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History
in a Pecan ShellTampico
was on the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad and was named after the coastal Mexican
capital city of Tamaulipas state, Mexico.
Drillers in 1929 were hoping the appropriated name would bring in an
equally rich oil field.
After drilling ceased, the population dwindled
to only 25 persons, and one lone business. By the mid-1960s there were still 12
diehard residents, but no statistics are available after that.
A Visit to Tampico, Texas |
Distant
view of Tampico from Hwy. 86
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, July 2009 |
The
Ozark Trail monument
Designated State Archeological Landmark
Photo courtesy
Barclay
Gibson, July 2009 |
Ozark
Trail monument plaque at Tampico
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, July 2009 |
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Historical
Marker Text
The
Ozark Trail at TampicoIn
1913, William Hope "Coin" Harvey, who operated a resort in the Ozark Mountains
of Arkansas, founded the Ozark Trail Association as a private highway organization.
Several Texas and New Mexico counties joined the effort, and the line went diagonally
from St. Louis, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. As part of Harvey's plan, stops
along the way featured white obelisks denoting, in the official Ozark Trail green
lettering, town names, as well as directions and distances to other towns.
The central Ozark route passed across Wellington,
Texas, and a second southern route was built through the communities of Childress,
Estelline, Tampico, Turkey,
Quitaque, Silverton,
Tulia, Nazareth
and Dimmitt. J.E. Swepston of
Tulia, elected
Ozark Trail Association president in 1920, was instrumental in having the striking
road markers placed in this area. At the time, Hall County had more than 1,000
farms and ranches, and ranchland continued to be divided into farms as more settlers
arrived in the area. In 1924, however, with a government initiative to enact a
national road-numbering system, the Ozark Trails and other private highways were
abandoned or absorbed into the national road system.
Adjacent to the Tampico
marker was a service station and general store. In 1929, the Tampico oilfield
started a short-lived boom in the community, which supported a school. After the
oil supply proved minimal, the school consolidated into the Turkey
school district. The obelisk, designated a State Archeological Landmark in 1999,
remains as a tie to both the early efforts to increase automotive travel and to
the community of Tampico. |
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1940s
Hall County map showing Tampico
Courtesy Texas General Land Office |
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