4/5/2007
World's Largest Cattle Shipping Point...Bovina, Texas
By Darla Bracken fridarla19@yahoo.com
In 1882 when the XIT Ranch was first organized, they established the Hay Hook Line Camp in Parmer County and later built the headquarters for Division 8 there—the bull pen and shipping point for the XIT Ranch cattle. At first the cattle were driven in herds to points north for slaughter. Both cowboys and cattle had free range in the unfenced area when the Pecos and Northern Texas Railroad came through in 1898 in the process of establishing a track line from Amarillo to Roswell. After the railroad was built, cottonseed was shipped in to supplement the range feed and inevitably some cottonseed was spilled near the tracks. The bulls in ‘Bull Town’ nibbled on the feed and became quite unafraid of the trains which traveled through the area. When the post office was established on January 31, 1899 ‘Bull Town’ became a more dignified Bovina. William M. Guy was named the first postmaster.
Later the railroad merged with Sante Fe Railroad and they built stockyard holding pens for the huge droves of cattle waiting to be shipped. As many as 10,000 head at a time were shipped from tiny Bovina—an amount which would rival some of our modern day feedyards shipping to the area packing plants via semi-tractor/trailer rigs. Many cattle were from other ranches in the area besides the XIT cattle. Cattle today still outnumber people in Parmer County just as they did in the days of the XIT Ranch.
When the division of the 50,000 acre area around Bovina was made, John R. Armstrong was sent as foreman and manager for the land disposal. People who came to live in the area began moving there in 1905. Bovina had two churches and a school. The first school in Parmer County was in Bovina above one of the mercantile stores—a one-room, one teacher affair in 1899. The first school built in Bovina was an adobe structure in 1905. Due to the fact that there were many Mexican workers who came to help build the railroad, there were also many Mexican children in the area and they had their own school established in 1902. Mrs. Abbott was their teacher. St. Ann’s Catholic Church was organized in 1907; the first baptism was Simon Morales in December 1911.
Early Bovina also had a general store, a livery stable, a barbershop and a section house that could accommodate up to 35 boarders who were served 3 meals a day. They mostly furnished their own beds, however. As soon as the excursion trains began coming to the area, Bovina residents would ‘dress up’ in their finest and go to meet and visit with the people coming in on the trains to hear their news from other places. What a treat that must have been for the early residents!
Bovina Independent School District was created in 1927 from Parmer County School District # 5. At one time, Parmer County had 16 School Districts! In 1927 a bond issue to build a new school passed in a close and heated election: 67 men for and 60 men against. The school was built in 1928 and all children of school age attended the new school. The land for the school was sold to Bovina ISD by the Capitol Freehold Land and Trust Company with the stipulation that it must be for a school or there was ‘no deal’. School ‘trucks’ or buses were also added in 1928. In later years other Parmer County districts consolidated with Bovina ISD.
In the 30s and 40s when gasoline, rubber and money were rationed or in short supply, natives came up with an innovative way to furnish basketball shoes for their students. They, the school district, bought the shoes and then rented them to the students to wear elsewhere and managed to make it work. In 1945 the basketball team was really good but they had no money for gasoline to travel to a playoff game at Dimmitt. They pooled resources and took the team only to realize that in their haste, they had forgotten the uniforms! Maude Trimble drove back to Bovina, picked up the uniforms and made it back in time for the game! We do love our sports in this county. They also used the gym as a roller skating rink and to show cliffhanger serials and movies to provide recreation for their residents. And they didn’t even mind the extra work it took to keep the gym floor in shape for basketball games.
The Bovina Blade newspaper brought news to the town for 50 years from 1955-2005 as the weekly news source. Bovina community news is now covered in both the Farwell State Line Tribune and the Friona Star. Bull Town Days was the Bovina’s Celebration began in 1963 and was usually held in August. The state historical marker honoring ‘Bull Town’, the oldest town in Parmer County, was placed in 1969.
Bovina’s population in 2000 was 1,874. Bovina received one of the prestigious Community Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund [TIF] grants in 2000 and operated their own community computer lab in the old Rhea school building which had been moved to Bovina. Talk about a ‘then and now’. Residents had several points in their town for high speed Internet access. The grant also furnished laptop computers for every student in Bovina High School. Awesome! Bovina folks have seized the opportunities when they knocked and are currently working to bring a new technology to Bovina and Parmer County—wind turbines.
Please don’t miss the Parmer County Celebration May 5, 2007 in Farwell around the courthouse! Be there or be square.
