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History in a
Pecan ShellJulian
Bassett, a land promoter and town builder tried to pull the rug out from under
the fledgling town of Ralls
in 1911.
Bassett had already founded Crosbyton three years previously and
hoped to secure the county seat by building the Crosbyton-South Plains Railroad
- connecting Lubbock
to Crosbyton. The railroad
crossed John R. Ralls' ranch, and when Ralls revealed his plans to develop a town
on the line, Bassett thwarted his plan by refusing to grant Ralls
with a depot. Instead he developed the town of Cedric - a cluster of brick buildings
(that never held a tenant) and a depot.
Ralls
citizens freighted supplies from Cedric to their homes in Ralls,
but in 1915 the Santa Fe Railroad bought the Crosbyton-South Plains Railroad and
made the depot at Ralls a
regular stop. Bassett threw in the towell and sold the Cedric depot (along with
a few wooden sidewalks) to John Ralls who moved them all to his town.
All that's left of Cedric today is part of the concrete foundation of the former
depot. |
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1940s
Crosby County map showing Ralls.
Cedric has long since disappeared from the map
Courtesy Texas General
Land Office | |
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