Oklahoma Lane

The Handbook of Texas names the first buyers: in January 1916 Ed McGuire, John Scribner, T. Hooser and the brothers Jim and Joe Johnson bought choice acreage from the Capitol Syndicate and brought their families from Oklahoma. The first community Christmas tree went up at Knox School in December 1917. The consolidated district of 1921 built in brick, and a store selling school supplies and candy opened across the street. In 1949 the district was divided among the Lazbuddie, Farwell and Bovina schools. Placekicker Mac Percival grew up here, and twenty-five people lived here in 2000.

What the plaque says

Oklahoma Lane The Oklahoma Lane Community, named for the many area settlers who came from that state, was originally part of the XIT Tanch. Families began to settle here around 1915 when the Capitol Reservation Lands Company began to sell XIT ranch land. Most residents in the area were employed in agricultural and ranching activities. As many young families moved here, schools became necessary. The Sunnyside and Knox schools, which later consolidated into the Oklahoma School, served the early residents. By the 1920s, residents began Methodist and Baptist churches, and in 1925, the Capitol Lane Syndicate established a cemetery. Today, Oklahoma Lanes continues to be a tightly-knit, rural community. (2010)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Blackwater Draw — 26 mi
  The site between Clovis and Portales that gave the Clovis culture its name, found by a nineteen-year-old in 1929 and dug for decades inside a working gravel pit.

More markers nearby

• Harden A. Douglass — 8.4 mi
• Bailey County Cemetery — 8.4 mi
• Parmer County — 9.0 mi
• Near Route of the Coronado Expedition — 9.0 mi