BOOKER, TEXAS

Formerly known as La Kemp, Oklahoma

History in a Pecan Shell

Borders don't mean much to Booker. Having crossed a state line - Booker's population is now flowing over the Lipscomb county line into Ochiltree County.

La Kemp was formed about the time of Oklahoma statehood - 1909. Ten years later when the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway built from Shattuck, Oklahoma, to Spearman, Texas - the entire town moved seven miles across the state line. Few people outside of the counties involved noticed. One has to assume that the post office people in Washington had to be let in on this move.

The town was platted shortly before the move in 1917 by Thomas C. Spearman who had Spearman, Texas named after him. The town was named for railroad engineer B. F. Booker. Booker was a civil engineer - not the man who drove the train.

An early aerial view of the town shows a simple heart shape - the main road running down through the center of town and then splitting at the top with both roads curving back to the bottom.

The population was 600 in 1920 and the town's infrastructure was finished just before the Great Depression. 386 people called Booker home in 1940.

In 1949 oil exploration helped boost the economy to 1,500 - and oil and gas has helped keep the population at about that level.

Heart Cemetery

Booker, Texas

...Texas’ northern-most community, Booker lies only three miles south of the Texas-Oklahoma border at the top of the Panhandle, but that’s seven miles farther south than it used to be when it was in Beaver County, Oklahoma. The change of address had nothing to do with its residents wanting to be Texans, however. They just wanted to live somewhere with a more promising future, no matter the location of their capital. And back then, a town’s prosperity had a lot to do with whether it enjoyed railroad service.... more

Booker, Texas Landmarks

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