Ralls, Texas

Name: Ralls, Texas
Address: Ralls, TX

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Artists From Ralls

Billy Walker

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Musical Heritage

Two Generations of Maines Brothers Near Acuff RoadyGoat

1955

The Maines Brothers Band Highway honors a West Texas musical family, and northeastern Lubbock County is where it started. In the mid nineteen fifties, brothers Sonny, James, and Wayne Maines lived near Acuff and began playing at family get togethers. They were as likely to sing gospel songs as country hits. By nineteen sixty seven, James's sons Lloyd, Steve, and Kenny had their own group, the Little Maines Brothers Band, playing matinees at Lubbock's Cotton Club before the grown ups played the evening dances. The second generation built a sound people called aggressive country, rock and roll energy with country flavored melodies and strong harmony vocals. One of their albums was even titled Route One, Acuff. Mercury Polygram Records signed them in nineteen eighty three. The band split the pay evenly, from lead singer to sound engineer, and they never had roadies. They set up and packed out themselves. Lloyd became an in demand producer and session player, and his daughter Natalie joined the Dixie Chicks as lead singer in nineteen ninety five. In twenty twenty three, after a constituent suggested it, Texas put the family band's name on Farm to Market Road Forty, between County Road Thirty Three Hundred and County Road Thirty Eight Hundred.

RoadyGoat → · 15.4 mi away

History of Ralls

Ralls, TX RoadyGoat

The city of Ralls was named in honor of John Robinson Ralls, who played a pivotal role in the city's founding. Along with W.E. McLaughlin, Ralls laid out the townsite in July 1911, and the city bears his name as a tribute to his contributions.

Ralls, TX RoadyGoat

The founding of Ralls can be traced back to July 1911 when John Robinson Ralls, along with W.E. McLaughlin, laid out the townsite. This marked the beginning of the city's development, which has since grown into a community of over 1,600 residents.

Ralls, TX RoadyGoat

Ralls is an agricultural community surrounded by productive farmlands. The primary crops grown in the area are cotton and grains, with smaller amounts of soybean, sunflower seed, and vegetables. This agricultural focus has been a key part of the city's identity and economy.

Walker, William Marvin [Billy]

1929

William Marvin Walker, guitar player and singer, known as “The Tall Texan” because of his physical stature, was born on January 14, 1929, in Ralls, Texas, a ranching community located thirty miles east of Lubbock. After his mother’s death when Billy was only four, his father, unable to care for eight children, placed young Billy and two of his brothers in an orphanage. When Billy was eleven they went to live with their father after he had remarried. As a child Walker was inspired to become a musician after hearing fellow Texan Gene Autry play. In 1942 Walker’s family moved to Clovis, New Mexico, where in 1944 the fifteen-year-old won a music contest, earning him an opportunity to play on local radio station KICA. Eventually Walker became a regular host on KICA radio and remained with the station until his graduation from high school in 1946. At that point he formed a country band that toured throughout the Southwest. Walker soon caught the attention of promoters in Dallas who asked him to appear on the popular Big D Jamboree radio program on KRLD in 1949. Upon joining the Big D Jamboree , Walker was given the stage name “The Traveling Texan.” The show’s promoters also created a fictional identity for Walker as a mysterious crooner who wore a mask similar to the Lone Ranger as a way to keep his identity hidden from his wealthy parents. This fictional stage character proved popular with audiences, and Walker kept it as part of his performance during the early years of his career. Ironically he was eventually unmasked after a passerby mistakenly thought that Walker was a bank robber and called the police. Early on in his career Walker befriended Hank Williams. In the early 1950s the two were hired to promote a health tonic on the Hadacol Caravan tour. They sold what they advertised as a “healing tonic,” which Walker later admitted derived its “curative” powers primarily from alcohol. Walker recorded for Capitol Records from 1949 to 1951, and in 1951 he began a longtime association with Columbia. He joined the famed Louisiana Hayride on KWKH in Shreveport and later began performing in the Ozark Jubilee out of Springfield, Missouri. In 1954 he charted his first hit, “Thank You For Calling.” He also received awards from BMI and Cash Box . While touring in Memphis that same year, Walker met a young musician named Elvis Presley who had been added to the Hayride at the last minute. Walker was so impressed with the musician’s charisma and youthful energy that he asked Presley to join him on the Hayride . Together, Walker, Presley, and Tillman Franks toured West Texas in 1955. Walker’s popularity grew, and in 1960 he was invited to join Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry . While working on the Opry , Walker met and befriended a young Willie Nelson who had moved from Texas to Nashville to try and build a career in the music business. Walker was the first to record Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away,” and he passed Nelson’s song “Crazy” to Patsy Cline. In 1962 Walker released the first of several Top 10 hits—“Charlie’s Shoes,” which he followed with “Willie the Weeper.” On March 5, 1963, he narrowly escaped the tragic plane crash that claimed several lives, including Patsy Cline, when friend Hawkshaw Hawkins took his place on the private plane. Walker instead had used Hawkins’s commercial airline ticket to return to Nashville. He continued to produce hit songs from the 1960s to the 1980s, including “Cross the Brazos at Waco” (1964), “A Million to One” (1966), and “Sing Me a Love Song to Baby” (1972). During his career Walker counted sixty-five records on the country charts, including thirty-two Top 10 hits and six Number 1 hits. He toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, had a syndicated television show in the 1970s, and was an active member of the Grand Ole Opry for nearly fifty years. He also had his own Tall Texan label. Billy Walker had four daughters by his first wife Sylvia Smith. On May 21, 2006, the seventy-seven-year

Tsha Handbook →

Ralls, John Robinson

1910

John Robinson Ralls, rancher, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, was born in Monroe County, Georgia, on November 13, 1862, the eldest son of John Robinson and Fannie Minnie (Bird) Ralls. While helping his mother operate a 1,000-acre Georgia plantation after his father's death in 1880, Ralls obtained only a few months of formal education at an Atlanta college. In 1890 he moved to Bowie, Texas, and in the following years he was a merchant in Belcherville, Terrell, and finally in Ryan, Oklahoma. In 1906 he traded the Ryan store for a 10,000-acre ranch in Crosby County, Texas. In 1910 a short-line railroad was built through his ranch to Crosbyton, bypassing the county seat at Emma. Ralls laid out a town (named after himself) on the right-of-way to serve the residents of Emma. He divided his ranch into quarter-section tracts for sale to prospective farmers, built homes and business houses in the town, and donated land for schools and churches there. He later built an opera house that locals boasted was one of the finest west of Fort Worth. In 1906 he married Dollie M. Martin, from whom he was divorced in 1920. He was a Presbyterian and thirty-second-degree Mason. He died on October 3, 1921, and was buried in Ralls.

Tsha Handbook →

Emma

1891

In the spring of 1891, merchants R.L. Stringfellow and H.E. Hume of nearby Estacado founded the town of Emma, named in honor of Stringfellow's future wife, Emma Savior (or Sevall). The two men organized a general store and laid out the townsite, which opened with a picnic and town lots sale. In the fall of that year, the county seat was moved from Estacado to Emma; residents dismantled the Estacado courthouse and moved it piece by piece to its new site on Emma's town square. Along with the courthouse came many of Estacado's businesses, including the Crosby County News, edited by J.W. Murray. Land speculators, including Julian Bassett of C.B. Livestock Co. and John R. Ralls, founder of the town of Ralls, also came to the area. During the next two decades, Emma experienced a boom. By 1910, the town had several hundred residents, supporting a post office, the Meyer Hotel and a school. That year, however, the South Plains Railroad bypassed the community by approximately five miles, traveling from Lubbock to Crosbyton. Later, Ralls became an additional stop along the railway. County residents voted in a disputed election to move the county seat to Crosbyton. Soon most of Emma's residences and businesses were moved to Crosbyton and Ralls; the old courthouse was hauled to Cedric, where it served as housing and was eventually razed. Although the area around Emma is still agricultural, the former county seat quickly became a ghost town as residents moved to other communities. Today, the Emma Cemetery is the only remaining link to the men and women who once inhabited the town. (1968, 2004)

Historical Marker → · 3.8 mi away

Emma Cemetery

1891

Burial site of 12 Civil War veterans and County's first settlers, H. C. and Elizabeth Smith (died 1912 and 1925). Established in 1891 on land donated by J. W. Holt for the grave of his brother-in-law, Levi Jones. Land was bought by R. L. and R. R. Travis and deeded to Crosby County in 1917. 1968

Historical Marker → · 4.6 mi away

City of Ralls

1911

Founded by John R. Ralls, who donated land for a townsite. He erected greater part of the business district and gave free sites plus much of the cost of building each church in town. In 1911, he contributed 12 acres for school site. He also offered donation of 2,000 acres for site of Texas Technological College. Ralls, born in Culloden, Georgia, November 13, 1863; moved West in 1880's. After settling litigation with C.B. Livestock Company, sponsors of towns of Crosbyton and Cedric, Ralls secured railroad station, 1916; city was incorporated January 6, 1922, after death of founder. 1967

Historical Marker →

Everything Near Ralls

97 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Ralls, TX
The city of Ralls was named in honor of John Robinson Ralls, who played a pivotal role in the city's founding. Along with W.E. McLaughlin, Ralls laid out the townsite in July 1911, and the city bears his name as a…
Farming on Borrowed Water · 0.4 mi
As you drive around Ralls, look out at the fields. You might see enormous wheeled contraptions—center-pivot irrigation systems—that crawl in giant circles, watering the cotton. Those machines are the visible part of a…
Walker, William Marvin [Billy] · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
William Marvin Walker, guitar player and singer, known as “The Tall Texan” because of his physical stature, was born on January 14, 1929, in Ralls, Texas, a ranching community located thirty miles east of Lubbock. After…
Ralls, John Robinson · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
John Robinson Ralls, rancher, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, was born in Monroe County, Georgia, on November 13, 1862, the eldest son of John Robinson and Fannie Minnie (Bird) Ralls. While helping his mother operate…
Ralls, TX · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ralls, Texas, a town that owes its existence to one man's ambition. John Robinson Ralls founded this community in July 1911, even moving businesses and houses from the nearby town of Emma at his…
Birdwell, John E. II · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through West Texas, perhaps near Ralls, where John E. Birdwell II was born. He wasn't just any rancher; in 1946, he and his father drove all the way to New York City to buy the sprawling VVN Ranch.…
City of Ralls · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
Founded by John R. Ralls, who donated land for a townsite. He erected greater part of the business district and gave free sites plus much of the cost of building each church in town. In 1911, he contributed 12 acres for…
Ralls, John Robinson, Building · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the John R. Ralls Building, the biggest of over two blocks of businesses he constructed between 1915 and 1919. This building itself housed the First National Bank until 1930 and later the…
Ralls, John Robinson · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ralls, John Robinson. Born on a Monroe County, Georgia, plantation; came to Texas, 1890. In 1906, traded flourishing general store for 10,000-acre ranch. Founded Ralls, 1911, at point where…
Ralls Cemetery · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ralls Cemetery, which began with a five-acre tract purchased in 1915. The first person buried here was W.H. Shell, who died that same year. The cemetery is the final resting place for town founder…
Emma · 3.8 mi · Historical Marker
In the spring of 1891, merchants R.L. Stringfellow and H.E. Hume of nearby Estacado founded the town of Emma, named in honor of Stringfellow's future wife, Emma Savior (or Sevall). The two men organized a general store…
Emma Cemetery · 4.6 mi · Historical Marker
Burial site of 12 Civil War veterans and County's first settlers, H. C. and Elizabeth Smith (died 1912 and 1925). Established in 1891 on land donated by J. W. Holt for the grave of his brother-in-law, Levi Jones. Land…

Show all 97 nearby places

Estacado, TX · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Estacado, the first White agricultural settlement on the South Plains, is on Farm Road 1527 on the Crosby county line in northeast Lubbock County. It was established by Paris Cox in 1879. Looking for a suitable location…
Central Plains Academy · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once Estacado, in Crosby County, the site of a remarkable Texas first. In 1890, Quaker settlers here established the Central Plains Academy. It wasn't just a school; it was the very first…
Crosby County · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Crosby County, a place with a history as deep as its canyons. Imagine this: back in 1871, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie led U.S. Army forces in a pivotal battle against the Comanches right here in…
Smith, Henry Clay · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Crosby County, Texas, a land that Henry Clay Smith helped make home. Born Heinrich Schmitt in Bavaria, he came to America as a teenager, working as a sailor, surveyor, and prospector…
Cox, Paris · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Paris Cox, founder of Estacado, a Quaker colony in Crosby County, was born near Asheboro, North Carolina, on October 17, 1846, to Gideon and Asenath Cox, who raised their six children with a strong Quaker persuasion. As…
Emma, TX · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
A Texas historical marker on State Highway 207 twenty-five miles east of Lubbock is all that remains to mark the site of Emma, the once thriving county seat of Crosby County. In the fall of 1890 R. L. Stringfellow and…
Mount Blanco, TX · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Mount Blanco is on the Caprock escarpment off Farm Road 193 fifty-five miles northeast of Lubbock in northern Crosby County. It was named for a nearby mesa, which in turn derived its name from Blanco Canyon to the west.…
SR Ranch · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Crosby County, a place that was once the frontier for a unique ranching experiment. Back in 1882, Captain James Calvin McNeill established the SR Ranch here, buying up 8,000 acres. But here's the…
Two-Buckle Ranch · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Crosby County, where back in 1884, the Kentucky Cattle Company established the Two-Buckle Ranch. Organized in Louisville, Kentucky, the company purchased a massive 200 sections of land right here.…
T-Bar Ranch · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
T-Bar Ranch in Crosby County was established in 1883 when Cass Overton Edwards sold his ranch to C. C. Slaughter and purchased the lands and cattle of Frank and Will Porter at Double Lakes in Lynn County. From his new…
White River Reservoir · 6.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Crosby County, and right here is the White River Reservoir. It's an artificial lake, created to serve the towns of Ralls, Spur, Post, and Crosbyton. Back in 1955, the state recommended a lake, and…
The Night of the Tornadoes · 8.1 mi
On the evening of May 11, 1970, the skies over the South Plains turned terrifying. This was the night of the Lubbock tornado, an F5 that tore through the city twenty miles west of here and killed twenty-six people. That…
Tapping the Hidden Ocean · 8.1 mi
The fields you see around Lorenzo thrive because of a massive feat of engineering that taps into a hidden water source. This area only gets about 20 inches of rain a year, not enough for the thirsty cotton crop. The…
The Ghost of a 38-Mile Railroad · 8.1 mi
The highway you're on, US 62, follows the ghost of the Crosbyton-Southplains Railroad. This little 38-mile short line is the reason Lorenzo exists. Built in 1911, it wasn't part of some grand transcontinental system; it…
Lorenzo, TX · 8.1 mi
Lorenzo, Texas has a diverse ethnic heritage. According to the 2000 census, the racial makeup of the city was 64.65% White, 6.63% African American, 1.24% Native American, 0.07% Asian, 25.15% from other races, and 2.26%…
Moore, Patsy L. Smith · 8.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Lorenzo, Texas, home of Patsy L. Smith Moore. Born in 1924, she contracted polio as a child, facing life with leg braces and a crutch. But that didn't stop her. When Southern Methodist University Law…
Lorenzo, TX · 8.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Lorenzo, a town born right here in Crosby County. It all started back in 1910 when Lorenzo Dow, an employee of the C.B. Livestock Company, secured the title to this very land. Just a year later,…
High Plains Pioneer Henry Clay Smith · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the High Plains, and right here is where Henry Clay Smith made his mark. He was the first to set up a post office and farm in Crosby County, breaking land and drilling the first water well on the…
Built the Rock House in 1877 · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Crosby County. In memory of Henry Clay Smith, 'Uncle Hank'...Born in Germany, August 15, 1836, died, May 20, 1912 and Elizabeth Boyle Smith, 'Aunt Hank,'...Born July 12, 1848, died, June 5,…
Crosby County · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
In memory of Henry Clay Smith, 'Uncle Hank'...Born in Germany, August 15, 1836, died, May 20, 1912 and Elizabeth Boyle Smith, 'Aunt Hank,'...Born July 12, 1848, died, June 5, 1925....Pioneers of the Plains, builders of…
Citizens National Bank · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosbyton, and right here is the site of the town's very first bank. It started in 1909 as the First State Bank, housed in a sturdy concrete and stone building. Then, in 1917, Citizens National…
Work Building · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosbyton, a town laid out in 1908 by the C.B. Livestock Company on their ranch land. This very building, constructed in 1910, started life as the town's very first meat market. It's been in…
Lamar Building · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosbyton, and right here is the site of the Lamar Building. It started as the Crosbyton Inn in 1908, built to help promote cotton farming in the area. After a fire in 1912, it was rebuilt and…
Crosbyton · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Crosbyton, a town that sprang up in 1908 right on the cutting grounds of the C.B. Livestock Company. The company actively encouraged settlers by building a school, a supply store, and even an inn. By…
Crosby County Courthouse · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosbyton, the county seat that finally won its title after some election disputes back in 1910. The commissioners then hired architect M. L. Waller to design this Neoclassical beauty. Contractor…
Lorenzo · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Lorenzo, a town born from the railroad. The Crosbyton-South Plains Railway brought its first train here on April 10, 1911, marking the official founding. Named for Lorenzo Dow, an employee of the…
Offices in dugouts for two years · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Crosby County Courthouse. Crosby County, created in 1876 and organized 1886, had its first county seat at Estacado (founded 1879 by a colony of Quakers). It was on a mail and stage road, in the…
Crosby County Courthouse · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
Crosby County, created in 1876 and organized 1886, had its first county seat at Estacado (founded 1879 by a colony of Quakers). It was on a mail and stage road, in the northeast corner of the county. Freight hauling of…
Lorenzo Cemetery · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Lorenzo Cemetery, a final resting place for the folks who built this town. It all started with the C.B. Livestock Company, who planned a railroad and a townsite here back in 1910. They named the…
Crosby County · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosby County, formed in 1876 from older territories. It was organized in 1886 and named for Stephen Crosby, who came to Texas in 1845 and served as Commissioner of the General Land Office. The…
Farmer Community · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosby County, and you're passing the girlhood home of Ima Smith, the First Lady of Texas and wife of Governor Preston Smith. This settlement, called Farmer, got its start way back in 1887. By…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Crosbyton (Crosbyton) · 8.7 mi
Crosbyton (Crosbyton, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Miah Marquez (0.660 avg, 1 HR); Josiah Vega (0.543 avg); Nolan Salazar (0.521 avg, 2 HR).
Crosbyton, TX · 8.7 mi
Crosbyton's history is deeply rooted in the land and its agricultural potential. In 1902, the C. B. Livestock Company purchased 90,000 acres, and by 1912, a 10,000-acre demonstration farm managed by Judge L. Gough…
Cone Cemetery · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near Cone. The Cone Cemetery began with the burial of W. G. English in 1897, on land patented by his son, J. P. English. The county bought the cemetery grounds in 1910.
Bassett, Julian Marcus · 8.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Crosby County, and right here is Crosbyton, a town born from a partnership that started with sheep. Julian Marcus Bassett, originally from New York, came to Texas as a boy and worked as a cowboy.…
Crosbyton, TX · 8.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Crosbyton, a town born from a massive land sale. Back in 1902, the C. B. Livestock Company bought up 90,000 acres here, turning cattle country into farmland. By 1908, they surveyed this townsite,…
Crosbyton-Southplains Railroad · 8.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through West Texas, and right here, you're passing through country that owes a lot to railroads like the Crosbyton-Southplains. Chartered in 1910, this line was built to connect Dickens County all the way…
Sudduth, James · 8.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Crosbyton, the birthplace of James Sudduth, a prolific composer and band director. Born in 1940, Sudduth dedicated his life to music education, eventually leading the bands at Texas Tech…
The Midnight Ride for the County Seat · 9.2 mi
The impressive Crosby County Courthouse in the center of town wasn’t always the seat of power. When Crosbyton was founded in 1908, a smaller, older town named Emma held that honor. The ambitious newcomers in Crosbyton…
The Sunken Solar Dish of Crosbyton · 9.2 mi
In the late 1970s, as the nation faced an energy crisis, this small Texas town became the site of a futuristic experiment. Just outside Crosbyton, the U.S. Department of Energy funded the Crosbyton Solar Power Project,…
A Stone House of Memories · 9.2 mi
One of the most important buildings in Crosbyton is a replica of a house that is still, just barely, standing. The Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum wears the front of the rock house at Mount Blanco, the first…
The White River's Secret Canyon · 9.2 mi
Just east of Crosbyton, the flat, predictable plains suddenly fall away into a different world: Blanco Canyon. Carved by the White River, a tributary of the Brazos, this canyon is a lush, rugged break in the landscape.…
Big Four School · 9.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Big Four School, which began as a one-room schoolhouse built in 1909 by the Hames and Freeman families. It grew into a two-room school by 1916, serving the Big Four community. This…
Blanco Canyon - Quanah Parker's Night Raid · 10.7 mi
On the night of October 10, 1871, Quanah Parker proved why the Comanche were the greatest light cavalry on the continent. Colonel Ranald Mackenzie had led the 4th Cavalry into Blanco Canyon, southeast of present-day…
J.J. Pierce · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosbyton, and just ahead is the story of J.J. Pierce. Born in Blum, Texas, Pierce became Sheriff of Crosby County in January of 1947. He was a dedicated lawman, known for his quiet courage and…
Julian M. Bassett · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosbyton, a town that owes a lot to Julian M. Bassett. Born in New York in 1873, Bassett came to Texas in 1882. He wasn't just a rancher; he helped build the C.B. Livestock Company and, to sell…
Lamar Family · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosby County, where the Lamar family put down roots in 1892. William Percy Lamar arrived with his parents, settling on a 160-acre homestead. He and his wife, Sarah Elzina Henson, built a…
Crosbyton Cemetery · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosbyton, and just off the road is the Crosbyton Cemetery, established in 1909. This wasn't just any burial ground; it was part of a massive 90,000-acre ranch run by the C. B. Livestock Company.…
Estacado Cemetery · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Estacado Cemetery, a final resting place for the pioneers who opened up the Texas Plains. It all started in 1878 when Paris Cox, an Indiana Quaker, scouted this land. He returned home, dreaming of a…
Estacado · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through what used to be Estacado, a town founded in 1879 by English Quakers. Led by Isaac Paris Cox, they bought over 50,000 acres here. First named Marietta, it became Estacado in 1886. By 1893, the…
Mount Blanco Community, The · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the South Plains Region of Texas, a place that was once vast and untamed frontier. This area was named for a tall, white mesa that served as a landmark for the Mackenzie Trail, first surveyed in…
Main Supply Camp on Historic Mackenzie Trail · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosby County, heading southeast of here. Look for the site of a crucial military camp that played a big role in the closing of the Texas frontier. In <say-as interpret-as="date"…
Texas Ranger Campsite · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through West Texas, and just a mile up the road is the site of Camp Roberts, established in 1879. This wasn't just any camp; it was the very first Texas Ranger station in the Panhandle. Captain G. W.…
Battle of Freshwater Fork of the Brazos · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the site of a pivotal clash in the Texas Panhandle's history. In September 1871, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie led troops from Fort Griffin to engage Comanche warriors. The surprise attack happened…
Old Dewey Lake · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Old Dewey Lake, a place that was once a vital landmark for early Texas surveyors. Can you believe they actually forgot to name it on their first trip out? Back at headquarters, they were…
Two Buckle Ranch Headquarters, Kentucky Cattle Raising Company · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through West Texas, and right around here is the historic site of the Two Buckle Ranch headquarters. Founded in 1884 by Kentucky distillers, this was a massive operation, spanning over 145,000 acres!…
R. M. Wheeler Home · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the R. M. Wheeler Home, built back in 1915. This ranch headquarters replaced an earlier half-dugout on this site. Amazingly, the Wheeler family still occupies this home today, continuing its legacy…
Smith, G.W., Home · 14.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the South Plains of West Texas, and just off the road is the G.W. Smith Home, built way back in 1914. This house was originally built for the eldest son of Hank Smith, who was the very first…
Idalou Cemetery · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Idalou Cemetery, established in 1920 when John and Mary Turner deeded two acres for burials. Their infant nephew was the first interred, followed by other early community members. The cemetery grew…
Coronado in Blanco Canyon · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Floyd County, and you might be passing right over a campsite used by one of history's most famous explorers. In the spring of 1541, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado was leading a massive expedition…
The Battle of Blanco Canyon · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the site of the Battle of Blanco Canyon, a major clash between the U.S. Cavalry and the Comanches in 1871. For years, Comanche bands like Chief Quanah Parker's Quahadi had dominated this region,…
Floyd County · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Floyd County, named for a hero of the Alamo. Dolphin Ward Floyd was a captain who died fighting for Texas independence. The county itself was formed from vast territories back in 1876, officially…
Roots of the Catholic Faith in West Texas · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Floydada, and you're passing through land where the Catholic faith first took root in West Texas, way back in the 1540s. Spanish conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his men camped…
Two Generations of Maines Brothers Near Acuff · 15.4 mi
The Maines Brothers Band Highway honors a West Texas musical family, and northeastern Lubbock County is where it started. In the mid nineteen fifties, brothers Sonny, James, and Wayne Maines lived near Acuff and began…
Becton Cemetery · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the South Plains farmland near Idalou, heading past Becton Cemetery. This burial ground started in 1898 when Abner Becton and his wife Cornelia settled land that had been part of the W.E. Bledsoe…
The Engineering of the Modern Cotton Gin · 16.8 mi
When you think of a cotton gin, you might picture Eli Whitney’s simple invention. But the massive industrial facilities you see on the edge of Idalou are marvels of modern agricultural engineering. These gins are where…
A Town Built by Blueprint · 16.8 mi
Idalou is a town that was drawn before it was built. As you drive its orderly grid, you are looking at a plat laid down around a railroad. In 1911 the South Plains and Santa Fe Railway pushed its line east from Lubbock…
Idalou, TX · 17.0 mi
Idalou, Texas, it's a place where the land stretches out forever, almost a painting in browns and blues under that big Texas sky. You can feel the peace out here, see it in the friendly waves you get driving down the…
Idalou, TX · 17.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Idalou, a town born from a railroad line. Back in 1911, the South Plains and Santa Fe Railway pushed its tracks through this area, and a small depot sprung up right here. The name itself is a bit…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Roosevelt (Lubbock) · 17.7 mi
Roosevelt (Lubbock, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Caleb Daniel (0.580 avg, 1 HR); Cameron Vasquez (0.455 avg, 3 HR); Ryan Bradshaw (0.443 avg).
Petersburg, TX (Lavaca County) · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what used to be Petersburg, Texas, the very first county seat of Lavaca County back in 1846. This townsite, donated in 1846, was a key stop on important roads. But things didn't go smoothly. The…
Petersburg, TX (Hale County) · 18.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Petersburg, a town that started as a post office in 1891, named for Zack and Margaret Peters. Margaret Peters was even the first postmistress! The town officially moved five miles southwest and…
Petersburg · 18.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Petersburg, a town that owes its start to a post office and a general store. It all began in 1891 as a rural post office, established at the home of Captain Zack Peters. His wife, Margaret, was…
The Machines That Draw on a Hidden Sea · 18.7 mi
If you could fly over Petersburg, you'd see the landscape is a grid of massive green circles. These aren't natural; they're the product of an engineering marvel that transformed West Texas: center-pivot irrigation. For…
The German Experiment on the Plains · 18.7 mi
Petersburg was a post office before it was a town, and it wasn't even in this county. In 1891 it opened at the home of Zack Peters over in southwestern Floyd County, named for Peters and for his wife Margaret, who ran…
Petersburg, TX · 18.7 mi
Founded in 1891 as a post office in southeast Hale County, the city was named Petersburg in honor of Zack Peters and his wife, Margaret, who was the first postmistress. The town's growth was significantly influenced by…
Near Site of Pansy Baptist Church · 18.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what was once the Pansy community, home to a Baptist church that served its members for nearly a century. Organized in 1905, the Pansy Baptist Church saw its congregation build their first sanctuary…
Site of Leatherwood School · 18.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Crosby County, near where the Leatherwood Common School District was formed in 1912. The first classes were held in 1913 in a one-room schoolhouse on land donated by M. G. Leatherwood. The school…
Cole-McNeill-Jones House · 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Cole-McNeill-Jones House, a home with roots stretching back to the Texas frontier. Handy P. Cole, a foreman for the Spur Ranch and later a sheriff, bought this land in 1897 and built the original…
McNeill Ranch · 18.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through West Texas, where the McNeill Ranch carved out a piece of history. In 1882, rancher James Calvin McNeill bought 8,000 acres here, looking to grow his cattle business. It was a huge operation,…
Ransom Canyon · 19.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ransom Canyon, a place that's seen it all. Spanish explorers might have crossed this very canyon as early as the 1540s. Later, Native Americans like the Jumano, Apache, and Comanche found shelter…
Robert Bruno's Steel House · 20.0 mi
If you look up at the canyon rim, you might spot something extraordinary. It looks like a four-legged steel spaceship, and it’s one of the most famous works of architecture in Texas. It’s the Steel House, the life’s…
Engineering a Lake in the Desert · 20.0 mi
The very existence of Ransom Canyon as a town is a feat of civil engineering — and it did not go smoothly the first time. The canyon takes its name from cañon de Rescate, the Canyon of Ransom, where Spanish and Anglo…
The Town with No Stores · 20.0 mi
As you drive around Ransom Canyon, you will notice something missing. No gas station. No convenience store. No strip center. It is houses and canyon and water, and that is about it, which means a trip for a gallon of…
Ransom Canyon, TX · 20.0 mi
Ransom Canyon, even though many folks drive into Lubbock for work, has a unique draw. It's not about mass production or some big industry, but more about a certain kind of peaceful living, centered on the lake. The…

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