Archer City, TX

Archer City is Archer County's seat, set at the junction of State Highways 79 and 25 about 25 miles south of Wichita Falls. The courthouse square gives the city its governmental center: the 1891 Archer County Courthouse was remodeled in 1926 and later restored to that appearance through the Texas Historic Courthouse program. County offices, court business, local services, and Archer City ISD keep the square connected to the surrounding ranch and farm country. The courthouse still sets the pace for county business.

Archer City's other claim to attention is literary and cinematic. Larry McMurtry grew up here, and his novels The Last Picture Show and Texasville turned the town's streets and social landscape into material for fiction. The films used local locations, including the Royal Theater, which appears as the movie house in The Last Picture Show. Booked Up, McMurtry's former bookstore, is now being developed into the Larry McMurtry Literary Center, with writers' workshops giving the town's bookish side a present-day home.