Booker

Booker began in 1909 as La Kemp, Oklahoma, and its people moved it piecemeal, post office and all, when the Panhandle and Santa Fe came through. The Handbook of Texas traces its swings: 600 people by 1920, 495 in 1930 and 386 in 1940 after the Depression and the Dust Bowl, then 1,500 by 1949 with recovery, new farming methods and oil exploration. Many Russians of German origin from Kansas settled the north of the county when the railroad arrived. Booker built a new hospital and clinic in 1973, and the town now reaches into Ochiltree County.

What the plaque says

Platted 1917 by Thomas C. Spearman, Santa Fe Railway official. Named for railroad locating engineer, B. F. Booker. Town of La Kemp, Oklahoma (6 miles north) moved here 1919. First train arrived July 4, 1919, official birthdate of Booker. Economy based on farming, cattle and (since 1956) oil and gas production. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of the Plains — 15 mi
  Perryton's four-acre museum of the wheat country at the top of Texas, with an 1899 depot, five historic buildings and a life-size Hank the Cowdog, whose author grew up here.

More markers nearby

• Route of Jones & Plummer Trail — steps away
• Gray Community Church — 15 mi
• Ochiltree County — 15 mi
• George Morgan Perry — 16 mi