Lehman
Cochran County, Texas
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Lehman
In the early spring of 1925, the Slaughters decided to abandon the townsite of Ligon due to railroad regulations that stated the rail line had to either pass through the town of Morton or at least five miles away from it. The line could not be built through Ligon, because it only lay four miles south of Morton. Instead the railroad company built the line directly across the center of the county, placing it either through or near most of the Slaughter holdings.
The buildings in Ligon, including the school, were moved four miles further south to the railroad and the name changed to Lehman in honor of Frank A. Lehman, general manager of the railroad that the time. The post office was officially established on May 16, 1925, with Alvin O’Pry, former Ligon postmaster, retaining his position at Lehman.
The W. E. “Prof” and Mae Ivy Angley family were among the first residents of Lehman and were there when the tracks were laid. Mrs. Angley operated a café out of her home that quickly became a favorite stop for the cowboys shipping or receiving cattle through the Lehman depot. The Angleys also boarded school teachers, shop keepers, and travelers.
In 1927 a love story worthy of Hollywood unfolded in Lehman when Add Eddins, ranch foreman of the Reed & Snyder Cattle Company, told Mrs. Angley he was gonna marry the next school teacher to board with her. When Eddins saw the new school teacher, Miss Alice Alverson, he told Mrs. Angley he would be dropping by the café often. Eddins found it more and more convenient to drop by the school house at dismissal time on his way to one windmill or another. Ten weeks later, Eddins and Alice were married and the depot agent’s wife filled in as teacher for the remainder of the school year.
By 1936 there were a reported two businesses and ten residents in Lehman. Four years later, in 1940, the population had grown to an estimated 100.
In 1945 the federal government purchased the Scrape-Out Ranch from the Slaughters and subdivided it into farms. Known as the Lehman project, the farms were sold to twenty-nine veterans on forty-year loans. The project was a success with twenty-five of the twenty-nine loans paid back within two years.
The Lehman Gasoline Plant was built in 1954 by Petro-Chem Constructors and became Cochran County’s largest, non-agricultural based industrial operation and by 1965 the Gasoline Plant operating in conjunction with the National Sulphur Plant in Lehman. The Lehman Gasoline Plant was shut down in 1976 and served as a compressor station for Cities Service Oil Corporation.
The last official population report for Lehman was given in 1982, the town had dwindled to fifteen residents. Late the following year, 1983, the railroad between Bledsoe and Whiteface was abandoned, and the town all but disappeared. In 2000 the population was eight.