Original Townsite of Andrews

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Original Townsite of Andrews. Now settle in, because this is one of those stories where one man and one piece of West Texas dirt are just about inseparable. Andrews County got itself organized in 1910, and right there at the start was a fellow named Robert Madison Means, born in 1878, who folks around those parts simply called Bob.

He and his father, J. S. Means, had been homesteading on this very land since 1899.

So by the time the county was taking shape, Bob Means wasn't a newcomer. He was the ground itself, practically. In 1909, the year before the county organized, he set up an abstract company.

The man was already thinking about land, ownership, record, and future. Then came the fight. Andrews and Shafter City were going at it hard for the right to be named county seat.

Now that is the kind of contest that can define a town forever, and Bob Means knew it. So what did he do? He donated lots, actual parcels of land, to local cowboys, so that those cowboys could meet the requirements to vote.

The election swung Andrews' way. The town had its future, and Means had helped deliver it. That same year, 1910, he married Atwood Wilder.

He went on to serve as county clerk from 1918 to 1922 and remained a civic leader throughout his life. Then came 1934. Oil turned up on his land.

Bob Means retired, and the town he had helped build kept right on growing, fed by his many gifts of real estate and funds across the years. One man, one stretch of West Texas, and about thirty-five years of showing up. Andrews is still there to prove it.

What the marker says

Founded when Andrews County was organized in 1910, on land owned by Robert Madison Means (b. 1878). With his father, J. S. Means, "Bob" Means began homesteading here in 1899 and organized an abstract company in 1909. When Andrews battled Shafter City to acquire county seat, Means donated lots to local cowboys so they could vote; helped win election. Married Atwood Wilder, 1910; was county clerk, 1918-1922; civic leader throughout life. Town has grown through many gifts of real estate and funds from Means, who retired after finding oil on his land in 1934. (1970)