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History in a Pecan
Shell
Briefly known as Stemmons, Texas, Chicago was first
named in jest after the landowner’s hometown. The irony was that this Chicago
had virtually no population compared to the “City of Big Shoulders.” But a post
office for area ranches did open in 1889, and the postal authorities recognized
the name, whimsical or not.
A settlement did develop, necessitating a move
of the post office in 1904. The joke was getting stale by that time and so the
name was changed to Stemmons, after the surname of a ranch foreman.
When Dawson County was organized, the two contenders for county seat were Stemmons
and Lamesa. Stemmons had been ordered
to close their post office, but in order to give the community a fair shot and
not influence the election, postal authorities allowed the two post offices to
exist until after the 1905 election. Lamesa
won by a mere five votes.
The Stemmons post office closed and the offer
of help in relocation businesses was taken up by Stemmons residents. In the span
of a few days in July of 1905, the community of Chicago / Stemmons became a historic
footnote.
Chicago is remembered today by a historical marker and a Lamesa
street named after the short-lived town.
Lamesa,
a city mostly set up on a grid of numbered streets and avenues does have a few
streets named after cities. The mix is an interesting one, including Akron, Boston,
Detroit, Flint, and Hartford – and of course, Chicago. |
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"Site
of Chicago" historical marker
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, April 2009 | |
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