Elliott, TX (Wilbarger County)

Elliott is at the intersection of Farm roads 1763 and 370, four miles south of the Oklahoma state line in northeast Wilbarger County. Cotton was the main crop of the region. Many of the first settlers in 1904 came from Williamson County to escape a boll weevil outbreak. These early farmers were successful, although they were told that cotton would not grow in the area. The settlement was first called Waggoner's Colony. In 1907 the name was changed to honor the first schoolteacher, probably Sarah Elizabeth Elliott, whose husband, J. W. Elliott, had donated the land for a school established in 1906. The community was also known as Bugscuffle. The Bethel Baptist Church was organized in 1906, and members erected a building the next year. The church remained active in 1986 and also served the communities of Oklaunion and Harrold. A Methodist church existed during the early twentieth century but closed sometime after 1937. In 1941 the school was consolidated with that of Oklaunion. Elliott was large enough during the 1920s to support a twenty-five-piece community band, and by 1940 perhaps 250 residents lived there. The town population, however, was consistently reported in census records from the 1930s through 2000 as around fifty. In 1986 the community had the Elliott Co-op Gin, a combination store and domino parlor, and the Baptist church. The Bugscuffle oilfield is four miles west.