Lubbock Texas
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City of Lubbock

Spanish explorer, Captain Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, came to explore the southwest. Lubbock Lake Landmark, located north of the city, is one of the archeological wonders of the United States. There, experts can trace chronologically, year by year, all cultural groups of people who lived in the southwest. Archeologists can trace from elephant hunters 20,000 years ago to the Comanche of one hundred years ago.

Comanche Indians roamed this area because it was a haven for the buffalo, antelope, lobo, prairie dog, and coyote. It lasted until the 1870s when the buffalo hunters began to kill the Indians' livelihood. These hunters were responsible for many of the Indian uprisings and later caused General N. S. Mackenzie to come into the area to clear the Plains. Mackenzie Park, located within Lubbock, bears his name.

The first white settlers were a band of Quakers who came to the northern part of Lubbock County and started the first farming in the area. This small settlement lasted for many years. Then it was time for the expansion of the cattle industry in the 1880s and the abundant grass, lent to the cattle empires on the plains. The brand of the first cattle empire was the 10A. This empire included about 245,000 acres, purchased at between 24 to 40 cents per acre. During this time, more people arrived, and two towns resulted from land promotion and the 1887 Texas Land Act. The two towns, named "Old Lubbock" and "Monterey" stayed about the same size (250 persons each) until December 1890. It was then the two groups got together and mutually accepted a new site. Both towns moved to the new site and the new town "Lubbock."

The county government was formed March 10, 1891, with Lubbock as the county seat. Lubbock, as were almost all towns in west Texas, was named after a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and a Texas hero, Tom S. Lubbock. He was a former Texas Ranger, Confederate officer, and brother of Francis R. Lubbock, the Civil War governor of the state. Store buildings, houses, and populations slowly grew with land selling at $1 per acre. By 1899, there were 142 carriages, wagons, and buggies and a population of 293. Lubbock was then the center of ranching and cattle operations.

There were many cattle ranches with names such as XIT, north of Lubbock with its three million acres, Colonel C. C. Slaughter with his 500,000 acres Lazy S, the Matador Ranch, the T Bar, the Spade, the Spur, the Pitchfork, and many others. The problems these ranches faced included the level plains with little protection for cattle, the undependable surface water and the grass fires. With the discovery of plentiful water at a shallow depth, ranching flourished. As more water wells were drilled, the water ran more freely and in larger quantities. New pumps, now powered by gasoline, replaced the windmills. The plows cut open the grass prairie for the farming of cotton, grain, and other crops. Land became too valuable for grazing cattle. The ranches on the high plains started to cut their ranches into farms and sell the land at $25 per acre. This, considering the original cost of $1 to $2 an acre, made an unbelievable profit.

The first train pulled into Lubbock from Plainview with steam hissing, smoke billowing, and the "old brass band" playing as the entire town celebrated at the depot on September 25, 1909. Lubbock had arrived as the "Hub of the Plains" transportation wise, at least. Monroe G. Abernathy, a Lubbock realtor who served as the town's representative with the Santa Fe officials, deserves the credit for bringing the railroad to Lubbock. The earth produced almost anything - where buffalo grass had grown waist-high, now grew cotton, grain, sorghum, vegetables and a multitude of crops. In 1902 there were four bales of cotton and by 1919 there were 13,865. At present, this area produces an average of two million bales per year.

In 1922 the legislature created a university of the finest caliber for west Texas, now known as Texas Tech University. Tech was officially declared to be located in Lubbock on August 28, 1923. A citywide celebration included a barbecue, which consumed 35,000 pounds of beef, 10,000 roasting ears of corn, and 1,950 gallons of coffee. The population of Lubbock now topped 30,000 and all were in attendance for this event. The university doors opened in 1925 to a student population of 1,279. The university has emerged as a first-class university with over 27,000 students.

Public education in Lubbock has progressed from the first school being in the county jail, with one teacher, to the first Lubbock High School graduation held in 1909 in the Opera House. In 1909 the three room school burned and the first brick school, Central Ward School, was built. Today, Lubbock Independent School District has an enrollment of more than 31,000. The Frenship and Lubbock-Cooper school districts accommodate many of Lubbock's students.

Combining an agricultural base, the county and city prospered day-by-day, year-by-year. With more transportation, super highways, and major air connections, the "Hub of the Plains" developed into the distribution and wholesale center of west Texas.

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Lubbock is the county seat of Lubbock County, is located at the approximate center of Lubbock county at an elevation of 3,256 feet above sea level. Lubbock is the largest on the South Plains, is on Interstate Highway 27, 327 miles northwest of Dallas and 122 miles south of Amarillo.
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From the 2000 Census, the largest cities in Texas by population are Houston with about 2 million, Dallas with about 1.2 million, San Antonio with about 1.1 million, Austin with about 657K, El Paso with about 564K, Fort Worth with about 535K, Arlington with about 333k, Corpus Christi with about 278k, Plano with about 222k, Garlan with about 216k, Lubbock with about 200k, Irving with about 192K and Lubbock with about 185k.

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