The Neelley - Patton House 701 West Main St., Olney, TX

This house was built for Andrew Bruce (1883-1953) and Minnie Alberta (Robinson) (1886-1961) Neelley in 1920. Mr. Neelley’s father R.B. Neelley and his brother A.C. came to Olney area in 1879 and were among the earliest settlers in this area and engaged in farming and ranching. Bruce became a hardware merchant as Ashworth-Neelley and in 1923 as Neelley Hardware. Mr. Neelley was one of the organizers of the Olney Retail Merchants Association and an early member of the Olney Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Neelley’s had three children – Cecil (1915-2010), Ione (Roy Thompson) (1907-1972), and Thora (1920-1988) (Gene Lowe). Gene and Thora had two sons to reach maturity – Kerry and Kenneth – who are large scale farmers in the area South and West of Olney.

In 1962 the Neelley heirs sold the house to F.W. McClinton and he sold the house in 1963 to Glen and Clytee Scobee. Glen was from a farming and ranching family between Olney and Newcastle and Clytee (Burdick) was from a family in the Red Top area of central Young County. Glen became the Conoco consignee, over seeing several Conoco stations in the vicinity. He took up part of the Scobee farm and ranching interests. Clytee taught school for thirty years, principally in the OISD. Glen and Clytee were very close friends with Gene and Thora Lowe over the years. The Scobees were the parents of two children – Glenda and Charles. Glenda has retired from teaching in the OISD. Charles is employed at the State Farm Agency in Olney and is the host every year before Christmas to an open house that showcases his Dallas Cowboy Memorabilia as well as his decorations indoor and out.

In 2018, the heirs of Glen and Clytee Scobee (Charles and Glenda) sold the house to Trampas and Mary (Nantz) Patton who are a young couple. She is employed by OISD in pre-kindergarten and Trampas first worked at Fort Belknap Electric and is now employed by Tower. He is from Olney and she grew up in Graham and is the daughter of the Rodney Nantzes of The Refuge of Olney. She was a softball player when in Graham High and in college at Ouachita Baptist University and even stayed on a while after graduation to help coach softball.

If you have any relevant information you would like to add or subtract from this article, please contact Clifton Key at 940-564-2979.