DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm taking that as my cue. Half a mile south of where you're rolling right now, there used to be a town. A real one — with a post office, a water well, merchants, neighbors, ambition.
The whole outfit. The town was called Gomez, named for the Spanish-American patriot Maximo Gomez, and back in 1903, the owners of this land right here in the center of what was then an unorganized Terry County decided they were going to build something out of nothing. They platted the town.
They secured the post office. They drilled a public water well — no small undertaking in this part of Texas, I promise you that. And then they went out and induced merchants and citizens to come on out and plant their lives there.
Induced. That's the word. Out here on the flat, treeless, sun-hammered South Plains, somebody had to talk you into it.
Gomez became the first inhabited townsite in all of Terry County. First. So naturally, its promoters had their eyes on something bigger.
They wanted the county seat. Of course they did. You build the first town in the county, you figure the county ought to pay you the compliment of naming you its seat of government.
Well. The county had other ideas. When Terry County organized in 1904, that honor — and I do mean honor — went to Brownfield, sitting just four and four-tenths miles to the east.
Four and a half miles. Gomez came that close and came up empty. Now, a lesser town might've folded right then and there.
But Gomez kept going. The post office stayed open until 1926. The school ran all the way until 1941.
And even today, a church, some businesses about three-quarters of a mile to the northwest, and the old cemetery still carry the name. Gomez didn't get to be the county seat. But it left its name on the land all the same.
Sometimes that's how a town wins.
What the marker says
In 1903, owners of land here in center of then-unorganized Terry County platted this town, secured a post office named for Spanish-American patriot Maximo Gomez, drilled a public water well, and induced merchants and citizens to move here. This was the first inhabited townsite in the county. Its promoters hoped it would be the county seat, but that honor went to Brownfield (4.4 mi. E) in 1904 when the county was organized. Gomez had a post office until 1926, school until 1941. A church, some businesses (.75 mi. NW), and the old cemetery retain the name. (1974)