Garza County

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one bringin' it down the road to you. Out here on the South Plains, there's a county carrying a name that goes all the way back to the Canary Islands. Garza County.

Named in honor of the Garza family, who were natives of those islands in the Atlantic, and who came to San Antonio as pioneer settlers way back in 1731. Think about that for a second. Seventeen thirty-one.

Before there was a Texas, before there was a United States, that family was already putting down roots in this part of the world. Some names just earn their place on the map. Now the county itself has always been cattle country.

Raising cattle is what brought people out here and what kept them here once they arrived. That was the whole story for a good long while. Then 1910 came along and agriculture entered the picture, adding another chapter to what this land could do.

And it didn't stop there. By 1912, textile mills had been established, which tells you this county had ambitions beyond the pasture. The county seat is Post, sitting out there on the plains holding it all together.

Garza County. A Canary Islands name, a San Antonio founding story, and a South Plains home. Some roots run longer and stranger than you'd ever expect.

What the marker says

Named in honor of The Garza family natives of the Canary Islands. Pioneer settlers of San Antonio in 1731. A cattle raising county since its settlement, agricultural since 1910. Textile mills established in 1912. Post, the county seat. 1965