Mrs. Harold P. Collier, formerly Miss Olive Manning, was hired to teach in Hobbs in 1915. She recounted her early memories in a newspaper article in the Hobbs Daily News back in 1936. The first school building was also completed in 1915, but in stages. Only the basement had been dug by October of that … Continue reading Hobbs’ First Teacher
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Power’s Motel in Lovington
Early settlers, Dick and Mary Power, owned a motel south of downtown Lovington and it served the area for many decades. Mary was the former Mary Eaves whose family had come to what became Lea County in 1909 and Dick arrived in 1914. She was the daughter of Paschal Simeon and Mary Susan Brown Eaves. … Continue reading Power’s Motel in Lovington
An Advertising Balloon Gets Loose
On May 6, 1978, an advertising balloon became detached from the ground at a motor vehicle dealership in Hobbs. A doctor and an employee of the dealership noticed that it was coming untethered and got in touch with Lea County pilot Zip Franklin who first flew after the loose balloon and finally brought it down … Continue reading An Advertising Balloon Gets Loose
Founding of Tatum
[Transcribed from the 60th Anniversary Collector’s Edition of the Lea County Fair and Rodeo program for the event held August 5-12, 1995] Tatum, the crossroads on the high plains, began with the arrival of James Green Tatum August 9, 1909. Mr. Tatum along with his wife Mattie and daughter Martha James made the trip from … Continue reading Founding of Tatum
Jimmy Franklin
In the late 1980s we had moved to a neighborhood with cable television. We just signed up for up for it and were channel surfing to see what was available. One of the sports channels was showing stunt flying and the screen captured an upside down plane snagging a ribbon suspended between two soda bottles … Continue reading Jimmy Franklin
Beverly Thomas “Tootie” Schnaubert
"Tootie" Schnaubert was born January 29, 1917 to Stephen Arthur Schnaubert and Ella M. Adams Schnaubert in Rankin, Texas. Both parents died in December, 1918 when he was not quite two years old, their causes of death unstated. Tootie and his two siblings, Leon and Stephen, went to live with their grandparents, Arthur and Mentie … Continue reading Beverly Thomas “Tootie” Schnaubert
A Lightning Story
In the book, "Then and Now - Lea County Families, Vol. 1," Fred B. Cooper (1915-1996) relates a family story of a lightning strike to his family home on September 27, 1910. The family was sleeping in their home in the Panhandle of Texas when a big electrical storm came up. Fred writes, "The lightning … Continue reading A Lightning Story
The James B. Love Family
James Benjamin “Jim” Love was the younger brother of Robert Florence Love. Both were sons of John Dillard Love and Mary Jane Austin Love. Jim was born on September 25, 1873 in Palo Pinto, Stephens County, Texas. By the time he was about seventeen, he began working on ranches in West Texas and on into … Continue reading The James B. Love Family
Samuel Rose Cooper, Early Settler
Samuel R. Cooper was an early resident of Lea County. He was born near Salina, Kansas in 1874. When he was six years old, his family moved to Erring Springs, in the Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma Territory, now known as Oklahoma. As a young adult around the age of 21, Mr. Cooper left his family and … Continue reading Samuel Rose Cooper, Early Settler
Mescalero Ridge
Mescalero Ridge is a name given to the geological feature that is part of the larger Caprock Escarpment. It begins in eastern Chaves County in New Mexico and runs for fifty miles roughly parallel to the county line of Lea County. Its name comes from the Mescalero Apache tribe who once resided and hunted in … Continue reading Mescalero Ridge
Old Lea County, N.M. 