Page 49 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2021- Online Magazine

LOCAL HISTORY

ten other men to a meeting in name of Shallowater, saying that it sold four that first day. It was a
hopes they would join them in this just had too many letters for their day of celebration at the townsite’s
investment adventure. Nine men listing. So instead, in 1912, the second schoolhouse, with picnics,
joined and soon the eleven-member Santa Fe called the switch, Afton. games and even entertainment
Ripley Townsite Company was The locals did not like that and kept by the locally acclaimed Lubbock
established. calling their townsite Shallowater. Cowboy Band. As population
In a second effort to get a shorter increased in Lubbock County, this
They chose the name Ripley in name, the railroad company school was recognized as Common
honor of the Santa Fe Railroad’s began calling the switch, Pacita, in School District Number 17. This
President, Edward Payson Ripley, 1920. Still, the locals of what was “little white schoolhouse” burned
but the rail company told them becoming a very thriving town a year later and was replaced with
there was already a town named claimed to be “from Shallowater.” the one in the photograph. These
Ripley, in East Texas, and it was There was a cotton, grain and coal schoolhouses not only served for
on the track. To avoid confusion, warehouse, a library, a lumber the education of the youth, but also
the railroad called the townsite yard, a cattle yard and the largest as a gathering place for church and
Bowles, since Jim Bowles was the chicken hatchery on the Plains. social events.
president of the townsite company. Shallowater had a bank, post office,
However, the members wanted a several gas and tire stations, a In 1923, an official depot was
name that would draw people to café, a barber shop and a hotel that moved in on the east side of the
the area. On June 5, 1913, the name hosted Thanksgiving meals for the railway, to replace the boxcar that
of the townsite became Shallowater, harvesters. had served as a depot. Painted
due to the water tables being so on both ends of the building was
high; one did not have to dig deep On June 26, 1913, the Townsite SHALLOWATER, as the Santa Fe
for a good well. Company held the official sale of finally agreed that Shallowater was
land lots. They had the lots platted here to stay.
The railway did not like the long on the west side of the railroad and

Editor's note: The author has published a book by the
same name: Shallowater, Where Texas Pride Runs Deep.
She is selling it to raise funds to build the “Honor Court”
inside Young City Park in Shallowater. A local Eagle Scout
has begun the first phase. The concept began with a plan
to honor her son Brynn Naylor who was killed in action,
but it has expanded to honor any Shallowater citizen. Her
book can be purchased for $15 (Shipping+ $5) at
mcguire.dann@gmail.com

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Lubbock Senior Link 49