Matador, Texas
Encyclopedia
Matador is a town in and the county seat
of Motley County, Texas
, United States
. The population was 740 at the 2000 census. In 1891, it was established by and named for the Matador Ranch
. It is located ninety-five miles east of Lubbock
, Texas.
syndicate, and a post office
opened at Matador in 1886.
At the end of the 19th century, townspeople freed the community from domination by the Matador Ranch, which was liquidated in 1951, by relocating non-ranch families there and electing their own slate of officials.
The community was incorporated in 1912 and made the county seat. The state required that a town have at least twenty businesses. Local ranch hands hence established fraudulent, temporary businesses using ranch supplies. The only real business in Matador at the time was a saloon
.
Its highest population, 1,302, was reached in 1940.
parlor which ran the length of the lobby operated until the 1920s.
The name "Hotel Matador" was coined in the 1920s. The hotel changed owners several times. Under the direction of Judge C.B. Whitten, it was a community gathering place for meetings, parties, and dances for young people. In 1941, hotelier and barber Warren Clements purchased the property. He turned the ice cream parlor into a barber shop. He also established living quarters for himself and his wife, Faye, with an apartment behind the hotel. Mrs. Clements maintained an English garden known for her prize iris
, and under her tutelage, the hotel was known for its entertainment.
In 1980, Johnny (Sonny) and Evelyn Jackson purchased the hotel and restyled it into apartments. It later became a single residence but had been abandoned for five years when the current owners took possession and began reclaiming and restoring the historic facility. Three sisters, Marilyn Hicks, Linda Roy, and Caron Perkins, operate the Matador as an eight-unit bed and breakfast. The barber shop was converted to the Circle Cross Heritage suite, with the original tin ceiling and elaborate bathroom fixtures.
in Matador, originally from Fort Worth
, known as the "Pneumonia doctor" for his success in treating patients with that sometimes fatal illness. He was the first Motley County public health officer and established the Traweek Hospital, now the Motley County Historical Museum
. In 1915, Dr. Traweek began construction on the Traweek Home, designed by Charles Stephen Oates, Traweek's uncle and a noted builder in West Texas
. The two-story stuccoed masonry structure was completed in 1916 at a cost of $14,000. It is a hybrid of Classical Renaissance, Prairie, and Classical Revival architecture.
Among the visitors to the Traweek House was Baldwin Parker, a son of Quanah Parker
, the last Comanche
chief, as well as state and national officials. The house at 927 Lariat Street in Matador remains in the Traweek family. It received an official historical medallion in 1964 and was designated in 1990 as a Texas Historic Landmark. Dr. Traweek and his wife, the former Allie Rainey, had six children. The house was last occupied by their youngest son, Howard Traweek (1912–1988), the county attorney
for five decades, and his wife, the former Eleanor Mitchell (1922–1998).
, Texas, came to Matador in the 1920s. Originally a service station attendant, he opened his own Conoco gasoline business, which he topped with a decorative wooden oil derrick. He patented his design, and in 1939, he replaced the wooden derrick with one of steel. It soared eight-four feet in height and was lighted.
Robertson advertised his business in unusual ways, having maintained a cage of live rattlesnake
s for the amusement of tourists. He later added a small zoo of lions, monkeys, coyotes, and a white buffalo. He paid long-distance truckers to place advertising signs at strategic points across the United States. The signs noted the mileage to Bob's Oil Well in Matador. Matador is equidistant from Dallas
and Carlsbad
, New Mexico
, and nine miles (14 km) closer to Denver
, Colorado
, than to El Paso
, Texas. Robertson soon expanded his operation to include a grocery store, cafe, and garage. He was also a Matador civic leader and sought to recognize returning veterans from World War II
.
Robertson died in 1947, two weeks before a high wind toppled the steel derrick that had been his trademark. His widow, the former Olga Cunningham (1904–1993), restored it in 1949 with even more prominent lights. Ultimately, the business failed, and attempts by other to revive it were short-lived. At the intersection of U.S. Route 70
and Texas State Highway 70, the site serves as a reminder of a time when bold roadside architecture was only beginning and of a man who promoted his adopted hometown in extraordinary ways.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the town has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km²), all of it land.
Matador is at the junction on conjoined US Route 62 and US Route 70 and Texas State Highway 70.
of 2000, there were 740 people, 308 households, and 222 families residing in the town. The population density
was 569.5 people per square mile (219.8/km²). There were 395 housing units at an average density of 304.0 per square mile (117.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 83.92% White, 5.68% African American, 1.22% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.27% Pacific Islander, 6.76% from other races
, and 1.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.24% of the population.
There were 308 households out of which 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.1% were married couples
living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.9% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.88.
In the town the population was spread out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 21.2% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 20.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 97.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $27,778, and the median income for a family was $32,054. Males had a median income of $26,042 versus $12,639 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $17,001. About 16.3% of families and 19.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.4% of those under age 18 and 16.9% of those age 65 or over.
.
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Motley County, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 740 at the 2000 census. In 1891, it was established by and named for the Matador Ranch
Matador Ranch
The Matador Ranch is an historic cattle ranch and hunting operation in Motley County, Texas, on the South Plains. Established in 1882, the Matador is located some ninety miles east of Lubbock. According to its website, the current mission of the ranch is improvement of the health and productivity...
. It is located ninety-five miles east of Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
, Texas.
History
The Matador Ranch was consolidated in 1882 by a ScottishScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
syndicate, and a post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
opened at Matador in 1886.
At the end of the 19th century, townspeople freed the community from domination by the Matador Ranch, which was liquidated in 1951, by relocating non-ranch families there and electing their own slate of officials.
The community was incorporated in 1912 and made the county seat. The state required that a town have at least twenty businesses. Local ranch hands hence established fraudulent, temporary businesses using ranch supplies. The only real business in Matador at the time was a saloon
Saloon
Saloon may refer to:* Saloon , a style of car body.* Saloon , a musical group.* Western saloon, a historical style of American bar.* Bar , a venue for alcoholic beverage consumption....
.
Its highest population, 1,302, was reached in 1940.
Hotel Matador
Originally the Carter Hotel, the Hotel Matador was built in 1914 by Roy Carter and his wife, the former Jessie Simpson. For a rural area, the hotel had luxurious rooms with a bell hop, a full-time gardner, and laundry service. It had fifteen rooms, a dining room, and a large nine-foot, oak-rimmed tub as the only bathroom in the facility. An ice creamIce cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
parlor which ran the length of the lobby operated until the 1920s.
The name "Hotel Matador" was coined in the 1920s. The hotel changed owners several times. Under the direction of Judge C.B. Whitten, it was a community gathering place for meetings, parties, and dances for young people. In 1941, hotelier and barber Warren Clements purchased the property. He turned the ice cream parlor into a barber shop. He also established living quarters for himself and his wife, Faye, with an apartment behind the hotel. Mrs. Clements maintained an English garden known for her prize iris
Iris (plant)
Iris is a genus of 260-300species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species...
, and under her tutelage, the hotel was known for its entertainment.
In 1980, Johnny (Sonny) and Evelyn Jackson purchased the hotel and restyled it into apartments. It later became a single residence but had been abandoned for five years when the current owners took possession and began reclaiming and restoring the historic facility. Three sisters, Marilyn Hicks, Linda Roy, and Caron Perkins, operate the Matador as an eight-unit bed and breakfast. The barber shop was converted to the Circle Cross Heritage suite, with the original tin ceiling and elaborate bathroom fixtures.
Traweek House
Albert Carroll Traweek, Sr. (1875–1959) was a physicianPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
in Matador, originally from Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, known as the "Pneumonia doctor" for his success in treating patients with that sometimes fatal illness. He was the first Motley County public health officer and established the Traweek Hospital, now the Motley County Historical Museum
Motley County Historical Museum
The Motley County Historical Museum is a repository of the history of rural Motley County, located at 828 Dundee Street in the former Traweek Hospital building in Matador, Texas....
. In 1915, Dr. Traweek began construction on the Traweek Home, designed by Charles Stephen Oates, Traweek's uncle and a noted builder in West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
. The two-story stuccoed masonry structure was completed in 1916 at a cost of $14,000. It is a hybrid of Classical Renaissance, Prairie, and Classical Revival architecture.
Among the visitors to the Traweek House was Baldwin Parker, a son of Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker was a Comanche chief, a leader in the Native American Church, and the last leader of the powerful Quahadi band before they surrendered their battle of the Great Plains and went to a reservation in Indian Territory...
, the last Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
chief, as well as state and national officials. The house at 927 Lariat Street in Matador remains in the Traweek family. It received an official historical medallion in 1964 and was designated in 1990 as a Texas Historic Landmark. Dr. Traweek and his wife, the former Allie Rainey, had six children. The house was last occupied by their youngest son, Howard Traweek (1912–1988), the county attorney
County attorney
A county attorney in many areas of the United States is the chief legal officer for a county or local judicial district. It is usually an elected position...
for five decades, and his wife, the former Eleanor Mitchell (1922–1998).
Bob's Oil Well
Luther Bedford "Bob" Robertson (1894–1947), a native of GreenvilleGreenville, Texas
Greenville is the county seat, and the largest city, of Hunt County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 25,557....
, Texas, came to Matador in the 1920s. Originally a service station attendant, he opened his own Conoco gasoline business, which he topped with a decorative wooden oil derrick. He patented his design, and in 1939, he replaced the wooden derrick with one of steel. It soared eight-four feet in height and was lighted.
Robertson advertised his business in unusual ways, having maintained a cage of live rattlesnake
Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...
s for the amusement of tourists. He later added a small zoo of lions, monkeys, coyotes, and a white buffalo. He paid long-distance truckers to place advertising signs at strategic points across the United States. The signs noted the mileage to Bob's Oil Well in Matador. Matador is equidistant from Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
and Carlsbad
Carlsbad, New Mexico
Carlsbad is a city in and the county seat of Eddy County, New Mexico, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 26,138. Carlsbad is the center of the designated micropolitan area of Carlsbad-Artesia, which has a total population of 55,435...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, and nine miles (14 km) closer to Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, than to El Paso
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, Texas. Robertson soon expanded his operation to include a grocery store, cafe, and garage. He was also a Matador civic leader and sought to recognize returning veterans from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Robertson died in 1947, two weeks before a high wind toppled the steel derrick that had been his trademark. His widow, the former Olga Cunningham (1904–1993), restored it in 1949 with even more prominent lights. Ultimately, the business failed, and attempts by other to revive it were short-lived. At the intersection of U.S. Route 70
U.S. Route 70
U.S. Route 70 is an east–west United States highway that runs for 2,385 miles from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. As can be derived from its number, it is a major east–west highway of the Southern and Southwestern United States...
and Texas State Highway 70, the site serves as a reminder of a time when bold roadside architecture was only beginning and of a man who promoted his adopted hometown in extraordinary ways.
Geography
Matador is located at 34°0′50"N 100°49′18"W (34.013996, -100.821646).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km²), all of it land.
Matador is at the junction on conjoined US Route 62 and US Route 70 and Texas State Highway 70.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 740 people, 308 households, and 222 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 569.5 people per square mile (219.8/km²). There were 395 housing units at an average density of 304.0 per square mile (117.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 83.92% White, 5.68% African American, 1.22% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.27% Pacific Islander, 6.76% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.24% of the population.
There were 308 households out of which 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.1% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.9% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.88.
In the town the population was spread out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 21.2% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 20.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 97.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $27,778, and the median income for a family was $32,054. Males had a median income of $26,042 versus $12,639 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $17,001. About 16.3% of families and 19.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.4% of those under age 18 and 16.9% of those age 65 or over.
Notable people
- Gary CampbellGary CampbellGary Kalani Campbell is a former American football linebacker who played seven seasons in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears....
, singer and songwriter who wrote the song "Matador, Texas" - Karen Elliott HouseKaren Elliott HouseKaren Elliott House is a journalist and former executive at the Wall Street Journal and its parent company Dow Jones. She served as President of Dow Jones International and then publisher of the WSJ before her retirement in the spring of 2006....
, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former executive at Dow Jones International. - Stanley RoseStanley RoseStanley Rose was an American bookseller, literary agent and raconteur whose eponymous Hollywood bookshop, located adjacent to the famous Musso & Frank Grill restaurant, was a gathering place for writers working or living in and around Hollywood...
, famous Hollywood bookseller of the 1930s, was born in Matador.
Sources
Matador Ranch Records, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech UniversityTexas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
.