Lubbock or Leave It

The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:

Lubbock County was founded in 1876. It was named after Thomas Saltus Lubbock, former Texas Ranger and brother of Francis Lubbock, governor of Texas during the Civil War. As early as 1884, a U.S. post office existed in Yellow House Canyon. A small town, known as Old Lubbock, Lubbock, or North Town, was established about three miles to the east. In 1890, the original Lubbock merged with Monterey, another small town south of the canyon. The new town adopted the Lubbock name. The merger included moving the original Lubbock’s Nicolett Hotel across the canyon on rollers to the new townsite — — a distance of FIVE miles. The new location was the southwest corner of Broadway and Buddy Holly Ave.

There is now a historical marker in Lubbock that describes the Nicollet Hotel. It reads:

“In late 1888 and early 1889, Frank E. Wheelock and Rollie Burns, manager and employee, respectively, of the large Ioa Ranch, built the Nicolett Hotel on a high prairie just east of the present Lubbock Country Club. Wheelock named the building after the Nicolett Hotel in Minneapolis, a city in which he briefly lived, studied and worked.

When finished, the hotel was an impressive two-and-a-half story building with eighteen rooms and a half-story attic lighted and ventilated by dormer windows. The square plan featured a porch across the entire front, perfect for guests. The original settlement of Lubbock formed around the hotel, which could be seen from miles away and attracted many visitors. Cowboys, salesmen, real estate agents, land and town promoters and more came to the Nicolett Hotel for a meal, a meeting, or an overnight visit to discuss their projects.

In February 1891, Wheelock, Burns and their supporters moved the large Nicolett Hotel, minus the front porch and balcony, five miles south to the square of the new Lubbock townsite. Its new location was across the street from the future county courthouse (present-day southwest corner of Broadway and Buddy Holly Ave.).

The hotel was remodeled in 1909 and increased in size to more than 40 rooms with an additional building constructed across the street to the east. In 1940, the building was sold and dismantled, with some of its materials recycled to build a church community center a few blocks away.”