Shallowater, Texas

You're driving past the Arnett House, a beautiful Craftsman-style bungalow built in 1915 as a wedding gift. It later became the home of pioneer rancher and banker Sam C. Arnett. In 1956, the house was donated to Lubbock…

Lubbock Christian defeated Dallas Christian School 36-30 for the 2025 Texas TAPPS Division III state football championship.

You're driving past New Deal, Texas, a town whose very name tells a story. Originally founded in 1909 and named Monroe for a railroad promoter, this small settlement didn't really take off until the late 1920s. By then,…

You're driving through West Texas, where for a brief, wild time, cattle roamed free. From 1878 to 1885, this was the heart of the Free Range Era of Ranching. After the removal of Native Americans and buffalo, hundreds…

You're driving past the V-8 Ranch, a place with roots stretching back to the vast IOA ranch, established in the 1880s. This land saw the collapse of the free-range cattle industry, followed by lawsuits, sheriff's sales,…

You're driving past County Line Community. In 1901, W.G. Murray, John H. Pettit and the J.G. Hardy family purchased land in this area.

New Deal (New Deal, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Lane Proctor (2 HR).

You're driving past the site of the original Lubbock Municipal Airport, born from the aviation craze sparked by Charles Lindbergh. Land was purchased in 1929, and by 1930, a stylish Art Deco hangar stood ready. While it…

You're driving past Coronado High School in Lubbock. This school, opened in 1965, carries the name of a famous explorer. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, guided by a man called 'The Turk', traversed the vast Llano…

During World War II, nine preliminary and advanced military glider pilot training fields operated in Texas; one of the most prominent sites was located here. The U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) leased Lubbock Municipal…

You're driving through Lubbock, and for the next thirty years, a man named W.G. McMillan shaped this city. He arrived in 1924, just in time to help build the iconic Hotel Lubbock. After that, he stayed and built over…

You're driving through one of the few towns in America whose very name is a relic of the Great Depression. For years this was the Monroe community, named for Monroe G. Abernathy, a local landowner and railroad promoter…

The vast cotton fields surrounding New Deal seem impossible in this semi-arid climate, which gets only about 20 inches of rain a year. The secret isn't in the sky; it's in the ground. Beneath this entire region lies the…

Originally known as Monroe, the town was named after a local landowner, Monroe G. Abernathy. It was developed as a train station loading site, and people began to settle there, building the town alongside the railroad…

You're driving past New Deal. The Pecos and Northern Texas Railway, part of the Santa Fe system, extended from Plainview to Lubbock in 1909 and established new settlements along the line. Invited to name two of the…

You're driving past the site of Dagley Field, a place that helped transform warfare. Back in the late 1930s, America launched the Civilian Pilot Training Program to prepare young men for the skies. Texas Technological…

On May eighteenth, nineteen thirty seven, a Texas highway minute order gave the name Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Highway to a chain of roads. The route started at the New Mexico state line at Texline and ran to…

Interstate Twenty Seven between Lubbock and Amarillo is the Marshall Formby Memorial Highway, named for a man who once chaired the Texas Highway Commission. Marshall Formby was born in nineteen eleven and moved with his…

You're driving through Lubbock County, and right here is the site of Old Lubbock, a town that barely existed! Back in 1890, three rival groups were fighting to establish the county seat. Two of them, led by W.D. Crump…

You're driving past the old Livestock Judging Pavilion at Texas Tech. Completed in the 1920s, this was one of the first four buildings on campus and the very first designed specifically for agricultural education.…

You're driving past the historic Texas Tech Dairy Barn, completed in 1927. Designed by Wyatt Hedrick in an unusual Arts and Crafts bungalow style, it was built to house the university's dairy cows. By 1930, this barn…

You're driving past St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church. Early Catholic settlers in Lubbock and on the Texas South Plains celebrated Mass with traveling priests in private homes. Beginning in 1905, Father Joseph Keller…

You're cruising through Lubbock, and just ahead is a glimpse into the past: the Mast House. Built in 1925 by a top local builder for Dr. Clarence S. Mast, a founding physics professor at Texas Tech. This home shows off…

You're driving past the heart of Texas Tech's connection to its graduates. The very first graduating class in 1927 didn't just leave campus – they immediately formed the Alumni Association to stay connected. From a…

You're driving past the site of St. John's United Methodist Church in Lubbock. It started in 1939, serving Texas Tech faculty and students. Interestingly, the first services were held in a movie theater, the Tech…

You're driving past the site of Lubbock's First Baptist Church. Organized way back in 1891, this congregation actually met in the county jail before building their first church in 1901. They grew with the town,…

On the night of May 11, 1970, Lubbock changed forever. Just after dark, a small tornado touched down, but it was just a warning. Around 9:35 PM, a second, monstrous F5 tornado, a mile wide, tore a path of destruction…

Before Buddy Holly, popular artists usually sang songs written by others. But here in Lubbock, a lanky teenager decided to do it all. Buddy Holly and his band, The Crickets, wrote their own songs, pioneered new…

The 1970 Lubbock tornado was a catastrophe, but it also became a groundbreaking scientific laboratory. In the storm's wake, engineers and meteorologists from Texas Tech University descended on the wreckage. They didn't…

Imagine looking up into the night sky over Lubbock and seeing something you can't explain. That's what happened in August and September of 1951. Dozens of credible witnesses, including professors from Texas Tech,…

It might seem quirky now, but Lubbock is home to a pioneering conservation effort. Head over to Mackenzie Park and you'll find Prairie Dog Town. In the mid-1930s, when the government's poisoning campaign was sweeping…

You're driving past the site of the Bacon Home, built in 1916 for Warren Bacon, a major business and civic leader in early Lubbock, and his wife Myrta. She was the daughter of a pioneer family here. This two-story brick…

You're driving past the site of the Lubbock Women's Club. It started in 1944 when several women's groups decided to coordinate their community improvement efforts. By 1945, 22 groups had joined, forming the Lubbock…

You're driving past the site of the First Methodist Church of Lubbock. This congregation started in 1892 with circuit rider R.M. Morris and 12 members. They met in the schoolhouse and courthouse until their first…

You're driving through Lubbock, the hometown of a true rock and roll pioneer: Buddy Holly! Born Charles Hardin Holley in 1936, he started young, performing with his brothers in talent shows right here. He taught himself…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here is a place that shaped Texas music for decades: the Cotton Club. <break time="400ms"/> Forget that famous New York joint; this Texas dance hall, born in a renovated Army…

You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through the heart of a legendary music scene. In 1968, Christopher B. Stubblefield, Sr., known to everyone as 'Stubb,' opened his Bar-B-Q joint in Lubbock. It…

You're driving through Lubbock, the birthplace of a band that helped define rock and roll: The Crickets. Formed in 1957, this group was the powerhouse behind the legendary Buddy Holly. After Holly's solo career hit a…

You're driving through Lubbock, site of one of America's most destructive tornadoes. On May 11th, 1970, two twisters ripped through the city, causing over $250 million in damage and killing 26 people. But from this…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here at 1801 Crickets Avenue stands the Buddy Holly Center. But this isn't just any museum; it's a building with a story all its own. It started life in 1928 as a grand train…

You're driving through West Texas, and right here in Lubbock, you're passing through the stomping grounds of a legendary football innovator. Peter 'Pete' Cawthon took over Texas Technological College in 1930, and by…

You're driving through Lubbock, a city that owes a lot to Dr. Joseph Alvin Chatman. Born in Navasota in 1901, Dr. Chatman moved to Lubbock in 1939 and, right here, he established the Chatman Medical and Surgical Clinic…

You're driving through West Texas, maybe near Lubbock, where in 1935, a family of sharecroppers decided to turn their singing into a career. Dave and Carrie Carter, with their nine kids, started auditioning for radio.…

You're driving near Lubbock, and right here is a place that holds the story of Texas for over eleven thousand years. Lubbock Lake isn't just a landmark; it's a time capsule. Back in 1950, researchers found burned bone…

You're driving through Lubbock, Texas, a city that was once home to a bootmaker with a national reputation. Willie Lusk, Jr. was a towering figure, six-foot-six and 260 pounds, who learned his craft from a Czech…

You're driving through West Texas, and right here in Lubbock, you're passing through the legacy of Dr. Marvin Cartmell Overton. He arrived in 1901, becoming the very first physician to call this growing community home.…

You're driving through Lubbock, Texas, home of Franklin Alton Wade, a geologist and explorer who chased the polar ice. Wade first journeyed to Antarctica in 1933, accompanying Admiral Richard Byrd. He suffered severe…

You're driving through Lubbock, Texas, a city that owes its very existence to a man named Frank Emerson Wheelock. Originally from New York, Wheelock came west in 1887 to manage the sprawling IOA Ranch. But his real…

You're driving through West Texas, near what is now Lubbock, and you're passing through the site of the last major fight between American Indians and settlers on the High Plains. It was March 18, 1877, during the Staked…

You're driving near Lubbock, and right here is Yellow House Draw. This canyon, carved over millions of years, was a vital landmark for early Texans. In 1877, it became the scene of a wild frontier battle. Forty-six…

You're driving through West Texas, not far from Lubbock, the hometown of songwriter and performer Mac Davis. He was born Morris Mac Davis in Lubbock on January 21, 1942. Young Mac was inspired to become a singer after…

You're driving through Lubbock, the site of a devastating tornado on May 11th, 1970. That storm helped confirm the work of Dr. Tetsuya Fujita, a Japanese scientist who developed the Fujita Scale to measure tornado…

You're driving through Lubbock, where Bidal Aguero made a huge impact, especially on the Mexican American community. Growing up on a cotton farm, he saw firsthand the struggles of farmworkers. After college, he didn't…

You're driving through Lubbock, a city that owes a lot to Dr. William Lofton Baugh. He arrived here in 1906, becoming one of the first physicians on the South Plains. Back then, reaching patients meant riding horseback…

You're driving through Lubbock, a city that owes a lot to William Harrison Bledsoe. He wasn't just a lawyer and investor; he was a key player in shaping Texas education. While serving in the Texas House of…

You're driving through West Texas, and right here, you're passing through Lubbock, a town that owes a lot to the vision of James Lorenzo Dow. Dow arrived in 1905, when Lubbock was just a tiny frontier settlement. He…

You're driving through Lubbock, and you're passing through the life of Ross Edwards, a man who did it all. Born in 1884 near Granbury, Edwards was a merchant, inventor, musician, and even mayor of this city. He started…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here is a place that made history. In 1961, Lucille Graves broke a barrier, becoming the very first African American admitted to study at Texas Tech University. She wasn't just…

You're driving through Lubbock, the hometown of rock-and-roll legend Buddy Holly. But this city is also home to Bill Griggs, a man who dedicated his life to preserving the music and stories of the 1950s. Griggs, born in…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here, you're passing through a place that owes a lot to Ella Beth Winn Iles. She arrived in 1922, becoming the first long-term African-American teacher in the city. She started…

You're driving through West Texas, and right here, in what's now Floyd County, a young Walter Posey learned the meaning of hard times. Back in 1893, a panic and drought hit his family hard. Thirteen-year-old Walter…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here is the Silent Wings Museum. It's dedicated to the brave World War II glider pilots. These volunteers flew silent, unpowered aircraft deep behind enemy lines, facing a…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here, in the early 1970s, a powerful voice for the Mexican-American community took the stage. It was the Teatro Chicano, founded by Nephtalí De León. This wasn't just theater;…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here is where a true West Texas style icon got her start. Margaret Talkington, born in Fort Worth, moved to Lubbock after World War II and saw a need. She traveled all the way…

You're driving through Lubbock, a city born from a compromise. Back in 1890, two groups of town promoters, one led by Frank Wheelock and the other by W. E. Rayner, decided to join forces. They abandoned their own…

You're driving through what was once Rath City, a rough-and-tumble frontier town that sprung up in 1876, right here in Stonewall County. It was a hub for the booming buffalo trade, founded by Charlie C. Rath, who’d seen…

The March of Faith took place in Lubbock, Texas, on November 7, 1971, and was planned by several Chicano organizations in the city. The Mexican American activists included Lubbock youth, a Brown Beret chapter, and the…

You're driving through West Texas, maybe near Lubbock, and you can thank William Dorsey Crump for helping put it on the map. This Confederate soldier, who rode with John Hunt Morgan and even survived prison camps during…

You're driving through West Texas, maybe near Lubbock, and you're passing through the homeland of Bess Bigham Hubbard. Born in Fort Worth in 1896, she didn't start her art career until 1925, as a hobby. But this hobby…

You're driving through Lubbock, a city that owes much of its modern medical reputation to Dr. Julian Thomas Krueger. Arriving here in 1919, he joined the Lubbock Sanitarium and quickly became its chief of surgery.…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here is Mackenzie Park. It started back in 1921 with just a swimming pool, but the city had bigger plans. During the Great Depression, the American Legion pushed to develop this…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here is a place that owes a lot to Charles Ernest Maedgen. He arrived in 1917 and founded the Security State Bank and Trust Company, becoming its first president. During the…

You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Ellis County, a young man named Clark Marion Mullican was born. He'd go on to become a decorated soldier in World War I, serving with the 144th Infantry Regiment in…

You're driving west of Lubbock, and right here is the site of Reese Air Force Base. It started in 1941 as a crucial center for pilot training during World War II. Construction began in August of that year, and by…

You're driving through Lubbock, home to Texas Tech University. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1925</say-as>, Wenzel Stangel joined the very first faculty of this new college. Known as 'Runt' in…

You're driving through Lubbock, Texas, a city that owes a lot to the vision of one man: Edward Cecil "Prof" Struggs. For thirty-five years, starting in 1930, Struggs led the development of African-American schools here.…

Joan Yvonne Snell Ervin, community activist, education advocate, and the first African American to serve as a member of the board for the Lubbock Independent School District, was born in Waxahachie, Texas, on April 5,…

You're driving through West Texas, maybe near Lubbock, and you're passing by the legacy of Roy K. Furr. He started small, buying six grocery stores in Lubbock back in 1929. But he didn't stop there. Furr's chain grew…

You're driving through Texas, and right here in Lubbock, William Clark Griggs was born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1932</say-as>. After serving in the Army and earning his doctorate from Texas Tech, Griggs…

You're driving through West Texas, and you might be passing by a park named after a man who built much of the region. James Barney Maxey, born near Prosper in 1881, started as a carpenter and became a major contractor.…

You're driving through Lubbock, a city that owes a lot to Kenneth Alton May. Born in Farmersville in 1929, May moved to Lubbock after college and became a journalist for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. He won numerous…

You're driving through Lubbock, Texas, where Leroy Thompson Patton arrived in 1926. He was tasked with building the geology department at the brand new Texas Technical College. Imagine starting with just one professor…

You're driving through Lubbock, Texas, a city that owes a lot to the cotton industry. Right here, George Albert Simmons, a key figure in cottonseed processing, moved in 1930 to manage the Lubbock Cotton Oil Mill. He led…

You're driving through Lubbock, a city that recognized the immense contributions of Mae D. Thomas Simmons by naming a community center and a park after her. Simmons dedicated twenty-nine years to educating Lubbock's…

You're driving through Lubbock, a city that owes a lot to the vision of Roscoe Wilson. This lawyer and businessman arrived in 1909 and immediately set to work building the community. He helped establish the local bank,…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here is a landmark that rose from the plains' booming population in the 1920s. This is Lubbock High School, completed in 1931. Designed in a rich North Italian Romanesque style,…

A huge part of Wolfforth's identity is its school district: Frenship ISD. So where did that name come from? It isn't a typo and it isn't a family name. Back in 1935 four small rural districts around here - Wolfforth,…

Wolfforth sits in the middle of the biggest cotton patch in the country, and it got here by conversion: this was Spade Ranch grazing land until the 1920s and 30s, when the sod went under the plow and a Panhandle and…

You're driving past the legacy of George Mahon, a West Texas powerhouse who served an incredible 44 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was more than just a congressman; Mahon was instrumental in bringing…

The men this town is named for spelled it with an A. George C. and Eastin Wolffarth were early ranchers out here on the South Plains — George held county offices and later ran the Citizens National Bank of Lubbock — and…

You're driving past Monterey High School in Lubbock. This school opened its doors in 1955, but its name tells a story going back much further. It's named for Monterey, one of the two original townsites that vied to…

Lubbock was a dusty cotton town when a skinny kid named Charles Hardin Holley picked up a guitar in the nineteen fifties and figured out how to make rock and…

Thomas Saltus Lubbock, the man this county is named for, helped raise one of the most storied cavalry outfits Texas ever put in the saddle. Along with a man named Benjamin Terry, he recruited the Eighth Texas Cavalry,…

Lubbock rises from the South Plains like a cottonwood after a rain. It's easy to think it just *happened* here, but there's a reason this particular spot became a regional hub. Think about it: endless flat land, perfect…

The name Lubbock honors a nineteenth century Ranger, but the modern name that put this city on the world's radar belongs to a bespectacled kid who grew up right here. Buddy Holly was born in Lubbock on September…

Out here on the South Plains there is a weather front you will never see on the news the way you see a cold front, because it has no rain and no clouds of its own. It is called the dryline, and it is one of the…

Here is the honest story behind the name on the map. Lubbock is a real, documented namesake. When the Texas Legislature carved out this county on August twenty-first, eighteen seventy-six, they named it for Thomas…

Let us clear up something that trips people up. When folks hear the name Lubbock, some of them picture Governor Francis Lubbock, the wartime governor of Texas. But the city and county were named for his brother, Thomas…

The county name here comes from a Texas Ranger, so let us talk about what that title actually meant and how the Rangers got started, because the beginning is humbler than the legend. Back in the summer of eighteen…

Here is a wild bit of how this city actually came to be. Back in the summer of eighteen ninety, there were not one but two little rival towns squaring off near Yellow House Canyon. One was called Monterey, planted by a…

If you have been driving across the country around Lubbock, you have probably noticed the land is almost supernaturally flat and wide, stretching to a straight-line horizon in every direction. There is a real geologic…

Lubbock gave the world Buddy Holly. It also gave the world Terry Allen — and Terry Allen never once let the place off the hook. In 1979 he came home to cut a record with Lubbock players and called it "Lubbock (on…

Growing up in Lubbock, Amanda Shires watched Bobbie Nelson play piano alongside Willie and the band — and then she went and built her own outlaw résumé the bold way. She climbed onstage uninvited at a Billy Joe Shaver…

Just off the Texas Tech campus in Lubbock, the Blue Light turned its lights on in 1999 — and it's been minting West Texas songwriters ever since. Wade Bowen played it early. So did Flatland Cavalry, and a young Josh…

Out on the West Texas Walk of Fame in Lubbock, there's a bronze man about your size, a Fender slung across him, frozen mid-song. That's Buddy Holly, cast in metal right where he came up. The center behind him lives in…

The City of Lubbock Cemetery goes back to the late eighteen hundreds and holds better than sixty thousand graves. One of them is Buddy Holly's — Charles Hardin Holley, killed in a plane crash in 1959, brought home to…

In Lubbock, Santa comes in a poncho. They call him Pancho Clos — spelled without the a-u-s, so nobody mixes him up with the other fella. It started back in nineteen seventy-one, when three men, Agustin Medina, Jesse…

Out here in storm country, the science starts before the storm does. Twice a day, from about 100 sites across the country, the National Weather Service floats weather balloons miles into the sky. The instrument hanging…

Out here in storm country, the wind itself is rarely what gets you. The real danger is what the wind picks up. A snapped board, a chunk of roof, a fence rail, all of it turns into a high-speed missile. Hit a window and…

Out here on the High Plains around Lubbock, hail and tornadoes are cousins, born of the same engine. Both grow inside a supercell's tilted updraft, that violent column of rising air. Here's the trick to a giant…

So the next time the sign for Lubbock rolls past your window, you will know it is carrying more than a name. It is carrying a Texas Ranger named Thomas Saltus Lubbock, who helped raise Terry's Texas Rangers and held…

You're driving through West Texas, following a path etched into history by the Mackenzie Scout Trail. This wasn't just any trail; it was a vital artery connecting Camp Supply in Crosby County to Fort Sumner, New Mexico.…

You're driving past the site of the Citizens National Bank of Lubbock, the oldest national bank still operating in the city. It opened its doors way back on May 5, 1906, when Lubbock was just a tiny town of 1,500…

Lubbock, Texas raised a kid who changed the sound of popular music forever, and he was dead before he turned 23. Charles Hardin Holley, who dropped the 'e' from his last name thanks to a misprinted contract, grew up…

You're driving past the site associated with Colonel T. S. Lubbock, a South Carolinian who came to Texas in 1835. He was an Indian fighter and soldier who served the Confederacy. He was elected Lieutenant Colonel of the…

You're driving past Nicolett Hotel. In late 1888 and early 1889, Frank E. Wheelock and Rollie Burns, manager and employee, respectively, of the large Ioa Ranch, built the Nicolett Hotel on a high prairie just east of…

You're driving past Lubbock County. Formed from Young and Bexar territories Created August 21, 1876 Organized March 10, 1891 Named in honor of Colonel Thomas S. Lubbock 1817 - 1862 Member of the New Orleans Greys at the…

You're driving through Yellowhouse Canyon, a place known to Spanish explorers way back in the 1600s. Albert Pike passed through here in 1832 and described it. Look around – this was the site of the last major battle in…

You're driving through Lubbock County, and right here, in Yellow House Canyon, you're passing over one of the oldest human history sites in Texas. For at least 12,000 years, people have called this place home. Imagine…

Monterey (Lubbock, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Ashton Castillo (4 HR); Lincoln Lamm (4 HR); Dyson Quigley (3 HR).

You're driving through West Texas, maybe near Estacado, and right here in Yellow House Canyon, a lone store once stood. It was 1881 when George Washington Singer, a Quaker merchant, opened his doors. This wasn't just…

The brief history of Monterey began in the summer of 1890, when the town was established by W. A. Rayner, a cattleman and town promoter. Rayner had previously organized the town of Rayner to be the county seat of…

You're driving southeast of Lubbock, and right here is Buffalo Springs Lake. In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1874</say-as>, this was a watering hole for buffalo hunters, and it became a flashpoint when they…

You're driving through West Texas, and right here, in what was once Yarrellton, Stephen Cone got his start. He began with bees at age ten, then sold that to pay for college. But when his father died, Cone came home and…

You're driving through Lubbock County, heading southeast of the modern city. Right here, in the late 1880s, was the headquarters of the IOA Ranch. This massive operation, owned by businessmen from Iowa and Illinois,…

Right here in northeastern Lubbock County, you're driving through the heartland of a West Texas musical dynasty: the Maines Brothers Band. It all started in the mid-1950s with brothers Sonny, James, and Wayne, playing…

You're driving through West Texas, and right here in what is now Lubbock County, a huge cattle operation once tried to make its mark. In 1884, the Western Land and Livestock Company, organized in Iowa with a hefty…

Acuff is on Farm roads 40 and 789 ten miles east of Lubbock in east central Lubbock County. The town is said to have been named for Michael S. Acuff, who reportedly arrived in the area in February 1891. Other early…

Becton is on the Burlington Northern Railroad just east of Farm Road 400 and twenty-four miles northeast of Lubbock in northeastern Lubbock County. It was first named for W. E. Bledsoe of the Three Circle Ranch, but in…

Museum dedicated to Lubbock's most famous son. The day the music died.

Get ready to tap your toes! The Cactus Theater has been a Lubbock entertainment hub for decades. Originally built as a movie theater in the 1930s, it later fell into disrepair. In 1993, Don Caldwell purchased and…

You're driving past Buddy Holly. Charles Hardin &#x201C;Buddy&#x201D; Holley was born in Lubbock on September 7, 1936, to Ella Pauline (Drake) and Lawrence Odell &#x201C;L.O.&#x201D; Holley. The youngest of four…

For a hundred years the sound of a train has been the heartbeat of Smyer. The Santa Fe platted this town in 1925, the same year rail service began, and named it for Clinton E. Smyer, one of the road's own division…

Before Smyer was a town, and before there were cotton fields, this land was a cattle kingdom. You were in the heart of the Spade Ranch, put together in 1889 when Isaac L. Ellwood — the Illinois man who made a fortune…

The town of Smyer is a case study in what a railroad does to a map. Look at the grid and you're looking at the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. In the mid-1920s the Santa Fe pushed a branch line west out of Lubbock — not…

Smyer's history began in 1917 when William L. Ellwood started selling parts of the Spade Ranch to farmers. The town was officially founded in 1924 and platted the following year. A significant event was the 1929 tornado…

You're driving through West Texas, a land shaped by conflict and resilience. Look around, and imagine the vast, unexplored Llano Estacado. In the late 1800s, this was the domain of Native American tribes. But a…

You're driving past the site of Lubbock's very first cotton gin, which opened in late 1904. Before this, the closest gins were over a hundred miles away, making cotton farming nearly impossible here. This single gin,…

Look out at the flat land around Lubbock and you are looking at what is often called the largest contiguous cotton patch in the world. Contiguous is the key word: it means one huge, unbroken stretch, mile after mile of…

Here is something wild about the cotton growing all around you. A single cotton fiber, the kind that gets spun into your shirt, is actually one single plant cell. Just one. It grows straight out of the coat of the…

Not all cotton is equal, so before it is sold it gets classed, which means graded for quality. Classers look at a handful of key traits. Staple length is how long the fibers are; longer fibers spin into finer, stronger…

Every plant in these fields needs water, and out here most of it comes from underground. Beneath the High Plains lies the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast layer of water-soaked rock and sand that stretches under eight states.…

You're driving past the site of the New Hope Baptist Church, a historically African American congregation that organized back in 1926. Originally known as Mount Calvary Baptist, it moved to this area in 1929. Over the…

You're driving through Wolfforth, a town that owes its existence to the railroad. It was established in 1916 and named for brothers George and Eastin Wolffarth, early ranchers in this area. But right from the start,…

As you drive through the Anton area, the landscape tells a fascinating STEM story. You’re on the semi-arid High Plains, which only gets about 18 inches of rain a year. So how is this a capital of cotton farming? The…

The city of Anton was named in honor of J.F. Anton, a Santa Fe railroad executive. It was founded in 1924 near the center of the north pasture of the former Spade Ranch when ranch owner William Leonard Ellwood…

The town you're in didn't grow slowly over time; it exploded into being on a single day. Picture this spot on December 3, 1924. The rails had just come across the empty prairie to a place called Danforth Switch. Ranch…

You're driving through Lubbock, and you're passing the site of Mount Gilead Baptist Church, believed to be the city's oldest black congregation. It all began back in October 1917, with an organizational meeting led by…

You're driving through Lubbock, and right here is a marker for Miss Mae Murfee, a true pioneer of education in this city. Born in 1888, she started teaching in Lubbock County back in 1905. She didn't just teach; she…

You're driving through Anton, a town born from a ranch and a railroad spur. Right here, in what used to be the Spade Ranch's north pasture, the Anton Townsite Company platted this community in 1924. They named it for J.…

Wolfforth's story is intertwined with the land itself, and the grit of the people who worked it. You can still feel that connection walking around – the dry air, a consequence of our altitude on the high plains,…

Anton, Texas, has a unique history that began in 1924 when it was founded near the center of the north pasture of the former Spade Ranch. Ranch owner William Leonard Ellwood contracted with the Anton Townsite Company to…

You're driving through West Texas, and right here, in what is now Lubbock County, Mollie Jarrott Abernathy made her mark. In 1901, she and twenty-three other families staked claims on a vast, empty stretch of land,…

You're driving through Abernathy, a town that owes its existence to a railroad line built back in 1909. <break time="400ms"/> The South Plains Investment Company founded this place, even moving buildings from a nearby…

You're driving past the site of a Lubbock institution that defied segregation and fostered dreams. In 1954, Lucille Graves opened Mary & Mac Private School, a preschool for African-American children, named for a…

You're driving through Lubbock, passing the spot where Willie Lusk Jr. built his legendary custom boot business. Born in 1914, Lusk apprenticed early, learning the craft from a Czech bootmaker. He eventually opened his…

As you drive through Abernathy, keep an eye out for the legacy of the Struve family. Fritz Struve arrived here in 1912, just three years after the town was founded, and opened a grocery store. His brother Ben joined him…

You're driving through Abernathy, a town that owes its existence to the railroad. Back in 1909, the Santa Fe line pushed south from Plainview, and right here, a new community sprang up. It was named for Monroe…

Look at the farmland surrounding Abernathy. You might see massive green circles on the landscape, especially from an aerial view. These aren't natural formations; they're feats of engineering powered by a hidden…

Abernathy, sitting high up here on the plains, has a certain stillness to it. You feel like you've stepped back a bit, maybe to a time when things were a little less rushed. It’s a place where Friday night lights still…

Here's a curious fact about the town you're in. Abernathy is split by a county line. Most of the city sits in Hale County -- including the original townsite, laid out in 1909 when the Santa Fe pushed its line from…

In a small Texas town, high school sports are the stuff of legend, creating memories that last a lifetime. And in Abernathy, one of the proudest moments came not on the football field, but on the basketball court. In…

You're driving past the site of the Spade Ranch, a Texas legend born from barbed wire profits. In 1889, Isaac Ellwood, the inventor who struck it rich with wire, bought this massive 128,000-acre range. He expanded it to…

You're driving through Lubbock, home of Texas Tech, a university that owes a lot to Bradford Knapp. He was a giant in agricultural education, leading the U.S. Cooperative Extension Service and helping plan food…

You're driving past the City of Lubbock Cemetery, a place that tells a big story about this city's past. Back in March of 1892, locals got five acres from a rancher for a graveyard. That very same month, the first…

You're driving past the site of Breedlove Airport, a crucial World War II training ground right here in Lubbock. In 1943, this field was buzzing with activity, training thousands of cadet pilots for the war effort…

You're driving through Lubbock, where in 1938, the Lubbock Cotton Club opened in a renovated army hut. This massive ballroom, one of the largest in West Texas, hosted big bands like Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.…

A pair of giant legs — and nothing else — standing in a Lubbock field. Shelley's poem made real.

You're driving through the old Strip Community, a place named for the 1.5 by 15-mile strip of land opened to homesteaders back in the 1890s. William Houston Pearce arrived in 1895, starting a school that also served as…

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…

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…

Ropesville is a town the railroad drew on the ground. The Spade Ranch opened this country to settlement around 1901, and when the South Plains and Santa Fe ran its line from Lubbock down to Seagraves, ranch owner Isaac…

Look out your window at the fields surrounding Ropesville. You might see giant sprinklers on wheels, some a quarter-mile long, slowly pivoting around a central point. This technology, called center-pivot irrigation, is…

During the Dust Bowl in 1935, the Resettlement Administration purchased land in Ropesville to establish an experimental Industrial Farm. The project, named after the city, aimed to test the viability of rural farming on…

You're driving past Peaceful Gardens Memorial Park, established in 1963 by George Assiter. It started with ten acres and a vision for individually named gardens, emphasizing a park-like atmosphere with flat markers.…

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…

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…

You're driving through West Texas, and right here, you're passing through the historic lands of the Spade Ranch. It wasn't just one ranch, but two, linked by a unique brand resembling a shovel. The first Spade Ranch was…

You're driving through Mitchell County, near where Wildhorse Creek crosses Highway 163. This spot was once the community of Spade. It started around 1899 as a rural school called Liberty. The community grew, and in…

You're driving through Whitharral, a town born from the breakup of ranchland into farms back in 1924. It's named for Dr. Whitfield Harral, one of the early settlers. Just a year after the first store opened in 1925,…

You're driving through what used to be Lakeview, a community that bloomed around a schoolhouse. It started in 1892 as the Ivey School, then joined with the Star School in 1914 to become Lakeview. By the 1920s and 30s,…

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).