Parmerton, TX
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 34° 34.881 W 102° 48.197
13S E 701487 N 3828810
Once the county seat, now only a lonely railway switch.
Waymark Code: WM7T19
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/29/2009
Views: 9
County of Missing Town: Parmer County.
Location of Missing Town: US-60, 5½ miles NE of Bovina, or 6 miles SW of Friona
Texas Histocial Commission has a marker here. The text of that Marker:
Site of
PARMERTON
(Elevation 4,202 feet)Founded as Parmer Switch on Pecos & Northern Texas Railroad in 1898. In 1906, became site of a model farm. Using Campbell dry farming method, run by Capitol Freehold Land & Investment Company.
In 1907, Parmerton Townsite Company bought 200 acres of the farm and laid out a town, which was designed first county seat that same year. A post office was soon established.
When, in late 1907, Farwell was elected new county seat, Parmerton's citizens departed, taking homes and other buildings with them. Only the railroad switch marks the site today.
From the Handbook of Texas:
PARMERTON, TEXAS. Parmerton, on U.S. Highway 60 in central Parmer County, was originally known as Parmer Switch when the Pecos Valley and Northern Texas Railway built through in 1898. The town, like the county, was named for Martin Parmer, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The townsite, surveyed and platted by J. S. McClearey, comprised 200 acres of land formerly owned by the Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Company (the XIT Ranchqv). The company had previously established a model farm on the site and in 1906 used dry-land farming methods to produce a successful wheat crop. A one-story frame courthouse was built atop Parmerton Hill, the halfway mark between Friona and Bovina, with a residence for the county judge nearby. Across the road was a "cook shack" that served meals to inhabitants and passersby. A post office was established in September 1907 but was closed on August 15, 1908.
Parmerton was voted county seat on May 7, 1907, and almost immediately a movement to displace it began. Another election was held on December 10, 1907, and Farwell was chosen overwhelmingly. Five months later county records were moved to the "Hamlin Brick," a new building in Farwell. Parmerton was never further developed as a town and rapidly declined. Today only a historical marker and the Parmerton railroad switch mark the site.
If you wish to read more, you can here: Parmer County and here: History in a Pecan Shell and here: Texas Genealogy Trails