Monterey High School

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it to you straight in my own way. Monterey High School opened in 1955, and its name carries a little more history than most folks might guess when they first pull into the parking lot. The school was named for a town called Monterey, and that town is one of the two original townsites for what we now know as Lubbock.

See, before Lubbock settled into the spot it occupies today, there were two competing visions for where this city was going to be. Monterey was one of them. It was founded in what is now the northwest part of Lubbock, and the man who founded it was W.

E. Rayner, back in 1890. Now, you might expect a story like this to end in a fight, a standoff, somebody winning and somebody losing.

But here's where it gets interesting. In 1891, Rayner sat down with the promoters of the other townsite, and they worked out a compromise. Not just any compromise, the marker calls it unique, and that word is doing some real work there.

The two sides joined together to establish Lubbock in its present location. Nobody stomped off. Nobody's townsite swallowed the other whole.

They built something new, together. And decades later, when a high school opened its doors in 1955 and needed a name, Monterey got its due. The town may not be on any map anymore, but every time somebody cheers for Monterey High School, that 1890 founding and that 1891 handshake are still out there, quietly getting their recognition.

What the marker says

Opened in 1955. Named for town of Monterey, one of the two original townsites for Lubbock. It was founded in present northwest Lubbock by W. E. Rayner in 1890. In a unique compromise in 1891, Rayner joined the promoters of the other townsite to establish Lubbock in its present location. 1969