Site of Old Lubbock
Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A predecessor of present Lubbock, this area was, in 1890, a subject of heated dispute by three factions (led by W.D. Crump, W.E. Rayner, and Frank Wheelock) that vied in the founding of the county seat. Unlike most county seat debaters in Texas, though, these men had no long-established towns to support. Their main interest was in organizing the county. In the course of the rivalry, the groups founded two settlements. The Crump faction, later joined by the Wheelock group and several financial backers, started "Old Lubbock" at this site. Called "North Town" because it was located north of Yellow House Canyon, the site took in section 7, block A, bounded by the present streets of Quirt, Ash, Erskine, and Kent. The site soon attained a population of about 50 and boasted a reported 37 buildings, including the most historic one in the county: the Nicolett Hotel. Rayner's rival settlement south of the canyon was named "Monterey" and was popularly called "South Town". Surprisingly, though, the factions did not reach the permanent hostility common to such disputes. On December 19, 1890, they united in a compromise unique in West Texas history; and as a result, the city of Lubbock was founded on the site where it now stands. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1890, three factions led by W.D. Crump, W.E. Rayner, and Frank Wheelock competed to organize Lubbock County—not by backing established towns, but by founding new ones. The Crump and Wheelock groups started 'Old Lubbock,' or North Town, above Yellow House Canyon, a settlement of some 50 people and 37 buildings anchored by the Nicolett Hotel, while Rayner's rival 'Monterey' sat to the south. Rather than feud to the bitter end, the rivals struck a rare compromise on December 19, 1890, merging to found present-day Lubbock.
Why it matters
Old Lubbock illustrates how West Texas county seats were often deliberately conjured into being, and how an unusual spirit of compromise, rather than rivalry, birthed a major city.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
By 1890 the South Plains of Texas were opening to settlement. The free tribes had been forced onto reservations in the 1870s, the buffalo were gone, and big ranches had spread across the grasslands. Settlers, land promoters, and would-be town builders followed. The State of Texas had already drawn county lines across the region, but many of those counties had not yet been organized with governments and county seats.
Organizing a county was a major prize. The county seat would get the courthouse, the business, and usually the future railroad and growth. All across Texas, rival towns fought over that honor, sometimes with lawsuits, sometimes with stolen records, and occasionally with violence.
Lubbock County, named for Thomas S. Lubbock, a Texas Confederate officer, was in that unorganized state. Yellow House Canyon cut through the area, a natural landmark with water and shelter on a high, dry plain. That canyon would become the dividing line in a contest over where the county's future town would be.
People & events
In 1890 three factions, led by W.D. Crump, W.E. Rayner, and Frank Wheelock, competed to found the county seat. What made their fight unusual was that none of them had an established town to defend. They were not protecting old investments. Their main goal was to get the county organized, and each group wanted to found the town that would lead it.
The contest produced two settlements. The Crump faction, later joined by Wheelock's group and several financial backers, started Old Lubbock on this site. Because it lay north of Yellow House Canyon, people called it North Town. It grew to about 50 residents and a reported 37 buildings, among them the Nicolett Hotel, which the marker calls the most historic building in the county.
Rayner's rival settlement rose south of the canyon. It was named Monterey but was popularly known as South Town. Two towns on the same stretch of plain, each hoping to become the county seat, seemed set for the kind of feud that had soured relations in so many Texas counties.
Instead, the factions reached a compromise. On December 19, 1890, they agreed to unite, and the city of Lubbock was founded on the site where it stands today. North Town and South Town gave way to a single new town, and Old Lubbock became a predecessor rather than a rival.
Its place in the American story
Across the American West, towns were often deliberately created rather than slowly grown. Promoters platted streets on empty land, recruited settlers, and competed for courthouses and railroads that would decide which towns lived and which faded. Old Lubbock is a clear example of that process at work.
What stands out here is how the story ended. County-seat fights in Texas and elsewhere could leave lasting bitterness, and sometimes towns were abandoned in defeat. In Lubbock the rivals chose cooperation, and the marker calls their compromise unique in West Texas history. It is a reminder that frontier communities were shaped by negotiation as well as by conflict.
The result reached far beyond 1890. The town that came out of that compromise grew into one of the major cities of West Texas, a center of agriculture, education, and medicine for the South Plains. Its roots trace back to a small settlement of about 50 people on this site.
If you visit
Old Lubbock occupied a single section of land, bounded by present-day Quirt, Ash, Erskine, and Kent streets. Today it is part of the modern city, so you will not find a ghost town of weathered buildings. The fun is in standing on the spot and imagining a raw little settlement of about 50 people and a few dozen buildings, hoping to become a county seat.
Notice the lay of the land. Yellow House Canyon is the feature that gave North Town and South Town their names, and getting a sense of it helps the whole story make sense.
This stop fits easily into a Lubbock visit. Pair it with the city's museums and other historic markers to trace how a compromise between rival town builders turned into a city. It is a quick, rewarding stop for anyone curious about how the frontier became the towns we know today.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · W.D. Crump
- · W.E. Rayner
- · Frank Wheelock
Related events
- · Founding of Lubbock (1890)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Yellowhouse Canyon
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Yellowhouse Canyon was known to Spanish explorers in the 17th and 18th centuries and described by traveler Albert Pike in 1832, long before Anglo settlement reached the Llano Estacado. It was here in 1877 that white buffalo hunters clashed with the Native peoples who had long ranged these plains—remembered on the marker as the last such battle in Lubbock County. The canyon stands as a threshold between the era of the free plains tribes and the settlement that displaced them.
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