Earth

Nobody agrees on where the name came from. One story says storekeeper and first postmaster C. H. Reeves chose it during a sandstorm; another that Reeves described the storm to Washington and was told, "The earth seems to move in your country. You will call the post office Earth"; a third that Halsell wanted Good Earth and the post office shortened it. The town grew unusually for West Texas, from 350 people in 1930 to 1,512 in 1980, helped by irrigation and by Southwestern Public Service's Plant X generating station three miles south.

What the plaque says

Earth Before white men entered this region in late 19th century, nomadic Apache, Comanche, and Kiowa Indians followed the buffalo from water hole to water hole. A favorite Indian camp was at a spring (5 miles W), near which the Springlake Headquarters of the XIT Ranch were located in the 1890s. William Electious Halsell (1850-1934) purchased Springlake Division in 1901. Halsell and his son, Ewing Halsell (1877-1965), established the 300,000-acre Mashed O Ranch in 1902. When the economic base of the High Plains began to shift from ranching to farming, and other large ranches were being sold for the plow, the Halsells, in 1923, offered a portion of their land for sale to new settlers. Sale of fertile rangelands attracted many farmers from the Midwest, where land prices were soaring. The Halsell family selected this site for a new settlement in August 1924, built a hotel, cotton gin, and school, and named it "Fairlawn". When the post office opened in 1925, the names "Fairlawn" and "Tulsa" were rejected, and "Earth" chosen. Marshall Kelley was appointed first postmaster. Earth soon had several churches and business enterprises. Earth was incorporated in 1946, and continues to serve an area rich in agricultural diversification. (1973)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge — 28 mi
  The oldest national wildlife refuge in Texas, a ring of salt lakes in the sandhills south of Muleshoe where tens of thousands of sandhill cranes winter in a wet year.

More markers nearby

• Springlake-Earth School — 3.4 mi
• First Irrigation Well in Lamb County — 4.9 mi
• Springlake Cemetery — 5.1 mi
• Spring Lake — 5.2 mi