Migrant Labor Camps of Lubbock County
Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Early Hispanic residents of frontier Lubbock County included ranch hands in the 1880s. Railroad lines brought many workers to the South Plains, the majority recruited from El Paso. Rail companies built row houses near construction sites, and Lubbock’s rail labor camps became ethnic enclaves for Hispanic workers. One of the early settlements southwest of town was called Shipley’s Railroad Camp. Cotton raising, which began as a side crop on area ranches, also attracted temporary labor as production increased. One field labor camp developed near the Slaton roundhouse. Cotton pickers from south Texas and Mexico arrived in a seasonal migration, although some found year-round ranch work. While on the migration circuit, Hispanic citizens lived in large labor camps throughout the county and along every major highway into Lubbock. In the city, a barrio called “Mexican Town” or the “Chihuahua District” developed in this locale. Standard homes were tents or simple structures, and the neighborhood was poverty-ridden and overcrowded. The Great Depression worsened living conditions for most residents but especially for the working poor. Mexican migrants and Hispanic citizens also faced segregated facilities including schools, theaters and restaurants. In 1948 the city council paid for a corrugated metal building at the largest camp as a labor recruiting site. In May 1970, a tornado destroyed much of the neighborhood, and of the twenty-six people killed nearly half were barrio residents. By 2000, Hispanics made up about one-third of the city population and one-half of the public school enrollment. Lubbock also boasted dozens of Hispanic organizations advocating for business, civil rights, leadership, families, the arts, youth and education. Aztlan Park is the site of the former migrant labor camp. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
From the 1880s onward, Hispanic workers shaped Lubbock County—first as ranch hands, then as the rail crews recruited out of El Paso to build the lines that opened the South Plains. Railroad row houses and cotton-picking camps hardened into ethnic enclaves, and in the city a barrio known as "Mexican Town" or the "Chihuahua District" took root amid poverty, segregation, and overcrowding. The Great Depression and a devastating 1970 tornado both fell hardest on these residents, yet the community grew into a third of the city and built dozens of civic and civil-rights organizations.
Why it matters
It records how Mexican and Mexican American labor built the infrastructure and agriculture of West Texas while enduring segregation—a story of endurance and community-building central to the American Southwest.
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Related events
- · 1970 Lubbock tornado
Themes & tags
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