The Townsite of Porter
Porter, located on NM Highway 392, 8 miles north of San Jon, was established in 1907 and got its name from Jim and Mary Porter, who came from Virginia. They built a half dugout that served as a post office, school, church, and community meeting place. After the Porters moved to Arkansas, the post office was operated by a few other families before Mr. Lee Jackson had it closed in 1916, after he grew tired of running it.
Porter's school records begin in 1917. Previous records were destroyed in a fire at the county superintendent's office in Tucumcari. Porter School District was made up of Shady Grove, Anniston, Frost, Rana, Center, Prairie Dell, Mountain View, and Endee. The brick schoolhouse was built on donated land in 1921 at a cost of $13,860. The school colors were purple and gold and, in the 1930s, the Dragon was adopted as the mascot. Porter School's last class graduated in 1955. That year, the Porter Gym, built in 1930 with donated money and labor, burned. The district was consolidated with some going to Logan and most going to San Jon.
Missionary ministers alternated Sundays at the Community Church where four different denominations were represented. Porter Lake provided entertainment, where activities included ice skating and picnicking.
Family names from Porter include: Angel, Barber, Blandford, Bond, Bone, Brown, Burton, Cavendar, Chappell, Cox, Darnell, Davis, Esquibel, Fickle, Ford, Fraizer, Garcia, Garrett, Gates, Gentry, Gowdy, Green, Guest, Keim, Knight, Liles, Mason, !McGee, Moore, New, Parker, Pointer, Purcell, Robbins, Rodgers, Rose, Shafer, Shelton, Sherrod, Shiplet, Smith, Snapp, Southerland, Stilwell, Stutts, Terry, Tippins, Toliver, Toy, Trentham, Wallin, Warmuth, West, Willis, Wright, Yarbrough
(Information from Quay County book, compiled by Nadine Wallin, based on Earl Stutts's History of Porter; additional family names provided by individuals)