Ropesville, Texas, Hockley County. (original) (raw)

The former depot in Lubbock's Ranching Heritage Center
TE Photo, September 2009
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History in a Pecan Shell

Ropesville was Hockley County's first community, formed when the Spade Ranch opened for development. Settlers shepherded by one Jim Jarrott began arriving in 1901. When the South Plains and Santa Fe Railroad Company laid tracks from Lubbock to Seagraves, Isaac Ellwood donated land for a railroad depot.

Ropesville was platted in 1917 and when the time came (1920) to name a post office, the ranch cowboys suggested the name Ropes for the rope corrals they had built to pen outgoing cattle.

That names was submitted, however, postal authorities thought mail might be misdirected to Ropers, Texas, so the application was rejected. They trotted out the old standby "ville" - tacked it on and resubmitted. The rest is history. Ropes, Texas lives on. The former depot was moved to Lubbock and is now part of the Ranching Heritage Center.

The town blossomed with most of the businesses essential for a town. Soon the town had a cotton gin, hotel, bank, cafe, and even a theater. The town's first school also served as a church and in 1925 a high school was built. Four churches were built in short order. In 1926 the town got its first newspaper - The Ropesville Hustler. It later became the Ropes Plainsman and finally it became the Lubbock Plainsman when it was bought in the 1960s.

Ropesville had a population of 500 when the Great Depression began. As it worsened, the Ropesville Resettlement Project began with federal funding. Thousands of acres of Hockley County were parceled into farms of 140 to 160 acres. During WWII, the funds went to the war effort and farmers were able to buy the land.

In 1965 Ropesville reached its zenith with nearly a thousand citizens. By the late 1980s it had declined by half and the figure for 2010 was 434.

Ropesville Chronicles

Who killed J.W? by Clay Coppedge

The first recorded murder on the South Plains of Texas happened when Lubbock lawyer J.W. Jarrott was shot and killed while watering his team of horses near the present-day community of Ropesville on Aug. 27, 1902... more

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