Lubbock, Texas: The Hub City

The last stop on our journey was Lubbock, Texas. Lubbock is divided into two things: Texas Tech University and Buddy Holly. 

Lubbock was founded in 1867 and named for Thomas Saltus Lubbock. Thomas was a Texas Ranger and the brother of governor Francis Lubbock. It's interested when you read Texas history and see the named of people that you recognize from cities and streets.

There wasn't much happening in Lubbock. There were mostly ranchers (sheep and cattle) and some farmers. In 1891, Lubbock County was formed and the city of Lubbock was named the county seat. They built this cool looking courthouse which only lasted about 24 years. It was moved from it's current site when the next courthouse was built but it eventually caught fire and burned to the ground.

In 1915, this second courthouse was built. It's quite lovely and was in use until 1950. Unfortunately, when Buddy Holly Avenue was extended, this courthouse was demolished. 

In 1950, this courthouse was built. Hmm...it's okay. I think the others have more character but unfortunately, they were both outgrown.

It wasn't until the railroads came to town in the early 1900's that Lubbock really took off. This is the Fort Worth & South Plains Railroad Depot built in 1928. It was part of the Fort Worth & Denver line coming from Estelline in Hall County. This building is now part of the Buddy Holly Center.

So one of the museums we went to was the National Ranching Heritage Museum. It's super cool. This is a Wells Fargo Stagecoach that was used to travel. Six passengers would be crammed inside with luggage on the rack on top. You'd bump along the dusty unpaved roads sitting next to smelly passengers going about 20 miles per day. Think about that the next time you're in a middle seat on an airplane.

The museums also had some historical buildings on the grounds outside. This one, for example, is Long Whiteface Camp named for the white face Hereford cows. This is a two story building that served as a line camp for the cowboys working in the pasture.

It started out as a dugout for a well (that would be the bottom floor that's dug into the ground). The top floor is a room with a bed.

This building is one where cowchips were stored. The little kids in the family were in charge of picking up dried cow piles and storing them in this building. The cowchips would then be used as fuel in the winter to warm the house. That is not a job I would have wanted. 

This is the Barton House. Joseph J. Barton believed a new railroad, Santa Fe's Panhandle Short Line, was to run through his ranch property. To capitalize on that, he built for his family a late Queen Anne-style home as the capstone of his planned community named Bartonsite. The house design was comprised of five rooms and a bath on both of the first and second floors. Amenities included running water, sliding doors, built-in closets, elegant wallpaper and acetylene lighting. The railway bypassed the Hale County, Texas, town, but the Bartons continued to occupy the home for several generations.

This is the Ropes Depot. The wood-frame depot was built by the Santa Fe Railway in Hockley County, Texas. 

The museum is on the campus of Texas Tech University, home of the Red Raiders. It was originally Texas Technical College when it opened in 1923.

In 1969, it became Texas Tech University. I always thought the Red Raider looked mysteriously like Yosemite Sam from Looney Toons. Guns up!

You know who didn't go to Texas Tech? Charles Hardin Holley aka Buddy Holly. No college education and yet he put Lubbock on the map. The Buddy Holly Center is a fun museum that documents the life and times of Buddy Holly. There's a film where the members of the Crickets (his band) talk about making music with him. His brothers talk about his childhood. It's very interesting.

Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Park across from the Buddy Holly Center. When Buddy signed his first recording contract, they misspelled his name and left the "e" out. He decided to just leave it and that became his "stage" name. His career only lasted 18 months before he was killed in a plane crash that also took the lives of Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper.

Buddy is buried at the Lubbock Cemetery. I was surprised there wasn't some big monument. But there's not. He's buried next to his parents.

Buddy Holly Avenue goes the length of the town and right by the county courthouse.

The crosswalk with the Buddy Holly glasses is at the intersection of 18th street and Crickets Avenue, which is right by the Buddy Holly Center.

Right next to the Buddy Holly Center is the J.I. Allison House. J.I. was the drummer in the Crickets and it was in this house that they wrote "That'll Be the Day" along with a lot of their other songs. The docent said the reason they didn't have Buddy's childhood home was because the Holly family lived in several places in Lubbock. I didn't remember that name from The Buddy Holly Story but that's because he had already sold the rights to his story. The movie had to use pseudonyms and blended characters for the band members.

In the Depot District, there were several murals including this old Coca-Cola mural. I've never seen one that mentions the sterilized bottles.

Lubbock was a bit of a surprise. It's definitely a college town. Everyone we saw was wearing red and black and we stuck out like sore thumbs. We were there Saturday and Sunday during school but not football season and it was pretty quiet. Our hotel was full. Mostly families coming to visit the students. One thing that threw us was that on Sunday almost ALL the restaurants were closed, including the one in our hotel. Where are people supposed to eat?!? I'll tell you. At the lone Chili's across from the campus. That was it!

Lubbock has about 250K people and is the 10th most populous city in the state. It's called the hub city because it's the educational, economic and healthcare center of the South Plains. The largest employer is Texas Tech University. The big grocery store chain there is United Supermarkets but they have a couple of Walmarts and and H-E-B. As for restaurants, most are local. There was a Chili's, a Longhorn Steakhouse and McAlister's Deli. Lots of fast food.

While Lubbock was definitely one of the bigger towns we visited on this journey, I don't think I could live there. But, it was a cool place to visit. If you're in the area, check it out!

Plainview, Texas: The City Without a View

I love a town that can make fun of itself. Plainview was the perfect name for this place. Nothing but plains all the way around.

Back in 1886, this guy named Z.T. Maxwell moved his family and 2000 sheep out to what would become Plainview. Shortly after, another guy named Edwin Lowe moved his family from Tennessee. The two men got together and decided to form a town. In 1887, Plainview was established. The next year, Hale county (named for John Hale, hero of the Battle of San Jacinto) was created and Plainview was named the county seat.

In 1906, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad came to town and that's when things really got going. By 1910, there were 3,000 people here and Seth Ward College opened giving the town the "Athens of West Texas". This lovely train depot was built in 1910 to replace the wooden structure that was there before. It doesn't appear to be used for anything at this time which is a shame as it's in great shape.

The Fair Theater opened in 1925 showing silent movies and live vaudeville shows. Like most small town theaters, it closed in the 1980s. Then in the late 1990s, the city bought the structure and restored it. Today you can still see movies there. I would love to do that!

In 1890, the first Hale County Courthouse was built. Sadly by 1910, they'd outgrown it. So, the county sold the building to a doctor who used it as a pharmacy! That's so cool. It's too bad that this building is no longer there.

In 1910, this courthouse was built. I like it. It still has character and charm.

This building on the corner of the Courthouse lawn was built in 1925 as the Hale County Jail. I don't know if the Sheriff actually lived there or just had an office there but the whole group moved to a new facility in the 1980s. The signage says that it's an Indigent Veteran Health Services facility. 

This is the Hilton Hotel in Plainview Texas. That's right, Conrad Hilton built this hotel in 1928. At 8-stories, it was the tallest building in town at the time. The hotel closed in the 1980s and the building has supposedly been turned into lofts.

The US Post Office was built in Plainview in 1933 and is still a functioning post office. It's a gorgeous building!

This is the Ware Hotel built in 1910. In 1925, they added a floor bringing the room county to an even hundred. Some of them had private bathrooms. In 1966, the hotel closed. It became Levine's Department Store until 1973. Now it is office space for Hale County. I'd love to have seen then inside back in it's heyday.

One of the things we didn't get to see was the Jimmy Dean Museum. It's on the campus of the Wayland Baptist College. Back in 1969, country singer Jimmy Dean opened a meat packing plant out here. Apparently, Jimmy Dean was born and raised here and wanted to give back to his community. Unfortunately, the plant closed in the 1990s. It was bought by another company and it moved. That had a devasting effect on the economy.

In 1971, the Missouri Beef Packers opened a plant. At some point it was bought out by a company called Cargill only to be shut down in 2013. Yet another hit to the Plainview economy. The plant had too much processing capacity compared to the available beef. I'm not sure why that mean you had to shut it down but what do I know.

There are about 20K people that live here, which surprised me. They have a United Supermarket and a Walmart for their grocery needs. For chain fast food I only saw a McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Their Whataburger was closed. Hmm...I was also surprised to see they had a Chili's. 

Plainview was a breath of fresh air after the last town we went through.  The biggest employers are the Plainview ISD and Wayland Baptist College, though you'd certainly be close enough to Lubbock to commute. I would like to have visited the Jimmy Dean Museum and if I'm back out this way, I will. Meanwhile, if you're out this way, check it out!

Tulia, Texas: City of Windmills

If you drive due south from Amarillo on I-27, you'll go through a small town called Tulia, Texas.

Tulia used to be a division of the JA Ranch. While the ranch didn't necessarily own the land, they used it for grazing. Then in 1887, a guy named J A Parrish had a dugout, which is basically a shelter built into the ground, where he had a post office. The town was named Tule for the Tule Creek. But a "typo" by an office clerk changed the name to Tulia. In 1889, W. G. Conner took over the post office and moved it to where the present town is today.

In 1890, Swisher County was established and Tulia became the county seat. The county was named for James Swisher, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and soldier in the Texas Revolution. In 1909, they built this beautiful courthouse.

Then in the 1960s, they defaced it. At least they didn't just demolish it and build a new one. There's still hope that one day they'll put it back like it was. After several of these blogs I'm sure you can tell how I feel about county courthouses.

In 1906, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad came to town. They had a little wooden depot that burned in 1915. This new passenger and freight depot was built in 1915.  Broadway dead ends into the the train depot so when passengers exited the train, they could walk down Broadway to the Hotel Tulia, which is no longer with us. 

As we all know, I'm a sucker for a good Coca-Cola Mural. This is on an old building that is currently an antique store. The mural has clearly been refreshed in the last few years.

Across the main street from the courthouse is the Royal Theater. It was built in the 1940s and for a long time was the main source of entertainment in this small town. Like all small town theaters, business declined in the late 1980s. It makes me wonder what people did for entertainment when their only movie theater closed. But in the 2000s, the theater was repurposed for live performances. When I walked by here on a Saturday, the place looked abandoned.

I thought this was a pretty cool mural. I think it's a play on the Route 66 murals. Route 86 goes right through town.

The big story that put Tulia on the map was a drug bust in 1999. Based on the word of one white police officer, 45 Black men were arrested and jailed on drug charges. Turns out, that guy lied. What? The police not telling the truth? I know not all law enforcement officers are corrupt but the bad apples are so plentiful that it shines a bad light on all of them. Meanwhile, the guys that were jailed were eventually pardoned by Rick Perry and they got a large monetary settlement from the state. But they still spent years in prison.

I hate to say it but Tulia was depressing. When you drove into town, the first thing you see is a big pile of junk. This doesn't really seem very inviting. From there, the town just seemed to have given up. We didn't see any people except one sad lady working at the Allsup's.

Only about 4,400 people live here and honestly, I can see why. With Amarillo and Lubbock both about an hour away, either of those places would be a big step up. For grocery stores, we saw a Lowe's Market and then for big restaurants, there was a Sonic and a McDonald's off the highway.

While the big employers in Tulia are Swisher County and the Tulia ISD, Agriculture is very big. There are several grain elevators like this in Tulia. Farmers around the area grow wheat, corn, sorghum and cotton (though cotton is not stored in a grain elevator). As for the "city of windmills" moniker, that was because of all the traditional windmills that were used to pump groundwater on the outlying farms and ranches. We didn't see any windmills in town but perhaps further out?

Suffice it to say, Tulia was not my favorite place but I feel that it was important to see. If nothing else, it will make you appreciate where you live. And while it might not be fancy, Tulia is still an important town due to its agricultural importance. So, if you're in the area, check it out!

Canyon, Texas: Gateway to Palo Duro Canyon

Back in 1887, a guy by the name of Lincoln Conner established a town. He created a dugout that was his home, the post office and the general store. Another fella, A. L. Hammond, joined him and established a blacksmith shop. They needed a name for the town. Conner refused to name it for himself so Hammond suggested Canyon City for nearby Palo Duro Canyon. 

In 1889, Randall County was organized and Canyon City became the county seat. They had to haul lumber by wagon all the way from Quanah (160 miles away) to build stores and homes. Yikes! The county was named for Confederate Brigadier General Horace Randal. When filing papers, there was a "typo" and an extra "L" was added to Randall. Oops!

The first courthouse in Randall County was built in 1892 as a small wooden structure. This courthouse was built in 1908. By 1980, the county needed something bigger so they moved out of this building and into grocery-store like place and the courthouse was left vacant. In 2010, the outside was restored as part of the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program. Unfortunately, the inside is still awaiting some help. 

The Canyon News is the local paper and has been serving the town in various iterations since 1896.

This is the Canyon Depot for the Santa Fe Railroad. The first railroad that came through was in 1898, the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway. It connected Canyon with Amarillo and points west. This made Canyon a big shipping point for cattle and other agricultural products. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe line came in about 1906. The first depot was a small wooden structure and was replaced with this building in 1925, serving as both a passenger and freight depot. Passenger service stopped in the mid-1950s. The depot is being repurposed as a restaurant. 

This is Tex Randall. He was built in 1959 as a roadside attraction and is 47 feet tall. He's wearing real Levi's jeans. He was created by a teacher that owned a curio shop and wanted to entice people to come visit. Soon after, he even built a hotel. With the change in road traffic, his business declined. Now he welcomes people into Canyon Texas. 

Fourth Avenue is the main drag in Canyon. It's on this street that West Texas A&M University is. On that campus is the Panhandle Plains Museum. The museum opened in 1933 in a building erected at the same time and it depicts life in and history of the panhandle of Texas. Unfortunately, the building is in terrible shape and the museum had to close. You see signs all over town saying "Save Our Museum". 

The town of Canyon was named for the real canyon...Palo Duro. It's the second largest canyon in the United States. It's 120 miles long and 20 miles wide.

The photos don't do it justice. In 1876, John George Adair and Charles Goodnight established one of the largest ranches in the panhandle (1M acres) and part of it encompassed the eastern rim of the canyon.

In 1933, the state bought the land and it became Palo Duro Canyon State Park. This is Lighthouse Rock, the most recognizable rock formation in the canyon. There was a 2-mile hike (one-way) to the rock but we found that you could see it from a mile away. 

Hiking (or in our case, walking) around the canyon was amazing. All the rock formations and the colors were just breathtaking. The photos seriously don't do the canyon justice.

There are just under 15K people that live in Canyon Texas. It was one of the bigger towns we visited on this road trip.  I think it seems bigger than it is. Their grocery store options are a United Supermarket and a Walmart. They have the big fast food chains but no national chain restaurants that I saw. But, they have Palo Duro Canyon!

The canyon was amazing and definitely worth a visit. The town was okay but don't take my word for it. Check it out! Maybe by then, the museum will have found a new home.

Clarendon, Texas: The Athens of the Texas Panhandle

The last town on our journey north on US 287 was Clarendon, Texas aka The Athens of the Texas Panhandle. It was one of the three original panhandle settlements in the 1800s.

It was founded by a Methodist minister as a "sobriety settlement" vs. some of the other boomtowns that were rowdy. In 1878, the town was originally near Carrol Creek but they moved the town when the creek kept flooding. In 1887 the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad came through town but not where the original site was. That sealed the deal. They moved.

I found this old photo of the train depot on the internet. I've found a few different theories on how the town was named. One was that it was named after Clara Carhart, the town founder's wife. Another says it was named after Carhart's son, Clarendon Lamartine Carhart and a third suggests it was named for a town in England. If I had to vote, I'd go with the first one. It's a little more romantic.

Donley County was organized in 1876 and named for State Supreme Court Justice Stockton P Donley. Clarendon won the prized county seat beating rival towns Hedley and Jericho. The county courthouse was built in 1890 and is rumored to be the oldest courthouse still in use. It seems like I've written that before. Hmm...It's very castle like with its turrets.

I found this photo of the 1890 Donley County Jail that used to sit behind the courthouse. It's not longer there but it was typical of jails at the time. Partial residence, partial jail. 

On the town square was Clarendon City Hall. It looks like an old newspaper office.

Speaking of, the Donley Enterprise offices were across US 287 on Kearney Street over by the railroad tracks. I suspect the train depot was in this area as well. The layout of Clarendon is a little different than most of the towns we've stopped in. The courthouse isn't surrounded by businesses, it's mostly on it's own, aside from a couple of buildings. There are homes and churches. The business section is one block over or across the highway here on Kearney Street.

This is the Mulkey Theater, named for Homer Mulkey, a photographer who had a studio here. It was built in 1946 replacing a theater called the Cozy that burned to the ground. It was a first-run movie theater until it closed in 1986. It sat vacant for 30 years before someone took an interest and it was restored. It reopened in 2019 and supposedly shows first-run movies, classics, live performances and can host meetings.

Clarendon has the Saints Roost Museum (using the nickname of the town). It's in the old Adair Hospital. The building was erected in 1910 as the Adair Hospital. This is where cowboys that worked on the JA Ranch as well as local residents received medical care. By the 1980s, the town outgrew the facility and the hospital moved. The building was repurposed as the Saints Roost Museum. I was disappointed that we didn't have the time to stop in and I'm hoping that the next time we make a trip in this direction we can stop.

Clarendon College was stared in 1898 and is the basis of the nickname "Athens of the Texas Panhandle".

1,900 people live in Clarendon. They have a Lowe's Market for groceries and the only chain restaurant I saw there was a Sonic. The biggest employers are the Clarendon ISD and Clarendon College. It's an hour drive to Amarillo, which is where I would assume most people go when they want to shop, etc.

I was a little disappointed in Clarendon given the longevity of the town. I thought there would be more happening on a Friday afternoon. But that was just me. Don't take my word for it. Check it out yourself!