Ochiltree

Formed August 21, 1876 (212^nd county)

Ochiltree County (10,223), Perryton (8,802)

The Texas Renaissance courthouse of Ochiltree County was built in 1928.  It is located at Main and Sixth streets.  Main Street is United States Highway 83 crossing through the city.  Mann & Company designed this tan brick and concrete building.  The building was enlarged in 1974.  Ochiltree had the first county courthouse (1890) but it was moved in Perryton in 1919.  The county was founded on August 21, 1876 from Bexar County as the 212^nd county.  A leader in the Republic of Texas and later an advocate for secession, William Beck Ochiltree, was the source for the county’s name.  Perryton is named for local settler George M. Perry. 

Ochiltree County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Ochiltree, Hansford, and Hutchinson counties and One County Court Judge serves Ochiltree County.  The county is in the Texas panhandle northeast of Amarillo, Texas.  Its northern border is with Oklahoma.  The county center is 8.3 miles South of Perryton.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Oklahoma and Lipscomb, Hemphill, Roberts, Hutchinson, and Hansford counties. 

The area of the county is 918 square miles.  It is 132 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 168 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 11.14 persons per square mile making it 163 out of 254 in the state.  Ochiltree County has 86.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 83 enters from Oklahoma on the north and exits to the southeast into Lipscomb County.  The county is a square like the majority of counties in the panhandle.  Perryton is in the northern third of the county.  Perryton is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 86.1% of the county population.  The county is pronounced O-CHIL-TREE.