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BOOKER,
TEXASFormerly
known as La Kemp, OklahomaLipscomb
County, Texas
Panhandle
State highways 15 and 23
3 mile S of the Oklahoma
State Line
16 Miles E of Perryton
15
Miles W of Darrouzett
Population: 1,315 (2000) 1,236 (1990) |
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| History
in a Pcan Shell
Borders don't
mean much to Booker. Having crossed a state line - Booker's population is now
flowing over the Lipscomb county line into Ochiltree County.
La Kemp
was formed about the time of Oklahoma statehood - 1909. Ten years later when the
Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway built from Shattuck, Oklahoma, to Spearman,
Texas - the entire town moved seven miles across the state line. Few people
outside of the counties involved noticed. One has to assume that the post office
people in Washington had to be let in on this move.
The town was platted
shortly before the move in 1917 by Thomas C. Spearman who had Spearman,
Texas named after him. The town was named for railroad engineer B. F. Booker.
Booker was a civil engineer - not the man who drove the train.
An early
aerial view of the town shows a simple heart shape - the main road running down
through the center of town and then splitting at the top with both roads curving
back to the bottom.
The population was 600 in 1920 and the town's infrastructure
was finished just before the Great Depression. 386 people called Booker home in
1940.
In 1949 oil exploration helped boost the economy to 1,500 - and
oil and gas has helped keep the population at about that level.
Heart
Cemetery"My
family has lived in the area around Booker since the early 1900s. I am actually
the fourth generation to graduated from Booker High School. Booker has always
been in the shape of a square while the cemetery has been in the shape of a heart
and is named Heart Cemetery. The cemetery was recently put on the historical registry
of Texas." - Vanessa Harper, Booker, Texas , February 11, 2008
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...Texas’ northern-most
community, Booker lies only three miles south of the Texas-Oklahoma border at
the top of the Panhandle, but that’s seven miles farther south than it used to
be when it was in Beaver County, Oklahoma. The change of address had nothing to
do with its residents wanting to be Texans, however. They just wanted to live
somewhere with a more promising future, no matter the location of their capital.
And back then, a town’s prosperity had a lot to do with whether it enjoyed railroad
service.... more |
1920s
Lipscomb County map showing Booker
(Near
Ochiltree County line, above "L" in "L-I-P-S-C-O-M-B")
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history and vintage/historic
photos of their town, please contact
us. | |
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