Page 22 - Senior Link Magazine Winter 2020- Lubbock Online Magazine

History of
The
LEGACY OF
SKILLET RANCH
by George Ellis
early every old movie that
portrays the wild
NWest includes an
iconic scene of a ranch house, a
windmill and a big old
tree. For many current and
former Lubbock citizens, a clear
image of that scene is called to
mind because the view at what
is now 50th and Indiana fit
that picturesque description for
many decades. The Skillet Ranch (or
Caraway Ranch) was established
long before Lubbock was
incorporated, but the little town
grew up close by. Eventually,
the city limits of Lubbock bordered
the ranch and finally swallowed
it up. But the nostalgic memory
of the windmill and the mulberry
tree is enshrined in the hearts of
many Lubbockites who regularly
J.K. Caraway’s Livery & Feed Stable on Texas
Ave. and 13th St., Lubbock – 1908-09
22 Lubbock Senior Link
LUBBOCK
drove past the remnants
of the ranch for years.
J.K. (Pappy) and Callie (Mammy)
Caraway married March 8, 1874
and later moved from Tennessee
and eventually to the Lubbock
area to find land. The big, state-
owned ranches were slowly
breaking up to be converted to
farmland. J.K. was one of those
pioneers. In 1891, under the
Homestead Act, he and his wife
laid claim to eight sections of
grassland, spanning from
what is now 50th to 66th
Street, and from Indiana to
Quaker Ave. J.K. acquired an
additional five sections to the
original homestead to total
thirteen sections and later
purchased forty more acres to
Home of John and Callie Caraway 1907 – Skillet
Ranch located on corner of 50th and Indiana Ave.
Home of Con and Elsie Caraway on the
corner of 50th and Quaker – 1923.
See p.7 for more history of that location.
keep the neighboring city from
encroaching upon the ranch.
They had nine children of their own,
two who did not survive past the
ages of six and nine, because the
necessary immunizations were not
available. Fern (Caraway) Weir, one
of three children born to Condie
(known as Fuzzy) and Elsie (Wells)
Caraway is one of the last of
the 16 grandchildren of J.K. and
Callie. She remembers that the area
seemed desolate, without trees
and water, but it held promise
for young settlers moving into
the Plains because of its rich
fertile soil. The ranch, originally
established in 1867, was reflective
of the era. It still holds many
wonderful memories for the