Gomez

Gomez is on U.S. highways 82 and 380 forty-five miles southwest of Lubbock in west central Terry County. In 1902 J. F. Blankenship, Sam P. Ford, and a Mr. Pool started the town, the first settlement in Terry County. Blankenship surveyed the townsite. The men were informed-incorrectly, it was later discovered-that the land they had bought was at the center of the county. A post office opened in 1903 with Mrs. Tom Bess as postmistress. The name of the town was suggested by Washington postal authorities in honor of Máximo Gómez, a Cuban general and patriot who had figured prominently in the recent Spanish-American War.

The first building in Gomez was a general merchandise store, Wolf and Ware. In 1903 J. T. Gainer gave up ranching to build a large general store in Gomez, W. Craig established the first saloon, and Vernon Seitz built the first public dance hall. That year T. J. Price, who owned the blacksmith shop, circulated the first petition for the organization of the county, feeling sure that Gomez would be the county seat. The founders boasted that Gomez was "the metropolis of the plains." A school was established in 1903 in a one-room building with a curtain between the two teachers' classes. The first teachers were W. P. Florence and Miss Lula Spinks. H. H. Longbrake drilled a public well in the town square that year, and by 1904 the square was surrounded by businesses, including the Terry County Voice, the first newspaper in the county. The first cotton gin in Gomez was built in 1904, marking the beginning of significant cotton production in the county.