bureau 2020 report states 2, 278 residents in the metropolitan statistical area. The per capita income is well beneath the U.S. average and home values are the lowest in the state of Texas.
