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A rare Pepsi-Cola
ghost sign
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Ropesville was Hockley County's first community, formed when the Spade
Ranch opened for development. Settlers shepherded by one Jim Jarrott
began arriving in 1901. When the South Plains and Santa Fe Railroad
Company laid tracks from Lubbock to Seagraves, Isaac Ellwood donated
land for a railroad depot.
Ropesville was platted in 1917 and when the time came (1920) to name
a post office, the ranch cowboys suggested the name Ropes for the
rope corrals they had built to pen outgoing cattle.
That names was submitted, however, postal authorities thought mail
might be misdirected to Ropers, Texas, so the application was rejected.
They trotted out the old standby "ville" - tacked it on and resubmitted.
The rest is history. Ropes, Texas lives on. The former depot was moved
to Lubbock and is now part of the Ranching Heritage Center.
The town blossomed with most of the businesses essential for a town.
Soon the town had a cotton gin, hotel, bank, cafe, and even a theater.
The town's first school also served as a church and in 1925 a high
school was built. Four churches were built in short order. In 1926
the town got its first newspaper - The Ropesville Hustler.
It later became the Ropes Plainsman and finally it became the
Lubbock Plainsman when it was bought in the 1960s.
Ropesville had a population of 500 when the Great Depression began.
As it worsened, the Ropesville Resettlement Project began with federal
funding. Thousands of acres of Hockley County were parceled into farms
of 140 to 160 acres. During WWII, the funds went to the war effort
and farmers were able to buy the land.
In 1965 Ropesville reached its zenith with nearly a thousand citizens.
By the late 1980s it had declined by half and the figure given on
the 2004 state map was 517. |
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