Dry-Land Farming

The school stands in Close City, which began as Post's first try at a town. So many early settlers lived in tents that the place was called Ragtown. Post encouraged building there until surveyors found that the site lay eleven miles from the geographical center of Garza County, too far off to serve as the county seat; he ordered work stopped and chose the present site of Post instead. Close City grew slowly, reaching a store, a school, two churches and fifty people by 1920, and its school joined the Post district in the 1950s.

What the plaque says

Dry-Land Farming This low rainfall area, limited usually to grazing, was colonized in 1907 by C. W. Post, creator of Post Foods and a philanthropist. By introducing new agricultural techniques, he was able to make farming profitable for colonists. Cotton, milo maize, Indian corn, and oats were grown here. Post also experimented with several types of fruits and vegetables. Men of small means could buy farms on easy terms from Post. He provided good houses, fences, windmills, and electricity. Also built Post Textile Mill to provide supplemental work and income for the colonists. 1967

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Garza County Historical Museum — 6.1 mi
  The county museum of Post, C. W. Post's planned town below the Caprock, kept in the stone sanitarium the town opened in 1912 as the best-equipped medical building west of Fort Worth.
• Slaton Harvey House — 18 mi
  A 1912 Santa Fe Harvey House in the railroad town of Slaton, restored as a museum, event hall and five-room inn overlooking a working BNSF yard.

More markers nearby

• Twin Chimneys — 3.7 mi
• C. W. Post Rain Battles — 3.7 mi
• Kate McCommis — 5.3 mi
• Pioneer's Well — 5.3 mi