Soon after establishing the city of Temple, the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad Company built a dam on nearby Bird Creek to create a reservoir and ready water supply. By 1900 a group of investors formed an association to develop a park at the site to be named in honor of railroad general manager L.J. Polk. The park offered such recreational opportunities as boating, fishing, croquet, and tennis. Local citizens assisted in landscaping the area and enjoyed the facilities for a ten-cent admission fee. The area eventually became a private club and, later, a city park.

The Sugar Industry, which began in Texas before the Civil War (1861-65), was revived in the late 1800s by cheaper refining methods. One of the leading sugar producers in Colorado County was William Dunovant. In 1898 he and several men from Eagle Lake built the Cane Belt Railroad to take cane to the mill. Later extended, the profitable rail line was purchased by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1902.

The success of the railroad encouraged Dunovant to build a refining plant for this area. Lakeside Sugar Refinery, erected at this site about 1902, processed up to 1,000 tons of cane each day and produced 5,000,000 pounds of refined sugar each year. A train called the "Whangdoodle" carried cane from nearby fields to the refinery. By 1910 Lakeside Mill was one of the largest in Texas, with about 100 employees. It stimulated the local economy and attracted able businessmen, such as Rudolph Wintermann and son Oscar J. Wintermann.

After its best season in 1908-09, the sugar industry declined. A state law forbidding use of convict labor raised production costs. A tropical storm damaged the refinery, and an early freeze destroyed much of the sugar crop. Sold in 1913, the Lakeside Refinery was dismantled in 1918 and rebuilt in Jamaica.

After the Texas Legislature created Lampasas County in 1856, official business of the county was conducted from a variety of spaces and buildings. Land for the courthouse square was set aside when the town of Lampasas was platted in the 1850s. In 1882, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad extended their tracks to the county seat, bringing significant growth and prosperity to the area.

In 1883, the Commissioners Court, with county Judge W.P. Beall presiding, hired Waco architect Wesley Clark Dodson to design the new courthouse. The building contractor (Kane Brothers) and the stone contractors (T. Lovell and Company) executed Dodson's plan, completing the building in 1884. Reflecting influences of the Second Empire and Italianate styles of architecture, the Lampasas County Courthouse features a central clock tower, arched windows and a mansard roof. In 1884, the Commissioners Court authorized the city to place a Seth Thomas clock in the tower.

Since its construction, the courthouse has been a focal point for city and county activities, including local festivals. Floods in 1936 and 1957 damaged the building, requiring repair and reconstruction. Today, the stately Lampasas County Courthouse remains an outstanding example of the golden era of courthouse construction in the state. It continues to serve as an important symbol of the county's growth and development and as an influence on the historic character of the county seat.

In 1887 Joseph B. Leach and his brothers, John and Dee, immigrated to this area from Liberty, Kentucky. Joseph filed on a 160-acre homestead and built a half-dugout and sod house and a windmill. The Leach brothers often hauled freight for Plainview merchants. More families arrived in this five-mile square area. By 1892 there were enough children for a schoolhouse to be erected. Methodist and Baptist services and community activities were held in the building. The settlement was called "Liberty" for Joseph Leach's Kentucky home. William R. Finney and his family settled nearby in the early 1900s. When the Santa Fe Railroad from Amarillo to Plainview located a switch in 1906 on Finney's land, the site became "Finney Switch".

Soon irrigation wells improved agriculture and dairy farming began. Liberty Schoolhouse was moved in 1912 and in 1920 a four-room brick building was erected south of Finney. About 1925 the first business, a store, opened. The Baptist and Methodist congregations built sanctuaries by 1940. With the consolidation of the Liberty and Plainview Schools in 1948 and changes in farming, the population decreased.

Established, 1886 by settlers hoping to benefit from proposed Santa Fe Railroad in Panhandle. Post office was opened in 1886; Lipscomb Town Company sold land for $3 an acre in 1887. In first month, seven businesses started. When county was organized in 1887, Lipscomb became seat, named for A.S. Lipscomb, secretary of state in Republic of Texas and Justice of State Supreme Court. Hotel from undeveloped town of Dominion was moved here, 1887. First courthouse was built in 1887. The first school -- in a church -- had 25 pupils, 1888. A new courthouse was erected, 1916.

Created 1876 from Bexar Territory. Name honors G.W. Lynn, "One of those who baptized the altar of Texas with life blood at the Alamo". Tahoka Lake and Double Lakes Springs were watering places on Indian, Spanish, U.S. Army and cattle-driving trails. This was home land of nomadic Indians; visited by Spaniards, 1500s-1800s; used by New Mexicans grazing large herds of sheep in 1860s; site of last great buffalo hunts and the U.S. Cavalry's drive against Comanches, 1874-1877. Last cowboy-Indian skirmish occurred 1879 at Double Lakes. Earliest open-range cattlemen settled here in 1880s. First schools, Lynn and T-Bar, opened in 1902. In April 1903, county was organized, with Tahoka as county seat. The first officials: M.L. Elliott, county judge; S.N. McDaniel, county and district clerk; C.H. Doak, sheriff and tax assessor; W.E. Porterfield, surveyor; J.E. Ketner, H.E. Baldridge, B. Humphries, and W.T. Petty, commissioners. The Santa Fe Railroad built to this point in 1910. This has since become a major agricultural area, ranking among top ten cotton counties in Texas -- and one of the top twenty in the United States.

On September 7, 1882, lots in the town of McGregor Springs were sold at public auction. The event had been advertised statewide by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad and the Texas and St. Louis Railway. The community was named for Dr. Gregor Carmichael McGregor (1824-1902), a pioneer Texas physician who later became a prominent Waco businessman. As the settlement grew away from the springs on Harris Creek, it became known as McGregor. Residents of such nearby pioneer settlements as Banks and Eagle Springs were among the first to move their families and businesses here. The post office was even listed as Banks for a short time in 1882. The first school, the McGregor Academy, was opened by J.S. Greenlee in 1883, four years before the McGregor Independent School District was created. The town was incorporated in 1886 and A.H. Crain was elected to serve as the first mayor. Because of its location on major railroad lines, McGregor first developed as an agricultural shipping center. During World War II it experienced a period of intense growth due to the opening of an ordnance plant. Continued development has resulted from the town's diversified economy and rich heritage.

When the Southern Kansas Railway Company of Texas built a line through Roberts County in 1887, Miami developed at the end of the track as a campsite for workers. The crew set up a kitchen and a tent hotel. Soon the railroad built a public water well and telegraph lines to nearby Fort Elliott. Passengers and supplies for the post and nearby town of Mobeetie began arriving by rail. This depot was erected in 1888 between North Main and Birge Street. The Santa Fe Railroad bought the line in 1899 and this structure remained in service until 1978.

Oldest town in Texas Panhandle. Originally, a trading post, 2 miles south, 1874; moved nearer to Fort Elliott, 1875. Earlier called Sweetwater, was renamed in 1879. Courthouse was completed by Mark Huselby, first county tax assessor, and other citizens. Popular with hunters, cowboys, gamblers - town in 1881 became judicial center of 35th District. Temple Houston, son of the hero Sam Houston, was District Attorney and the first State Senator for this district. After bypass by the Santa Fe Railroad (1888) and a destructive 1898 tornado, Mobeetie declined.

Soon after Wheeler County was organized in 1879, a Union church was formed at Old Mobeetie (2 miles south). On April 2, 1894, the 13 Baptist members of the fellowship organized this church. Services were held in public buildings until 1919, when a sanctuary was built. After, the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railroad bypassed Old Mobeetie, the town declined, and the church building was moved here in 1942. Through its heritage of service to two communities, Old and New Mobeetie, the church has played a major role in the development of the surrounding area.