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BOOKER,
TEXASThe town formerly
known as La Kemp, Oklahoma
Lipscomb County, Texas
Panhandle
State highways 15 and 23
Population: 1,315(2000) 1,236 (1990)
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Booker,
Texas
Photo courtesy Stephen Taylor |
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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.
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Booker,
Texas ForumMy 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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Sign seen
on the road in Booker TX. "It's good to know that some folks
have a sense of humor about living in a small town." - Stephen
Taylor |
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