Ligon
Cochran County, Texas
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Ligon (Defunct)
Ligon was the first town to be built in Cochran County. Ligon was established about four miles south of present day Morton and was named after the E. Dick Slaughter's wife's maiden name. The townsite was surveyed and platted and the plat filed with the Hockley County Clerk's Office on March 15, 1923.
Streets running north to south were numbered while streets running east to west were avenues named after members of the Slaughter family, Slaughter cowboys and locally prominent persons. Slaughter Ave was the main avenue. Other avenues included Veal, Green, Cooper, Whaley, Penney, Wilson, Oxsheer, Pierce, Boyd, Alexander, Knox, Arnett, Landon and Burrus.
Bob Slaughter opened a general store which was operated by R. L. Crute and later Alvin O'Pry. A school was built and opened for the 1923-24 school term with five students enrolled. The term ended with a total of tweleve students. The county's first gas filling station was opened in Ligon by Hugh Knox in 1923.
Knox later stated:"I lost about all my friends and all my money, too!"
There were approximately six families living in Ligon in 1923
The first cotton gin in Cochran County was built in Ligon in 1923 by the Slaughters. Gage Knox and two other cowboys were tasked with the gin's operation. The first bale ginned there belong to Floyd Rowland. They failed to remove the seed from the cotton and the first bale weighed in at one thousand pounds. Later the workers could not get the gin engine started and an expert was summoned from Dallas. The expert simply tapped on the engine and it started right up. He charged $100.00 for his services. The bookkeeper felt the charge was excessive and asked the expert for an itemized statement. The statement read: "For tapping on engine $1.00; for knowing where to tap $99.00".
The gin was sold and moved shortly afterwards.
The Ligon Post Office was established on January 21, 1924 in Alvin O'Pry's general store with O'Pry named postmaster.
Morton was named county seat in May 1924 and soon began to outgrow Ligon and Santa Fe Rail Road was building a line in to Cochran County. By railroad charger regulations, the railroad would have to pass through Morton or pass at least five miles away from the town. The railroad could not go through Ligon, which was only four miles from Morton, so Santa Fe built the liine directly across the center of the county, placing it through or near a majority of the Slaughter holdings.
Early in the spring of 1925 the Slaughters abandoned the Ligon townsite and moved the buildings, including the post office/general store and school, four miles south to the railroad.
The new site was named Lehman in honor of Frank A. Lehman, general manager of the railroad at that time.
If you know of a town or community in Cochran County that is not listed here, or if you have photos, maps, documents or stories you would like to share, please, email me!
Source: Texas' Last Frontier: A New History of Cochran County by Elvis E. Fleming and David J. Murrah