The railroad built the Dwight Hotel, the section house, and the depot. The Childress Lumber Company followed. J. H. Christler became the first practicing physician in Childress. Amos Fires was elected county judge, a combined judicial and administrative position. He opened the first bank and initiated the county's public school system. In 1888, James S. Harrison launched the "Childress County Index" (later "Childress Index"), the first newspaper in the community. By 1889, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Church of Christ congregations had been organized. The city was incorporated in 1890 with a population of 621. It had a post office, a restaurant, a livery stable, a boardinghouse, three stores, a Young Men's Christian Association facility, and a theater. There were also several saloons in Childress until 1904, when a fatal shooting prompted Childress to adopt local prohibition of alcoholic beverages.