Historical Marker
A Half-Mile South of this marker Stood Town of Gomez
Brownfield, Terry County · Texas
Erected 1974
J. F. Blankenship, Sam P. Ford and a Mr. Pool started Gomez in 1902, wrongly believing their land lay at the county's center. Postal officials in Washington proposed the name of the Cuban general Máximo Gómez. Mrs. Tom Bess ran the post office; J. T. Gainer built a large store, W. Craig a saloon and Vernon Seitz a dance hall, and blacksmith T. J. Price circulated the first petition to organize the county. The Terry County Voice, the county's first newspaper, was printed there, and the first gin came in 1904. Brownfield won by three votes.
What the plaque says
A Half-Mile South of this marker Stood Town of Gomez In 1903, owners of land here in center of then-unorganized Terry County platted this town, secured a post office named for Spanish-American patriot Maximo Gomez, drilled a public water well, and induced merchants and citizens to move here. This was the first inhabited townsite in the county. Its promoters hoped it would be the county seat, but that honor went to Brownfield (4.4 mi. E) in 1904 when the county was organized. Gomez had a post office until 1926, school until 1941. A church, some businesses (.75 mi. NW), and the old cemetery retain the name. (1974)
Where it stands
33.18143, -102.37092 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Gomez Cemetery — 0.7 mi
- Brownfield Municipal Power Plant — 5.1 mi
- City of Brownfield — 5.2 mi
- Colonel B. F. Terry and Terry's Texas Rangers — 5.2 mi