History
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley 1936-1959, better known by his stage name of Buddy Holly, was born in Lubbock. Together with Elvis Presley, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of rock-n-roll. In fact, it was watching Presley in concert in Lubbock that led Holly, originally a country and folk singer, to turn towards rock music. Tragically, Holly's life was cut short at the age of 22 when he died in a plane crash in Iowa, together with Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. Nevertheless, today Holly still lives on in his hometown by way of the Buddy Holly Center.
Lubbock County was founded in 1876 and named after Thomas S. Lubbock, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and subsequent Confederate officer. Mr. Lubbock didn't have any particular ties to the area; but the area bore his name because a state administrator penciled in names of counties on a crude map of the Panhandle - at random. The modern town of Lubbock was not established until 1890 when old-Lubbock and the smaller town of Monterey struck an unusual alliance and merged the two communities, a deal most likely initiated by rival town promoters hired by area ranchers and merchants to lobby Ft. Worth & Denver for a rail depot. The site of Monterey was chosen in lieu of the new township's name, Lubbock. Old-Lubbock's residents relocated to Monterey just south of the the Yellowhouse Canyon, dragging the Nicollete Hotel with them on rollers. Lubbock became the county seat in 1891 and incorporated as a city in 1909.
In 1923 Texas Technological College was founded after a contentious bid war among several area cities including Amarillo and Plainview. The city of Lubbock was a mile away from the only campus building during its first session.
A category F-5 tornado cut a 8-mile 13 km gash through the city on the evening of May 11, 1970, resulting in $125 million in property damage and the loss of 26 lives. The devastation received international news coverage and was among the first natural disaster recoveries to be documented on television. The coordinated effort served as a model for disaster recovery research and planning. The destruction of several thousand homes effectively ended segregation throughout the city.
Orientation
33º35' N, 101º51'W
Elevation: 3256 ft (992 m)
Lubbock is the largest developed area atop the Llano Estacado plateau. The area, when first explored, was a featureless grassland, and, according to legend, Spanish conquistadors drove large, brightly-colored stakes into the ground to plot their position. The region was later named the staked plains or Llano Estacado. The first settlers encountered banditos or native Comanche who would often hold new arrivals for ransom. The portion of the Caprock Escarpment just east of Lubbock is known as Ransom Canyon.