"SHAMROCK, TEXAS. Shamrock, on Interstate Highway 40 (here formerly U.S. Highway 66) in south central Wheeler County, was in the 1980s the largest town in the county. The name Shamrock was first suggested, for good luck and courage, by Irish immigrant sheep rancher George Nickel, when he applied in 1890 to open a post office at his dugoutqv home six miles north of the present townsite. The name was accepted by federal postal officials, but this post office was never opened, probably because the Nickel home burned that same year. Another post office was operated nearby for a short while by postmistress Mary R. Jones. Shamrock had its official beginning with the arrival of the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway in the summer of 1902. In August, town lots were sold at the present townsite, which was then called Wheeler. When Frank Exum, who had recently opened a general store at his dugout-and-frame home, applied for a post office and named it after himself, the Shamrock post office was closed, but the railroad named the stop Shamrock in 1903, and the Shamrock post office reopened. That same year a school opened. From 1903 to 1907 Shamrock, Story, and Benonine competed as market and trade centers. By 1906 businesses from the other communities had moved to Shamrock. The Wheeler County Texan, begun at Story by T. C. Richardson in 1903, became the ShamrockTexan in 1928. By 1908 two banks had been chartered at Shamrock, and the Shamrock Cotton Oil Mill (later known as the West Texas Cotton Oil Company) was open for business. Shamrock was incorporated in 1911 with E. L. Woodley as the first mayor. In 1923 a water main laid from the nearby J. M. Porter ranch eliminated the need to haul water to town in barrels. Later, wells were dug. By 1925 the population had grown to 2,500. Oil was discovered in the area in 1926, and the population had increased to 3,778 by 1930." [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/hgs8.html]