Lighting up Lubbock County

Fine arts on a bridge

Lubbock County is among the 20 most populous counties in Texas. Part of Lubbock’s claim to fame is that it is home to a rather large university from which my niece and her husband graduated. We rolled into town late in the afternoon ready for a hotel and a good dinner. It was time for us to rest so we didn’t see much of the city. We’ll be back, again, someday soon since the Buddy Holly Center is still on my list of things to see.

Long ago and far away Lubbock had a lake with roaming herds of bison hunted by Paleolithic peoples around the Clovis period (11,500-11,000

Gazebo at the county courthouse

years ago). Eventually the Comanche called the area home, until about 1867. The lake had dried up, and the land became much more barren. This didn’t stop settlers from moving in, raising cattle and establishing farms. Lubbock County was founded in 1876 and named after Thomas (or Thompson) Saltus Lubbock, a former Texas Ranger and the brother of Governor Francis Lubbock, who held that office during the Civil War. By 1884 a U.S. post office was set up in Yellow House Canyon with Old Lubbock (Lubbock, or North Town, depending on who you read) established three miles to the east. In 1890, the original Lubbock merged with Monterey, another small town, adopting the Lubbock name. Then in 1891, Lubbock became the county seat incorporating some 18 years later. That same year the first courthouse was designed by architectural company Gill, Moad, and Gill in the Italianate style.

The city continued to thrive on the Llano Estacado at the southern end of

Historic paintings on county courthouse

the High Plains. Nicknamed ‘Hub City’, because of its position as the economic, educational, and health-care center of the region north of the Permian Basin and south of the Texas Panhandle. It is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world due to its access to water from the Ogallala Aquifer for irrigation. In 1915 a new courthouse was constricted in the Classical Revival architectural style; William W. Rose was the architect. About eight years later a structure even more important that the courthouse had its beginning: Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) was created by the Texas legislature. The college didn’t actually open until in 1925; in that year it had six buildings and an enrollment of 914.  Graduate instruction began in 1927 within the school of Liberal Arts with a ‘Division of Graduate Studies’ formally established in 1935.

With World War II looming large, Reese Air Force Base was established in 1941 by the United States Department of War. Many pilots were trained at this base for the U.S. Army Air Forces, and later the U.S. Air Force

Lubbock County Courthouse

(USAF) as well as for airmen cadets from the Royal Air Force flying from their training base at Terrell, Texas. The distance from Lubbock to Terrell was the same as from Cork, Ireland, to London, so this was good training for the young pilots. After the war Lubbock continued to grow necessitating the construction of yet another new county courthouse. This one is currently in use and is a stone edifice in the Moderne style. It was completed in 1950 with the architect being Sylvan Blum Haynes. A year later, and probably due to nothing connected with the new courthouse, the ‘Lubbock Lights’ were seen over the city. The sightings are considered one of the best ‘UFO’ sightings since it was witnessed by several respected science professors at Texas Tech and photographed by a Texas Tech student. The photographs were thoroughly investigated and deemed authentic, showing actual objects. However, they were dismissed as ‘night-flying moths’ or a variety of bird, such as a plover, with light reflected from Lubbock's newly installed street lights.  But other researchers say that, ‘the truth is out there’.

We stayed in the La Quinta and had dinner at Garcia’s Restaurant. For information about my rating system, see Reading the Reviews.

Three carrots

La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Lubbock North (5006 Auburn St,

L to R: Bath, bedroom

Lubbock, TX 79416, 806-749-1600) is a new construction very near the freeway, and near a new upscale shopping and dining area. The room was very comfortable, and the bathroom was large enough with plenty of amenities. However, the internet access left something to be desired; it was very slow and difficult to get and stay on. Breakfast was what you might expect – basic but not pre-packaged.

Three and one half carrots

Top L to R: Menu, Chips and salsa
Middle: Bandera
Bottom: Tacos

Garcia's Mexican Restaurant (5604 Slide Rd, Lubbock, TX 79414, 806-792-0097) is a Texas chain with good food at a good price. The salsa and chips were tasty and there were plenty of them. Dave had the Bandera that included a very nice green sauce and plenty of meat. I had the taco dinner which made me smile. The tacos were full of nicely spiced beef with plenty of lettuce, tomato, and cheese. Service was a bit slow, but the people were nice enough and we did enjoy our meal.

Maintenance building with frieze

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