About Earth, TX
General Facts:
The City of Earth is located at the crossroads of Highway 70 and Farm Road 1055 in northern Lamb County; part of the 38 county Panhandle Plains region of Texas.
The population in the City from the 2000 census was 1,208 with approximately 2,000 residents living outside the city limits but within same zip code.
Agriculture is the main industry here. Crops produced, mainly with the aid of irrigation, are cotton, corn, wheat, grain sorghum, alfalfa, soybeans and sunflowers. Beef cattle are raised and recent years have seen the addition of several new dairies.
It is a semi-arid terrain, flat with a few rolling hills and playa lakes. The soils are almost universally dark-brown to reddish brown sands, sandy loams, and clay loams.
Wildlife that may be seen includes gray fox, coyote, prairie dog, opossum, skunk, badger, deer, squirrels, raccoon and a variety of snakes. 451 species of birds have been documented in the Panhandle Plains region making this a prime bird watching area. Earth offers some of the best pheasant hunting in the state with a season in late December into early January.
Annual precipitation averages 18.04 inches per year, and the growing season lasts 194 days. Temperatures range between an average minimum temperature of 24° F in January and an average maximum of 93° in July.
Earth is fortunate to have fertile soil, good water and reasonably priced land. In 2009, irrigated farm acreage may be purchased for about $1,000.00 an acre. $500.00 will purchase a residential lot with utilities available! A modern three bedroom home can be bought for about $55,000.00, a small home for $15,000.00. The median home price is $33,500.00.
Springlake-Earth School is known for it’s caring staff and small class size. There is an average of only 13 students per teacher compared to the national average of 23. The school is well-maintained and offers modern technology combined with the advantages of a close campus. About 400 students, grades pre-K through 12, are located at the same property in individual schools. Springlake-Earth students excel in academics and the school offers a broad athletic program; football, basketball, track, tennis, golf and crosscountry. A band program is available beginning in elementary school, with instruments provided. You can visit their regularly updated website, http://www.springlake-earth.org/, for more information. Go Wolverines!
Unemployment is only 6.4% and there is a positive job forecast here.
You will be able to shop at a variety of local businesses, attend one of the many churches, enjoy the park and visit the Library.
Earth is a small town trying to grow into a 21st century city. We are convinced that the future of every community lies in capturing the energy, imagination, intelligence and passion of its people
We welcome new residents and new businesses. Entrepreneurs please note: an informal survey of local residents revealed needs for the following businesses: Laundromat, Coffee Shop, Dog Grooming & Boarding, Beauty Salon, Plant Nursery/Produce Stand, Child Care, Attorney, Realtors, Feed Store and Coffee Shop. Please contact us if we may answer any questions or provide you with more information.
History:
This area is part of a region known as the Llano Estacado and while traveled by early Spanish and European explorers it remained unsettled due to its isolation and lack of usable water. Apache, Kiowa and Comanche Indians followed the buffalo herds and often stopped at a spring a few miles east of Earth. By 1880 the buffalo had been largely eliminated and ranchers were bringing in cattle to graze the rich prairies.
Only four people were known to live in all of Lamb County in 1890 and 31 by 1900. The 1899 agricultural census showed no crops being grown and nearly 11,000 cattle on range. Springlake became the headquarters for the Springlake Division of the famous XIT Ranch in the 1890’s.
William Electious Halsell purchased 185,000 acres of the ranch in 1901 for $2.00 per acre and with his son; Ewing Halsell formed the 300,000-acre Mashed O Ranch. Over the next two years, they added an additional 100,000 acres of purchased land to the ranch.
Change was moving across the plains by the 1920’s; ranchers could see that large profits could be made by selling land to thousands of farmers moving from the east. In 1916, Ewing formed the Halsell Farms Company along with his three sisters; in 1923, they divided the land into 1 ¼-section plots and sold it at $25.00 an acre. To facilitate land sales, Halsell built a hotel, cotton gin and school and named the newly platted town, Fairlawn.
Ewing Halsell contracted to have the first irrigation well dug in Lamb County in 1902. Located 4.7 miles west of Earth, it was hand dug 30 feet deep, 6 feet wide and water was moved via a ditch to the ranch headquarters. Cotton was the main crop in the county by 1930. New techniques allowed the drilling of deep wells into the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest aquifer systems in the world, and agriculture flourished.
Earth was incorporated in 1947 and a post office established the next year. There are numerous accounts on how the name ‘Earth’ was decided on and why it was changed from Fairlawn. Some say that the frequently blowing dust was definitely more earth than lawn, others claim that the early residents picked the name ‘Tulsa’ only to have the postal service reject that choice along with ‘Good Earth’. It is a fact that it is the only town in the United States with that name!
Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. “,” http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/MM/apm1.html
(accessed September 13, 2009).