Lehman

Lehman is a small, unicorporated community in Cochran County. Once a railroad town and agricultural community, it declined considerably during the latter half of the twentieth century.

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 lay only 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 farther south to the railroad, and the name was changed to Lehman in honor of Frank A. Lehman, general manager of the railroad at 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 cowboys shipping or receiving cattle through the Lehman depot. The Angleys also boarded schoolteachers, shopkeepers, 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 going to marry the next schoolteacher to board with her. When Eddins saw the new schoolteacher, Miss Alice Alverson, he told Mrs. Angley he would be dropping by the café often.

Eddins found it more and more convenient to stop by the schoolhouse 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 nonagricultural industrial operation. By 1965, the gasoline plant was operating in conjunction with the National Sulphur Plant in Lehman.

The Lehman Gasoline Plant was shut down in 1976 and afterward served as a compressor station for Cities Service Oil Corporation.

The last official population report for Lehman was given in 1982, when the town had dwindled to fifteen residents. Late the following year, in 1983, the railroad between Bledsoe and Whiteface was abandoned, and the town all but disappeared. In 2000, the population was eight. The most recent official population in Lehman was taken in 2009 and lists the popultion at six.