South Plains, Texas, Floyd County. (original) (raw)

Cranes in mid-flight near South Plains
Photo Courtesy Eric Blackwell, November 2006

History in a Pecan Shell

A Moveable Post Office
In 1909 a post office was opened in the store of J.D. Childress five miles east of present-day South Plains. Operating under the name of Curlew the town had been a stagecoach stop. The post office was reopened in the home of Mrs. J. W. Simms, which was about three miles closer to the present South Plains and finally it moved to its present location alongside the railroad when it arrived in the late 1920s.

Mr. Childress' original Curlew store moved to the railroad in 1929. 200 acres of land was subdivided into town lots in 1927 and about this time South Plains opened its first hotel (burned in 1934).

South Plains became another casualty of the Great Depression and although it had a population of 180 people as late as 1980, it had shrunk to a mere 25 by 1990 - the same figure continues to be used on the official state map for 2006.

Floyd County 1907 postal map showing Curlew
N of Floydada
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

Floyd County 1940s map showing South Plains
S of Silverton
From Texas state map #4335
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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