Lamkin
Lamkin, Comanche County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Originally established 1870, one-half mile north on bands of the Leon River. Named for George Lamkin, donor of land for townsite. Business firms included general store, blacksmith shop, gin, post office and drugstore. Despite several floods and fires, pioneer merchants gamely rebuilt. Only after the flood of 1908 destroyed old Lamkin was town moved to present site. Two years later with the coming of the Cotton Belt Railroad, Lamkin developed into a shipping center for farmers and ranchers. By 1920, the town had 2 gins, a hotel, bank, produce house, lumberyard, blacksmith shop, 3 general stores, post office, 4 churches, telephone exchange and drugstore. Consolidated Public School had average attendance of over 200. Basketball team was county champion for 4 consecutive years. Annual attraction was horse and mule show. In 1922, fire destroyed a major portion of business firms. Lamkin rebuilt but failed after railroad discontinued, 1936. An often-related pioneer story was of 1869 Indian raid 2 miles east of here on Resley's Creek. The home of Mrs. Elizabeth Ewell was ransacked by 19 renegade Indians. The widow and her 2 sons were not at home but on their return were greeted by clouds of feathers from ripped mattresses. A posse drove the Indians away. (1967)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1870 on the Leon River and named for landowner George Lamkin, this Comanche County town weathered repeated floods and fires as its pioneer merchants stubbornly rebuilt. After the 1908 flood forced a move to higher ground, the arrival of the Cotton Belt Railroad turned Lamkin into a booming shipping center, with gins, banks, stores, and a school whose basketball team ran off four straight county titles. Fire in 1922 and the railroad's departure in 1936 finally emptied the town, leaving a ghost of its bustling heyday.
Why it matters
Lamkin traces the whole arc of a Texas railroad town—boom, blaze, and abandonment—capturing how the coming and going of the rails could make or unmake a community.
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Related people
- · George Lamkin
- · Elizabeth Ewell
Themes & tags
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