Founded in 1878 as a Christian colony by the Reverend Lewis Henry Carhart, a Methodist minister, Clarendon was relocated in 1887 to a new site on the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway line. The town became a division point for the railroad and an important early market town in the Panhandle. Its early courthouse (PH7) and the Episcopal church (PH9) are evidence of this primacy. Clarendon was incorporated into the Ozark Trail, a privately organized motoring route between Arkansas and New Mexico. With the federal Highway Act of 1921 and the state highway system created in 1925, Clarendon was situated on U.S. 287, the road from Amarillo to Fort Worth and beyond. Its role as a motoring stop is suggested by the Clarendon Motor Co. (PH8).
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