Mobeetie, Texas
| Mobeetie, Texas | |
|---|---|
| City | |
 Location of Mobeetie, Texas |
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| Coordinates: 35°32′1″N 100°26′21″W / 35.53361°N 100.43917°WCoordinates: 35°32′1″N 100°26′21″W / 35.53361°N 100.43917°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Wheeler |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.6 sq mi (1.6 km2) |
| • Land | 0.6 sq mi (1.6 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 2,641 ft (805 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 101 |
| • Density | 170/sq mi (63/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP code | 79061 |
| Area code(s) | 806 |
| FIPS code | 48-48852 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1363014 |
Mobeetie is a city in northwestern Wheeler County, Texas, United States, located on Sweetwater Creek and State Highway 152. The population was 101 at the 2010 census, six below the 2000 figure.
Mobeetie (formerly known as "Cantonment Sweetwater") was a trading post for hunters and trappers for nearby United States Army outpost Fort Elliott. It was first a buffalo hunter's camp unofficially called "Hidetown." Connected to the major cattle-drive town of Dodge City, Kansas by the Jones-Plummer Trail, Mobeetie was a destination for stagecoach freight and buffalo skinners. As it grew, the town supported the development of cattle ranches within a hundred-mile radius by supplying the staple crops.1
The first formal name for the town was "Sweetwater." It was located on the North Fork of the Red River. Nearby Fort Elliott, developed to protect the buffalo trade from Indian raiders, stimulated further growth of the town. On January 24, 1876 occurred the "Sweetwater Shootout". Anthony Cook (aka Corporal "Sergeant" Melvin A. King; of the then-4th Cavalry Company H, stationed at Fort Elliot) shot and killed Mollie Brennan (a dance hall girl and former prostitute). Sgt. King then wounded Bat Masterson, who in turn killed him (King may have shot Masterson first and then killed Brennan; accounts vary). Texas cattleman Charles Goodnight said about the town: "I think it was the hardest place I ever saw on the frontier except Cheyenne, Wyoming."
When the town applied for a post office in 1879, the name "Sweetwater" was already in use. The town took the new name of "Mobeetie," believed to be a Native American word for "Sweetwater."
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