Lubbock County's history is as diverse and interesting as the people who inhabit this vast plain. The legacy of the "Diamond in the West" can be traced back years ago, when this whole area (now known as the plains) was one vast lake. As the years went by so did the water, giving way to the arrival of the famous South Plains winds and the leveling of this once vast caprock.
The lands of the High plains have been inhabited for thousands of years, tracing back to the first tribe of elephant. It was across these plains in 1540 that the Spanish explorer, Captain Francisco Vaquez de Coronado came to explore the flat lands of the Southwest in search of the much fantasized Golden city of Quivira. Historians and archeologists have found evidence that these Spanish expeditions camped in the famous "Lubbock Lake Site and Yellow House Canyon," which is present day north of the city of Lubbock. The Lubbock Lake Site is considered one of the archeological wonders of the United States.
Many of the natural geographical features discovered by the Spanish explorers were named by these exploring heroes of humanity, and some of these names are still used today. The Lubbock Lake Site was known as La Punto de Agua or the place of Water, Llano Estacado translated into the Southern High Plains, Canon Casos Amarillos was Yellow House Canyon, and Canon de Rescate was Canyon of Ransom, or better known as present day Ransom Canyon.
Later, Indians of the Comanche tribe roamed this whole area because it was a haven for their basic livelihood, the buffalo. The Comanche tribe had free reign of the South Plains until the 1870's when the white settlers and hunters arrived and deprived the Comanche people of their livelihood. These hunters were responsible for many of the Indian uprisings and eventually the demise of the Comanche civilizations on the South Plains. After the slaughter of the buffalo, very few people stayed on these level plains as many of the first explorers moved on to other parts of the world.
TAMING THE SOUTH PLAINS
Lubbock County was created on August 21, 1876 by an act of legislation in Austin that divided Bexar county which included parts of Northwest Texas and the South Plains into forty-eight counties. One of the newly formed counties, know as Lubbock County, was named after Tom S. Lubbock, a former Texas Ranger, Confederate Officer and brother of Francis R. Lubbock, Civil War Governor of Texas. At its creation, Lubbock County was attached to Baylor County and remained an appendage of that County until the organization of Crosby County in 1887.
Many distinct individuals were responsible for the formation of Lubbock County, some the more notorious were: W.E. Rainer, W.D. Crump and Associates, and Frank Wheelock.
W.E. Rainer was a wealthy cattleman, manager, and part owner of the Rayner Cattle Company, with home offices in St. Louis, MO. Once established in the county, Rainer decided to form a city on the north side of the canyon, and call his new town Monterey. At the same time, another father of Lubbock, W.D. Crump, wished to build on the north side of the canyon, and name his new establishment Old Lubbock. After the development of these new townships talk began as to where the county seat would be established. Hence conflict. Crump wanted the seat in Old Lubbock and Rainer wanted Monterey. Eventually the two factions compromised and land was purchased for $1,920.00, January 21, 1891, by the groups for the formation of the city of Lubbock and the establishment of the county seat. Almost immediately the movement from Monterey and Old Lubbock began.
Once the county seat was determined, the election to organize the county was held on March 10, 1891. Colonel G.W. Shannon, was elected the first County Judge. His term lasted until November 17th 1894 where he was succeeded by P.F. Brown. The first County Commissioners of Lubbock were: J.D. Caldwell, F.E. Wheelock, L.D. Hund and Van Sanders. The first Sheriff was William M. Lay, while Will F. Hendrix took his role as the first County Attorney and George Wolffarth, was termed the first County Clerk.
By 1891 the Lubbock County Government was fully functional, so to make everything official the county jail was approved May 11, 1891, giving the first churches of Lubbock a place to congregate. The jailhouse also served the community as a temporary school and a sort of social center. The city of Lubbock incorporated in 1909, so from 1891 to 1909 the Commissioners Court was the governing body of the town and county.
The first courthouse was a large 2-story frame building. All construction materials had to be hauled from Amarillo and Colorado City, since the Lubbock area did not have an abundance of trees. When the courthouse was built, churches left the jail and used this new county building as their meeting place.
In 1900 there were nearly 300 people in the county which included 70 to 80 families. The four cornered frame courthouse was the heart of the community in this little High plains town. Two of the reasons being was because of the public water trough by the windmill, which was for very many years the town's nearest approach to a water system; also surrounding the courthouse were the public barbecue pits that had been dug on the east side of the square. The first hotel in Lubbock, the Nicolett Hotel, still shared domination of the landscape with the courthouse, but to the residents and visitors of the plains, the most striking feature would have undoubtedly been the windmill, an engineering spectacle which dotted the horizon and fields of the South Plains. The windmill has been a major necessity for the survival and growth of the civilization of the High plains, by supplying water and a livelihood to the pioneers, crops and cattle of the dusty plain.
INFORMATION COMPILED FROM THE LUBBOCK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND M.S.. HORACE HURTSELL
COMPILED FROM THESES WRITTEN TO M.S.. MYRA ANN WALLACE, G.P. RUCH AND H.B. CARROLL AND FILED IN THE LIBRARY OF TEXAS TECHNOLOGICAL COLLEGE
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Judges and County Commissioners
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County Judges
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1891-1894 G.W. Shannon
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1931-1936 Egbert Lee Pitts
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1894-1898 P.F. Brown
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1936-1941 John James Dillard
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1898-1902 W.D. Crump
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1941-1945 Garland V. Pardue
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1902-1906 George R. Bean
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1945-1955 Walter Davies
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1906-1912 John R. McGee
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1955-1958 Dudley K. Brummett
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1912-1916 E.R. Haynes
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1959-1964 Bill Davis
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1916-1920 J.H. Moore
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1964-1964 William R. Shaver
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1920-1924 P.F. Brown
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1964-1990 Rodrick L. Shaw
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1924-1928 Charles Nordyke
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1991-1998 Don McBeath
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1929-1930 Robert H. Bean
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1999- 2018 Thomas V. Head
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2019- Curtis Parrish
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Precinct 1 Commissioners
| 1891-1892 J.D. Caldwell |
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| 1893-1894 J.K. Caraway |
1927-1930 Nathan Alexander Payne |
| 1895-1898 J.C. Coleman |
1931-1934 Claude A. Burrus |
| 1899-1900 H.S. Graham |
1935-1940 P.B. Penny |
| 1899-1902 G.H. Butler |
1941-1942 Guy K. Horton |
| 1903-1904 J.W. Winn |
1943-1948 P.B. Penny |
| 1903-1904 J.S. Slover |
1949-1953 Robert Oscar Short |
| 1905-1911 L.M. Knight |
1954-1976 Arch G. Lamb |
| 1912-1914 R.A. Barclay |
1977-1980 Edgar Chance |
| 1915-1916 N.R. Porter |
1981-1988 Boyd Roberts |
| 1917-1918 S.A. Richmond |
1989-1992 Randall Carpenter |
| 1919-1920 M.E. Merril |
1993-2004 Kenny Maines |
| 1921-1922 M.M. Crawford |
2005- 2020 Bill McCay |
| 1923-1926 Marvin T. Warlick |
2021- Terence Kovar |
Precinct 2 Commissioners
| 1891-1894 F.E. Wheelock |
1933-1934 W.P. Florence
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1895-1896 R.C. Burus
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1897-1898 M.S. Acuff
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1937-1948 Benjamin Mansker
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1899-1906 R.C. Burns
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1949-1967 George G. Green
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1907-1912 George M. Boles
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1913-1916 C.A. Joplin
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1917-1918 James L. Benton
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1919-1928 H.D. Talley
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2007-2018 Mark Heinrich |
| 1929-1932 J.T. Pinkston |
2019- Jason Corley
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Precinct 3 Commissioners
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1891-1892 L.D. Hunt
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1943-1946 T. L. Holt |
| 1892, Feb-1894, Feb M.A. Wood |
1947-1950 Albert O. Isom |
| 1894, May-1894, Nov J.C. Bowles |
1951-1952 James H. Robbins |
| 1894, Nov-1895 G.F. Stevenson |
1953-1956 Albert O. Isom |
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1896-1898 G.P. Smith
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1957-1976 L.C. Derrick |
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1899-1900 H.B. Reed
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1977-1980 James Lancaster
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1901-1902 H.V. Edsall
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1981-1984 Franklin Dunn
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1903-1906 J.T. Brown
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1907-1910 H.B. Reed
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1993-2004 Gilbert A. Flores
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1911-1920 L.O. Burford
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2005-2008 Ysidro Gutierrez
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1921-1922 C.W. Beene
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2009-2012 Gilbert A. Flores
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1923-1926 B.N. Wheeler
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2013-2016 Lorenzo "Bubba" Sedeño
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1927-1932 William L. Brashear
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2017- Gilbert A. Flores
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| 1933-1940 Thomas L. Holt |
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| 1941-1942 Edgar Elias Gray |
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Precinct 4 Commissioners
| 1891-1892 Van Sanders |
1933-1938 Burton O. McWhorter |
| 1893-1894 W.H. White |
1939-1940 V.J. Farris |
| 1895-1898 G.O. Groves |
1941-1944 Perry L. Corley |
| 1899-1900 E.P. Earhart |
1951-1954 Newton Stokes |
| 1901-1904 H.D. Beal |
1955-1958 Fred Gentry |
| 1905-1906 W.S. Elkin |
1959-1994 Alton Brazell |
| 1907-1910 R.A. Barclay |
1995-1999 Gary Schwantz |
| 1911-1912 Bob Penney |
1999-2000 Nathan Ziegler |
| 1913-1914 J.M.Wright |
2000-2018 Patti Jones |
| 1915-1922 Paul Van Rosenberg |
2019-2022 Chad Seay |
| 1923-1932 L.C. Denton |
2023- Jordan Rackler |
