Lockney History
Lockney, located in west central
Floyd County, was founded in 1889 by settlers from
Della Plain seeking a better water source. A post office was granted in
1890. The community was named for J. H. Lockney, the father of settler J. F.
Lockney, by H. C. Knight, the district surveyor. In 1894 J. A. Baker donated
land for a new town site and school one mile to the west. Lockney, which had
existed as a store and post office, began to grow. Ranching and grain
farming at first formed the economic backbone. A school,
Lockney Christian College, founded in 1894 by members of the Church of
Christ, encouraged settlers, although the school closed around 1918. The
town incorporated in 1907.
Lockney thrived as a center for trade and
education in its early years. The Practical Business School was started by
A. F. Reagan in 1906. A newspaper, variously named, was published from
before 1900 until 1972. By 1911 Judge William McGehee had pioneered an
irrigation well, and by the end of the 1940s irrigation made cotton the
principal crop of this area. Lockney also became a grain-shipping center and
retail point with eighty-five businesses and a population of 1,231 by 1940.
By 1950 the population had increased to 1,698. A large elementary school was
built in 1964, and other new buildings included a hospital, churches, a city
hall, and a fire station. The population was 2,141 in 1960; 2,094 in 1970,
when the town had seventy-five businesses; and 2,334 in 1980, when citizens
supported seventy-two businesses, five schools, many churches, and a rest
home. Plants include a birdhouse manufacturing company and several
agricultural implements and oilfield equipment companies, including the only
factory for wooden sucker rods in Texas. In 1990 the population was 2,207.
In 2000, the population stood at 2,056.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Floyd County Historical Museum,
History of Floyd County, 1876-1979 (Dallas: Taylor, 1979). Claude V.
Hall, Early History of Floyd County (Canyon, Texas: Panhandle-Plains
Historical Society, 1947). Alma N. Holmes, Favorite Stories about Floyd
County (Dallas: Vanguard Visuals, 1973). Kathleen E. and Clifton R. St.
Clair, eds., Little Towns of Texas (Jacksonville, Texas: Jayroe
Graphic Arts, 1982).
Kline A. Nall
Recommended citation:
"LOCKNEY, TX." The Handbook of Texas
Online.
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/LL/hjl11.html
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