History
Lubbock County was founded in 1876, named after Thomas S. Lubbock, when a state administrator penciled in names of counties on a crude map of the Panhandle - at random. The modern town of Lubbock was not established until 1890 when old-Lubbock and the smaller town of Monterey struck an unusual alliance and merged the two communities. A deal most likely initiated by rival town promoters hired by area ranchers and merchants to lobby Ft. Worth & Denver for a rail depot. The site of Monterey was chosen in lieu of the new township's name, Lubbock. Old-Lubbock's residents relocated to Monterey just south of the the Yellowhouse Canyon, dragging the Nicollete Hotel with them on rollers. Lubbock became the county seat in 1891 and incorporated as a city in 1909.
In 1923 Texas Technological College was founded after a contentious bid war among several area cities including Amarillo and Plainview. The city of Lubbock was a mile away from the only campus building during its first session.
A category F-5 tornado cut a 8-mile (13 km) gash through the city on the evening of May 11, 1970, resulting in $125 million in property damage and the loss of 26 lives. The devastation received international news coverage and was among the first natural disaster recoveries to be documented on television. The coordinated effort served as a model for disaster recovery research and planning. The destruction of several thousand homes effectively ended segregation throughout the city.
Orientation
Lubbock is the largest developed area atop the Llano Estacado plateau. The area, when first explored, was a featureless grassland, and, according to legend, Spanish conquistadors drove large, brightly-colored stakes into the ground to plot their position. The region was later named the staked plains or Llano Estacado. The first settlers encountered banditos or native Comanche who would often hold new arrivals for ransom. The portion of the Caprock Escarpment just east of Lubbock is known as Ransom Canyon.
Eat
Homestyle
Italian
