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TARZAN,
TEXASTexas Ghost
Town
Martin County, West Texas
Highway 176
34 miles West of Big
Spring
34 miles East of Andrews
Population: 80
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| | A
brisk breeze in Tarzan
TE Photo Feb 2001 | |
| Tarzan wasn't formed
until the 1920s. That's why you never heard of Fort Tarzan, Texas. The town gets
its unusual name from a submission to the postal service that was accepted. There's
no telling how many names had been submitted and rejected, but the boys in the
postal service thought it was great fun to have a Tarzan, Texas. After all, they
didn't have to live there. The year was 1927 and Tarzan's popularity in
the comic strips was right up there with Krazy Kat. Of course, when people thought
of Tarzan in 1926, they though of Elmo Lincoln instead of Johnny Weissmuller.
Not that it makes much difference. |
| | The
Biggest Structure in Tarzan
TE Photo Feb 2001 | |
The "turning point"
for Tarzan (the Town) came in 1938 when a highway was built from Big
Spring to Andrews. It's equidistance made it a natural stop
for whoever might be traveling between these two cities. The turning point for
Tarzan (the Apeman) was when he met Jane. Everybody knows that.
We were
calling the Valentine
post office not that long ago and for some reason we got the postmaster
of Tarzan. He didn't seem too surprised that we got him by mistake. He said that
since Tarzan and Valentine are close to one another in the directory, this sometimes
happens. While he knew the exact mileage to Valentine and had actually been there,
he was short on answers for other questions we had. While we had him on the line,
we asked the population of Tarzan. We were told that we could "count them on one
hand." We then told him our map said 80 and he said that that "sounds about right"
So, if you see a man in the vincinity of Big
Spring / Odessa with 80 fingers
on one hand, that would be the Tarzan Postmaster.
Book
Your Hotel Here & Save
Big
Spring Hotels
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| | The
Tarzan Gin is equipped with the Moss Lint Cleaner
TE Photo Feb 2001 |
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About the only other
information we could glean from the Handbook of Texas was that oil was
discovered in the 1950s and the Tarzan Hot Oil Company was formed. The next time
you see an 18-wheeler with TARZAN HOT OIL COMPANY written on the side, ask them
why the oil has to be hot, or if it really is.
We consulted the book
Muleshoe
and More: The Remarkable Stories Behind the Naming of Texas Towns by Bill
and Clare Bradfield, and found that Tarzan was just one of fourteen names submitted
to the postal authorities by storekeeper Tant Linsey. Perhaps the other names
are still on file somewhere in D.C. |
A
closed store
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, April 2006 |
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