City of Big Lake

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm drawing straight from the official marker for the City of Big Lake, Reagan County, so let's let the record speak. Now, the name Big Lake. You'd think a town called Big Lake would have a big lake.

And it does. Sort of. Once upon a time, that lake was fed by springs, sitting out there about one and a half miles from where this marker stands, collecting in a natural depression in the land.

In pioneer days it was the only known fresh water between the Concho River and the springs at Fort Stockton. Indians camped there. Mexican traders stopped there.

Cattle drivers pointed their herds toward it like a compass needle finding north. Today, that same lake is the largest dry lake in Texas. The water is gone.

The name stayed. The land where the original townsite would be planted was owned in 1903 by a man named T. H.

Taylor. He sold 320 acres to the Orient Land Company, and that company agreed to do two things: build a railroad station and lay out a town. They'd call it Big Lake.

So the town came into being not from a crowd pushing west, but from a deal, a handshake, and a railroad's promise. The town was established in 1911, and its first economic activity tells you everything about where it stood in the world. A stockpen, built by the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad.

A hotel. A grocery store. That was the beginning.

By 1915, Big Lake had grown to about fifty families gathered around the line of the railroad. Land additions came in 1914 and again in 1925, the town filling out its edges as it found its footing. Near the banks of that old dry lake, the oldest house in Reagan County still stands.

The John Gardner house, a quiet landmark holding its ground while the world around it changed considerably. Big Lake was incorporated on May 28, 1923. Two years later, in 1925, it became the seat of Reagan County.

The oil and gas industry moved in, and that is what the city centers on today. A dry lake that was once the only fresh water for miles and miles of hard Texas country. A railroad deal that planted a town.

Fifty families who showed up and stayed. That's Big Lake, and it earned every letter of that name the hard way.

What the marker says

The land on which the original townsite of Big Lake was located was owned in 1903 by T. H. Taylor who sold 320 acres to the Orient Land Company, which agreed to build a railroad station and lay out a town to be called Big Lake. The city took its name from a lake created by rain which gathers in a natural land depression about one and one half miles from here. Once filled by spring-fed water, it is now the largest dry lake in Texas. In pioneer days it was the only known fresh water between the Concho River and springs at Fort Stockton and was a campsite for Indians, Mexican traders and cattle drivers. Oldest house in Reagan County, the John Gardner house, is located near its banks. The town was established in 1911. Its first economic activity was a stockpen built by the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, a hotel, and a grocery store. It grew up around the line of the railroad, and by 1915 had about fifty families. Big Lake was incorporated on May 28, 1923, and in 1925 became the seat of Reagan County. Land additions were made in 1914 and 1925. Today the city is a center for the oil and gas industry.