History
in a Pecan Shell
Gaines County is named after James Gaines, signer of the Texas Declaration
of Independence. Seagraves
was originally called Blythe. This was about 1911 when the post office
was on the Blythe ranch. The
Santa Fe railroad make Seagraves the end of a spur running from Lubbock
and a land company owned by the railroad promoted the town around 1917. There
was already a Blythe on the Santa Fe line (although it was in California) so the
name was changed to that of C. L. Seagraves, a Santa Fe Railroad Official. An
oil boom in the mid-thirties made up for a fire that nearly leveled the
town in 1928. 1950 was an unpleasant milestone for the town when it lost its title
as most populated Gaines County town to the county seat of Seminole. One
of the few buildings that survived the 1928 fire was the Simpson Hotel. The Hotel
was awarded a Texas Historical Commission Medallion in 1992. Seagraves
experienced an oil boom in the 1930s which lessened some of the impact of the
Great Depression. At one point in the 1950s, the chamber of commerce touted Seagraves
as "The Caged Egg Production Center of the World." That slogan may have
lost it's meaning to a lot of people, but to us here at Texas Escapes, Seagraves
will always be The Caged Egg Production Center of the World.
Seagraves
Attractions
Seagraves-Loop
Museum & Art Center
Main Street and Hill Avenue
806-546-2810
Nearby
Destinations
Cedar
Lake: East of Seagraves off of Hwy 83. Reported to be the birthplace of Quanah
Parker.
New
Mexico: The state immediately west of Texas
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