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The Lazy S Ranch, one of the last major ranches to be established in Texas, came into being at a time when most of the other great ranches were disappearing. Founded in 1898 by Dallas banker and rancher Colonel Christopher Columbus Slaughter, the Lazy S grew to comprise nearly 250,000 acres of the western High Plains in Cochran and Hockley counties, much of which lay in a single contiguous pasture of more than 180,000 acres . . . Read more Look Inside

by Carl Phelan

Carl Phelan was born on February 16, 1930 on a small farm in near Smyer, in Hockley County Texas.  As a father he kept meticulous records in numerous scrapbooks of newsworthy and notable events in the efforts of his children and grandchildren. His first published work shares a decade of events of his grandson and the band Flyleaf. It  is a story for past, present and future fans of an incredible supernatural rock band from Texas that started out playing in small venues for a few people and ended up playing for thousands in large arenas . . . . Read more Look inside

Maggie Price is a civilian crime analyst who evaluates suspects' methods of operation during commission of robberies and sex crimes, and develops profiles on those suspects.

Found inside:

"Since you've gotten involved with the mysterious beauty tending bar in sleepy Sundown, Texas, we've investigated her–and discovered she's a murder suspect. Romancing a fugitive isn't a good career move, McCall. And you may be forced to choose between the job you live for–and the woman you can't live without" . . .

"Each day they drove 250 miles round trip from their homes in and around Levelland, Texas. I wanted to be able to make contact with them, whether they were connected to D Rod Drilling or not. “What is your honest opinion of Sharp?” I asked . . . Read more Look Inside

HAUNTED PLACES IN LEVELLAND
This book about haunted places in Texas reports you may see a Phantom Ambulance in Levelland and ghosts in a Rural Health Clinic and at Levelland High School . . .  Check it out . . . for more like this see Mysterious Texas

In this newest installment of this award winning series, the authors look at what they like to call School Spirits! Find Haunted Texas schools in Alpine. . . Levelland, Lindale, Littlefield, Lubbock, Luther, Mcallen, Mesquite, Mission, Monahans, Moody, Nacogdoches, Odessa, Pasadena, Pearsall, Plainview, Rio Hondo, San Angelo, San Antonio, San Benito, San Juan, San Marcos, Santa Ana, Sealy, Seguin, Shafter, Sweetwater, Tyler, Uvalde, Waco, Weslaco, White Oak, and Zapata, Texas . . . Read more . . .  for more like this see Mysterious Texas

The Levelland UFO Case

Six years earlier, the skies over Lubbock, Texas had been filled with invading UFOs. Now, late in 1957 at the height of the cotton harvest, it was happening all over again at the small Texas town of Levelland thirty miles to the east. Around midnight, during a time span of less than three hours, at least fifteen citizens of that community were terrorized by one or more UFOs of unknown origin as they traveled the highways and farm roads outside town. Each of the . . . Read more

. . . more Texas UFOs in  Mysterious Texas

"Ol' Max Evans is a rollicking tale of a powerful, if unconventional, literary figure. From his childhood in West Texas to his adolescence as a cowboy in northeastern New Mexico, from D-Day in World War II to the wild world of Hollywood, Found inside: "Judge Evans and the others had hopes for Ropes Texas. Max's mother was the first postmistress there. On the corner of Main and Timmons, a huge red-brick bulk is all that is left of Judge Evans' mercantile . . . " Read more

by Bill Neal

Although the murder of Jarrott occurred in Hockley County, that county had a population of only forty-four at that time and was not an organized county. Therefore it was attached to Lubbock . . . read more and look inside

Also part of the Air Force file on Levelland was a report from a man living in Whiteface, Texas. He told Barth, “While driving north about 7 miles north of Sundown, Texas, I saw a light about the size of a basketball about 200 or more feet above the ground traveling east to west ... Read more Look inside

The life of Carl Weston Phelan in each decade from 1930 to the present, as well as contributed stories from friends and relatives from back in the day.

This book by Robert Baldwin is the account of an ordinary person whose life experiences were atypical. He was the fifth of seven children born into the home of a rural minister and educator.

Found Inside: "Papa went out to the wide open spaces west of Lubbock to the new town of Levelland, in Hockley County. That part of the country was just settling up since some of the ranch country was being divided and sold for farming purposes  ... " Read more Look inside

by Joaquin Jackson from Anton Texas

"As far as I'm concerned, the name worked out just fine for a Texas Ranger and was suited to a time when the racial ... to make the drive through flurries of snow and sleet from Littlefield, Texas, out to the little farming community of Anton. By that early November snow, father and son were both in Anton, working on land my grandfather owned. In 1958 he finally gave up farming and moved to Levelland in 1959. The next year, my long-suffering mother kicked him out of the house  . . . Read more Look inside

Tracing the struggles of incipient criminal justice in the Southwest through an engaging progression of outlaws and lawmen, plus a host of colorful frontier trial lawyers and judges, Neal reveals how law and society matured together.

"After arresting Milt Good, T&SCRA inspectors Allison and Roberson appeared before grand juries in four West Texas counties (Dawson, Hockley, Lynn, and Terry) and obtained indictments against Good and his cowboys for stealing those 516 head of cattle."  . . .Read more Look inside

Among the famous ranch brands of Texas are the T Anchor, JA, Diamond Tail, 777, Bar C, and XIT. And the greatest of these was XIT—The XIT Ranch of Texas.

"while cowboys "threw" thousands of cattle upon the range to crowd these wild creatures from the grass. From where the northern caprock of the Llano Estacado falls away to the Canadian breaks, south to the Yellow Houses in Hockley County, the XIT range was mainly prairie land and presented greater need for fencing  . . . Read more Look inside

Not Exactly Nightingale: A Memoir

Raised in highly conservative West Texas, Donna Prothro was taught to be a little lady, filter her speech, and be as much like her mother as she could be. When she attempts to follow in the footsteps of her mother’s award winning nursing career, she encounters nothing but chaos . . . read more

Thinkin' It Over

The memoirs of Jack Douglas. After a life spent as a cowboy and ranch hand throughout the South Plains of Texas, he now ranches in Hockley and Bailey Counties raising registered Brangus cattle and manages a commercial Hereford and Hereford cross herd. He and his wife Dorothy have two grown sons, Dave and Cody.

My dad and mom moved from a Hockley County, Texas farm to Odessa, Texas and we set up central station for alarms in their home on North Muskingum Street there. We arranged with telephone answering services to monitor some system . . . Read more Look inside

Robert came to me with a gun in his hand, pointed it to me, and said, If you don't marry me, you wont marry anyone. And if you do, I will look for both of you no matter where you go and kill you both. He cheated, beat me, killed people, was a jealous drunk, and was also a gambler and a rapist, and he never went to prison... "She also told me Robert was cheating on me and that I should investigate in Levelland about the woman Robert supposedly had, , , , Read more Look inside

In response to the stifling socialism of the Canadian health care system and the intolerably long Canadian winters, Dr. Mel Genraich made a life-altering decision: leave Toronto for good, and seek his fortune in Texas. "I've been fortunate (and conniving) enough to have lived in some great homes in such great cities as Toronto, Houston, Lubbock, Oklahoma City, Odessa, Monahans, Levelland, and now back in Lubbock TX. In Amarillo, Texas, I lived in an exclusive country club community right up to and after, my second divorce . . . Read more, Look inside

Raising children is hard, but when tragedy strikes, what was once difficult becomes almost impossible. Breaking Through the Clouds is a story of how one family dealt with unimaginable sorrow by walking in faith. "Taking all my requests to heart, Jordan located a few churches in the nearby town of Ropesville"  . . . Read more Look inside . . . for more like this please see Texas Church History

Hooten—one of radio's most successful on-air personalities—battled alcoholism his entire life. With this work, he hopes to reach those "functioning" alcoholics who want a better life for themselves and their families. "For days, everything I ate tasted like Lava soap. When mom came to get me, I was at last released from Grandma Ruth's jail. Get me out of Levelland, Texas. Please! As we left Levelland, the train we took was loaded..."  Read more Look inside

by Mahesh Chavda and Bonnie Chavda

"Even when I was a pastor in Levelland, Texas, in 1974, around the time Bonnie and I were married, we would watch and pray once a month with others from the church and neighboring areas" . . . Read more Look inside . . . for more like this please see Texas Church History

Haunted Texas Highways

Spectral lights, phantom hitchhikers, and tall, Texas tales... you'll find all that and more in this book of ghost stories from the open road. These Lone Star spirits haunt the highways and byways of the state, and will keep you glancing back over your shoulder as you drive down a deserted Texas road in the dark. You'll read about... * Strange, unexplained lights in the sky over the city streets of Levelland, Texas; A haunted bridge just north of the town of Electra . . . Read more

Short Stories of Life and Customs on the Plains of Texas

by Bonnie Faye James Gaston

"The second year living in Anton, Texas, was a new experience for J. D., Helen, and me. Daddy gave J. D. the opportunity to learn farming and make farm decisions on his own. Daddy knew this was the best way for J. D. to be a successful" . . . Read more

"Hoping to find both the water and the Indian trail, Nolan set off in that direction, but darkness settled over the plains before he located either. Since it was too dark to trail, he called a halt and his command made a dry camp - probably in the southwestern corner of modern Hockley County" . . . " . . .  Read more

Almost Like a Professional: My life and career as a West Texas Musician

The story of West Texas musician, songwriter and educator, Cary C Banks. From his upbringing in the rigidly fundamentalist Church of Christ, to his glorious discovery of devil rock and roll and the Beatles, Cary Banks traces his long journey down the lost highway of the music business with stories that are often funny but many times poignant. From the stinging lows of endless rejection of his songs to the exhilarating highs of being inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame as a member of the Maines Brothers Band, he gives the reader an authentic, tell it like it is look at the life of a musician.

Summer Stories: Summer True and Some Are Stories

by Raymond "Cotton" Lewis. Stories, anecdotes and humor by the author who hails from Anton, Texas and has lived in Muleshoe, Olton, and others . . . Read more

Dreams Precede Realities

A history of the people who have shaped and influenced the first 40 years of South Plains College, 1958-1998

by Joe Carr

Since 1985, Joe Carr has been a music instructor specializing in Bluegrass, Western Swing and Irish music in the Commercial Music program at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. He is a director for Camp Bluegrass, a summer . . . Look inside

Bip's mother told him to stay away from Lilith, a local black "witch" who also provides the dry county with alcohol. That mystery is all Bip needs as impetus to seek her out. Set in a small, West Texas town, racial differences, a murder, and rites of passage thread Bip through the rough skin of the community. Richly comic and laugh out loud funny, the characters of the community stumble through . . . Read more

Folklorist Jim Harris discovered through writing his own column that newspaper readers were hungry for articles about their past, but they did not want dry historical facts. They wanted lively and personal stories about such topics as the Native Americans who once roamed the plains, settlers who came from the east, the formation of early twentieth-century communities, abandoned school houses, ghost towns, old-fashioned ranch dances, or life in the oil camps. Includes features and folklore from   Floydada, Levelland, Seminole and Lamesa . . . Read more Look inside

West Texas History & Memories (Face Book Group)

Early Life in Texas County by County

Books about Texas People and Places

Famous People from Texas County by County

Texas History by Category and Event