The community soon acquired a bank, a mercantile store, a wagonyard, a school, a newspaper, and three saloons.

[5] The area's cattlemen were reconciled to the arrival of farmers because they produced needed forage crops, such as hay, and introduced more families with eligible young women for the cowboy bachelors of the cattle kingdom.

[6] Panhandle was scandalized in 1897 after George E. Morrison, a preacher at the Methodist Episcopal Church, poisoned his wife Minnie with a strychnine-laced apple so that he could marry his mistress Miss Annie Whittlesey of Topeka, Kansas.

Morrison was sentenced to die in the gallows at Vernon in Wilbarger County, Texas, his last words being: "Jesus, Lover of My Soul".

Panhandle continued to thrive in the 1980s as a regional marketing and shipping center for cattle, wheat, and petroleum products.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,378 people, 1,058 households, and 723 families residing in the town.

[11] U.S. Route 60 passes through the town, leading northeast 27 miles (43 km) to Pampa and southwest the same distance to Amarillo.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Panhandle has a total area of 2.1 square miles (5.5 km2), all land.