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History in a Pecan
Shell
The
town dates from 1907 when partners purchased the Hughes Ranch. The 60,000 acre
ranch was subdivided into smaller plots and ads were placed in northern papers
to attract farmers. A hotel was built for prospective buyers and the community
was named Hughes, after the former owner. Farmers from Illinois, Indiana,
Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee responded to the hard-to-refuse offer of free
acreage to those buying a farmstead. In two short years, Hughes had a population
of 600. The drilling of a large well for drinking water revealed waters of a medicinal
nature and soon the town was promoting itself as a health resort.
In 1908
a post office was applied for and the submitted name was Karlsbad, after
a famed spa in Europe. The K was replaced by the more Anglo-pleasing C. The town
newspaper also took a change of name, switching from the Hughes Headlight to the
Carlsbad Headlight.
The arrival of the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway
(just a spur line from San Angelo) teased the community into thinking of blue
skies and never-ending horizons, but the region was struck by a three-year drought
that drove Carlsbad’s farmers and businessesmen away.
The population declined
to 200 residents served by a single store and by the mid 1920s there were only
150 residents. The population grew to 400 by 1932 but as the Great Depression
worsened, the town fell back to 150. In the mid 1940s, Carlsbad had increased
its population to 700 – an all time high.
The McKnight State Sanatorium
opened in 1950 to take advantage of the dry climate. The town population remained
at 100 from the early 1950s through 2000. |
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