Dumas

Dumas, the county seat of Moore County, is at the junction of U.S. highways 87 and 287 in the center of the county. It was named for Louis Dumas, president of the Panhandle Townsite Company in Sherman, who purchased railroad survey lands in the Panhandle. In January 1891 Dumas and his associates formed the Moore County Townsite Company and platted the town on a site some five miles south of South Palo Duro Creek. The first building housed the company office, a hotel, a general store, and the first post office. James C. Wilson served as first postmaster and was followed by John F. Patterson, who opened a general store later that year. The following year Moore County was organized, and Dumas was elected county seat. By then several lots had been sold and a courthouse erected. The first school was constructed in 1892 on the block west of the courthouse.