Page 40 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2026 - Online Magazine

LEVELLAND HISTORY
dollar (or washer) pitching,
and horseshoe pitching. The
Tubb family and others looked
forward to going to the Yellow
House Ranch in the NW part of
the county. At that time, about
50 head of buffalo roamed the
area. A 125-ft. wooden windmill
towered over the ranch. It was
said to be the tallest one in
the U. S. In the top of the cliffs
were Indian dwellings and
shallow caves where beads and
arrowheads were waiting to be
found by the children.
The most notable event of those
early days was the coming
of the railroad in 1925. To
commemorate the occasion,
multitudes of people came
out to meet the first train from
Lubbock. Hundreds of people
got off and walked to the largest
BBQ ever held in the county.
Spade Ranch donated ten head of
cattle for the occasion.
A good deal of land was broken
out with horse-drawn plows in
the fall of 1925. Many homes
were erected both on the farms
and in the city, and some were
dug out of the ground. The city
was incorporated in 1926, and
the school population grew.
The first crop of cotton in the
virgin soil was a good one. It
was harvested on Thanksgiving
Day, 1926 in “one of the worst
sandstorms ever to hit this area,”
according to Mr. Tubb.
Mr. Tubb eventually went
into real estate, establishing
the Levelland Real Estate and
Insurance Company—the first
of its kind in Levelland. He
bought and sold several farms
during those years, never
keeping the mineral rights, a
choice he later regretted since
oil was discovered in 1937. He
operated the firm until 1928
when he established the first
Chevrolet dealership—Potts and
Tubb Chevrolet Co. (Mr. Potts
40 Lubbock Senior Link
was the County Judge at the G. H. and Lizzie and their
time.) Prices for a new Chevrolet children have all passed away,
ranged from $575 to slightly but the family has left its
under $700 for the super deluxe mark. Several grandchildren
model. Mr. Tubb sold 75 to 100 and great grandchildren still
new 1928 Chevrolets to people in live in Hockley County and
Levelland and the surrounding surrounding counties. It was
counties. recently calculated that the
family racked up a total of 950
In 1935, he was named tax years in the field of education—
assessor, collector, and secretary as teachers, coaches, and
of the Levelland School District. administrators—influencing
From 1937 until 1946 he worked approximately 27,000 students.
as the business manager of the The LHS gymnasium is named
school. “Gano Tubb Gym,” an SPC dorm
Lizzie Tubb worked as a is named (Nathan) “Tubb Hall”,
an elementary school in Tahoka
homemaker raising their six added the (Floyd) “Tubb Wing,”
children. (Sons Harvey and and the newly renovated Wallace
Floyd had been born after the Theater’s auditorium is soon to
family moved to Hockley County be officially named the “Jerry
in 1921.) They all attended Tubb Auditorium.” Many Tubb
the Levelland schools, played family members have become
sports, worked, and graduated doctors, lawyers, engineers,
in the early to late 30s. All five musicians, business owners, and
sons graduated from college county and city officials.
and became teachers, coaches,
and administrators. The The Tubb family has definitely
Tubb’s daughter, Clarkie, was made an impact in Levelland,
a homemaker who raised five Hockley County and the
children. surrounding area—and it all
started in 1921 in a Model T
Life was simpler in the early traveling across the prairie
years but not always easy. toward a better life!
Families bought food in bulk,
usually at the Bowers’ store.
They ate a lot of beans and
cornbread in the summer, but
little meat, which would easily
spoil with lack of refrigeration.
Many times, after church, the
Tubb family, along with others,
would have dinner on the
ground outside. Men would
remove wagon sideboards and
put them on sawhorses for
tables. Another common practice
was to invite friends for Sunday
dinner, especially in the summer.
The Tubb family were charter
members of Fifth Street Baptist
Church. Mr. Tubb was named
deacon and also directed the
choir. He and Lizzie often sang
duets and encouraged their sons
and daughter to sing.