Spur

Spur is on State Highway 70 sixty miles east of Lubbock in southern Dickens County. The name is from the Spur Ranch, which formerly included the townsite. E. P. Swenson and his associates purchased the Spur Ranch in 1907 and began subdividing the land for sale to settlers. Charles Adam Jones, then manager of the Spur interest, played the leading role in persuading Daniel Willard, head of the Burlington Railroad, to route a proposed railway line northwest from Stamford through the future site of Spur. On November 1, 1909, the first train of the Stamford and Northwestern arrived at the new depot at Spur as the town was opened. Over 600 lots had been sold. The first businesses in town were the W. S. Campbell Mortuary and Furniture Store, which started operation ten days after the town opened, and the Spur Hardware and Furniture Company, managed by N. A. Baker. Other early business concerns included the Spur Inn, the furniture store of C. Hogan and Company, the Love Dry Goods Store owned by C. L. Love, the Brazelton-Pryor Lumber Company managed by F. W. Jennings, and the first newspaper, the Texas Spur, published by Oran McClure. The town was incorporated in 1911. The Spur school district grew from a one-room schoolhouse, which started in 1909. Professor St. John was the only teacher until the arrival of Miss Reavis from Haskell. By the mid-1980s the school district comprised nearly half the county. Despite the fact that Spur has been steadily losing businesses since reporting a high of 110 businesses in 1940, the town remains the central shipping point in Dickens County for cotton, wheat, and cattle. In 1980 Spur had forty-seven businesses, including a bank, a newspaper, and a library. In addition, Texas A&M University operated an agricultural experimental station just outside of town. Spur had a population of 1,747 in 1970, 1,690 in 1980, and 1,300 in 1990. The population dropped to 1,088 in 2000. It is the largest town in the county.