Lubbock, TX
Lubbock anchors an area that transitions from the Great Plains to the north to the Permian Basin to the south. Now a metropolitan area of over 250,000 people, it serves as the home of Texas Tech University as well as a ranching, farming and commercial center on the northern edge of the Permian Basin and the western reaches of Texas cotton country. The area was first settled in 1884 but the town was not incorporated until 1909 when the first railroad arrived. Texas Tech was founded in 1923 and is now the economic engine that drives the local economy. The city center was devastated on May 11, 1970 when a F5 tornado wept through the downtown area. The 20 story NTS tower (in the background in the picture below) is believed to be the tallest building to ever survive a direct hit by a F5 tornado. Note the red color of the street. Many of the downtown area streets are paved with brick.
The commercial and retail heart of the city has moved to the southwest suburban areas with the city center virtually devoid of foot traffic, even on a week day. Sprinkled around the city are buildings designed in the Spanish Renaissance manner, most dating from the 1930’s. The 1932 federal courthouse and post office, now apartments, illustrates the style in the downtown area.
Just south of the old courthouse is the Depot District, a cluster of bars and restaurants around the old train depot, which is now home to the Buddy Holly Museum. Buddy Holly was born in 1936 in Lubbock and made his first television appearance here in 1952. One of the early icons of 50’s rock and roll with songs like “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue”, Buddy’s career was tragically cut short when he and other members of the “Winter Party Dance Tour” were killed in an airplane crash on February 3, 1959, after a concert in Iowa. The 1928 Fort Worth & Dallas train depot, also designed in the Spanish Renaissance architectural style, now houses the Buddy Holly Center, which includes a museum that in exhaustive detail chronicles the life of Buddy Holly.
Around the corner is the entrance to the Buddy Holly Center, highlighted by a copy of Buddy Holly’s signature glasses.
Photography is forbidden in the museum so you’ll just have to take my word for the incredible level of detail about Buddy Holly that is on display. A decidedly “mature” crowd takes in the displays with quiet reverence. Perhaps the most haunting item on display are the actual glasses that Buddy Holly was wearing during the airplane crash. By happenstance they were thrown clear of the wreck and were found later in the field. Kind of bizarre…
The few blocks around the Buddy Holly Center are clearly a center of Lubbock nightlife, lined with bars, restaurants and brew pubs.
The Buddy Holly Center is between Buddy Holly Drive, Crickets Drive and 19th Street south of the city center (“Crickets” was the name of Buddy Holly’s band). 19th Street is one of the main roadways west, leading to the southern edge of the Texas Tech University campus and beyond to the growing southwest suburbs. Another stunning example of the Spanish Renaissance architecture along 19th Street that decorates the city is Lubbock High School, built in 1930 and still in use today.
Further along is the Texas Tech campus, entered on a circular plaza lined with buildings also designed in the Spanish Renaissance style, including the campus administration building and the Physics/Mathematics Building.
The view directly east from the plaza looks up Broadway to the city center.
The university occupies a sprawling campus, serving nearly 40,000 students in its various divisions and colleges. A huge university medical complex looms on the northern edge of the campus on 4th Street. 19th Street borders the university campus on the southern side and clearly was the place for the wealthy of Lubbock to build their mansions. There are more than two dozen lining the south side of 19th as it stretches west past the university, and, curiously enough, there’s a lot of “Gone With the Wind” architecture going on here! Perhaps it’s a reflection of Lubbock being the western center of the Texas cotton belt, who knows, but most are two story and have some version of majestic columns decorating the façade…
On the northern part of the campus sits an amazing museum complex that documents the history of ranching on the southern plains.
National Ranching Heritage Center at Texas Tech
The National Ranching Heritage Center was created as a private/public partnership between the National Ranching Heritage Association and Texas Tech University in the 1960’s. Today 27 acres on the northern edge of the Texas Tech campus display over 50 historic structures (all except one original) that have been collected from around Texas. A 1.5 mile path takes the visitor through the history of ranching on the southern plains, winding around low hills and vales landscaped with native grasses and trees. The story behind the landscaping is interesting. After the horrific tornado of 1970 mounds of debris needed to be disposed of and the hills here are the resting place for the remains of structures destroyed by the tornado. Due to the unstable nature of the piles of debris visitors are required to stay on the path.
A herd of bronze cattle and a cowboy watering his horse spread across a grassy knoll at the entrance to the center.
Once inside the complex the tour begins with a replica of the oldest structure in the center, Los Corralitos, originally built in 1780. The one room building is built of sandstone and mud mortar with walls that are 33 inches thick with six small gun ports for protection against enemies. Cooking facilities were outside, including the small oven in the background.
A replica was built because the original structure had also served as the burial place for a number of members of the original family. Continuing on…
All of the remaining structures in the complex are original, moved from their locations around Texas. Next up is an 1836 log cabin, made of elm logs chinked with mud.
Most homes of the early pioneers and ranchers on the plains were dugouts, built into the side of a hill with doors facing southeast to catch the cool breezes and avoid the harsh cold northern winds of winter, minimizing the need for additional building materials. This 1888 dugout has walls made from cottonwood trees.
Around a small hill the path through the history of Texas ranching runs along a freeway, hidden from view by grassy berms.
The 1890 Bairfield School house is an example of the one room schools that dotted the west, serving the children of the cowboys and ranchers.
As the area grew more settled, successful ranchers built larger houses with modern amenities. The 1900 Wallace House is in the foreground, the 1909 Barton House in the background. The Barton House was built as part of a planned town in anticipated of a railroad that never came and the town never got off the ground. The house had running water, built-in closets, gas lighting and a bath on each floor.
Ranches in west Texas were enormous and many were run by professional managers employed by distant owners. Conditions were harsh and ranches that flourished did so by taking care of their employees. This bunk house from the King Ranch in southeastern Texas was originally built in 1879 and then updated in 1888.
Many of the structures were built of limestone as suitable timber was scarce out on the plains. The XIT Ranch covered over three million acres in northwestern Texas and surrounding states. It was managed as seven separate divisions and each had a manger and individual headquarters. This 1886 limestone building served as a division headquarters and had multiple purposes: home for the manager, a place for the cowboys to eat, storeroom and office.
The Matador Ranch was owned by businessmen from Scotland and this 1880 building was originally constructed as housing for the Scots when they visited the ranch. It was converted to ranch offices in the 1920’s.
Off course, housing was the least of the needs of a ranch. The various types of buildings necessary for running a cattle or sheep operation are also on display on the center grounds.
The arrival of the railroads changed the operation of the large ranches, making getting their product to markets in the east much easier. The 1910 Ropes Depot served both the cattle business and passengers.
The discovery of oil changed the face of western Texas and allowed ranchers to survive bad economic times. Spudders dotted the land as they moved around drilling for oil. This 1935 spudder could drill holes up to 6,000 feet deep.
The 1900 Pitchfield Cookhouse was updated over the years and was used until the 1950’s.
As I leave the center once again the bronze entrance tableau exemplifies the mystique of the ranching west.
Water and the ability to harness the wind were key to the ability to survive in the west and prior to the industrial age the tool for using both for many ranchers was (and continues to be) the windmill. Fortunately, the wind blows all the time across the southern Great Plains…
Next up: The Wind
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