If you were to take a pre-historic stroll over the landscape where the City of Fritch is now located, you might come across a group of nomadic hunter-gatherers as they tracked buffalo across the prairie or gathered plums in the sandy creeks. Later, the Antelope Creek People built houses, harvested flint, and traded the precious resource from around 1100 A.D. to 1450 A.D. The Spanish came through the area in the mid-1500s and came in contact with early Native Americans and from the 1700s to the 1870s, the Comanches ruled the Plains until they were moved to Oklahoma reservations.
In the late 1870s, T.S. Bugbee established the Quarter Circle T Ranch (the second oldest ranch in the Texas Panhandle). W.H. Bates and David T. Beals later established the LX Ranch in 1877, and David
N. McBride built a still-standing house in the center of the LX in McBride Canyon. Three families purchased land in and around what is now Fritch: The Sanfords, the Johnsons, and the Dunaway/Wrights. Once the Rock Island Railway bought right-of-way from the three families, the vice-president of Rock Island, Fred Fritch, brought the railway from Chicago, through Texas, and on to California. The Fritch spur began carrying wheat and cattle in 1927.
The first post office was established on March 10, 1928, with John W. Hardin as the first postmaster. Some early homes were “shotgun” houses covered in tar paper and some early residents lived in tents. Water was hauled in from nearby ranches and sold for 25 cents a barrel.
In the 1930s, natural gas companies moved into the area, setting up “camps” for their employees. On December 9, 1959, at 3:40 p.m., Fritch was incorporated. The dam on the Canadian River was built in the 1960s and Fritch’s population grew 41% over four years as the lake filled up. The Lake Meredith Aquatic and Wildlife Museum was built and dedicated on June 19, 1976, and the city celebrated the 1776 American Revolution the following July.
From the 1980s through today, Fritch has become an established and recognized community in its own right. It has overcome tragedies and celebrated victories. Its citizens and surrounding residents are focused on the future while their feet are planted firmly on the Texas Panhandle ground.
•Information retrieved from Antelope Creek Culture (1150 AD to 1450 AD) - Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)