Grasslands

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Two miles south of where you're rolling right now, the land holds a story that goes all the way back to the earliest days anybody put a name on the South Plains. This is one of the first land patents out here, and the ground it sits on was already old news long before the first fence post went in.

There was a well-marked Indian trail cutting through, one that explorers had followed, that the U.S. Army had used, and that after 1880 became the route for stages and freighters hauling northbound out of Colorado City. Wagons rolling, dust rising, the whole South Plains opening up one mile at a time.

Now, in 1888, a man named Enos L. Seeds established what he called Grasslands Ranch, and the name wasn't pulled out of thin air. It was named for an estate of President Cleveland.

Seeds wasn't just a rancher, either. He served as postmaster from 1889 to 1900, he erected a fine frame house out here, and he built the first trading post on the South Plains. That last part deserves a breath.

The first trading post. On the whole South Plains. And Mrs.

Seeds, she carries her own distinction in this story. She was the first permanent white woman resident in the entire county. Nearby, the land also holds the grave of the area's first-born white child, a son of Mr. and Mrs.

Todd Wilson. The community that grew up around all of this is now known as Grassland. One letter shorter, but the weight of it, all those firsts, that hasn't gone anywhere.

What the marker says

(2 miles south) One of first land patents in South Plains, lying along a well-marked Indian trail used by explorers, U.S. Army, and (after 1880) the stages and freighters northbound from Colorado City. Grasslands Ranch (named for an estate of President Cleveland) was established 1888 by Enos L. Seeds, the 1889-1900 postmaster, who erected a fine frame house and first trading post on South Plains. Mrs. Seeds was the first permanent white woman resident in county. Nearby is grave of area's first-born white child (a son of Mr. and Mrs. Todd Wilson). Community name is now Grassland. (1970)