Typical railroad worker during the 1910’s – 1920’s. This
particular worker stayed at the Smith Hotel while he was
working on the Pecos and Northern Texas Railroad.
(Photo courtesy Bettye Kate Smith)

July 23, 2006

(This account is taken from a book written by Bettye Kate Smith written for use by her family. The stories come from members of the family, and are an accurate accounting of life in Littlefield from its beginning. Thanks to Mrs. Smith for her contributions to this column and to this city.)

"It is important to say the railroad, which was the reason for the (Smith) hotel being built, is shown on the original town survey as being the Pecos and Northern Texas Railroad. The Survey was done by W. D. Twitchell in 1912. The only other reference to the railroad by this name is in a transfer of property from George W. Littlefield to them in Book 9, Page 240 on record at the Lamb County Courthouse. All other records refer to it as the Santa Fe Railroad…… The same thing applies to the street that fronts the depot as being called "First Street" on the original town plat, rather than "Delano), as it has always been called. The original plat also shows First Street as we now know it as being where it is. I haven’t been able to locate a living person who can give me explanations for these discrepancies, and there are no name changes on record that I have been able to find.

"In 1909 Major George W. Littlefield knew of the Santa Fe Railroad’s intentions to come to Lubbock. He offered the railroad $1000,000 to build the "Texico Cutoff", which would cut across his Yellowhouse Ranch. The deal was completed in 1912, when Major Littlefield donated 196 acres for the railroad right-of-way, and gave a fourth of the LFD pasture of the Yellowhouse Ranch for a town site, and additional acreage for sales to prospective buyers to use for ranching, farming, and for home sites.

"Major Littlefield not only wanted a shipping point for his cattle on the ranch, but wanted a town named for him, too.

"As an additional incentive to get the railroad to build a depot in his proposed ‘namesake’ town, Littlefield agreed to the stipulation set by Santa Fe that all main streets in the town would be headed toward the depot itself. This was agreed to, even though the railroad was to run northwest from Lubbock. So, the three main streets of the town go to the northeast, while all other streets were laid out as streets normally run in other towns, which is east to west and to the north and south, resulting in the weird angles and intersections in the main area of town, that causes ‘out-of-towners’ to lose their sense of direction.

"There was a big demand for lodging for the railroad workers, until the railroad could move in ‘living cars’ some years later. The demand for rooms was greater than there was space to put them up, so it was a logical move for (B. F.) Smith to build his hotel.

"The Smith Hotel was built to face directly east, and (originally) sat across from the depot, with the train coming in from the southeast. (No trains came east from Clovis for several years.) The hotel was situated on block #1 of lot #1 of the old town plat., and was actually the only block in that particular lot, period! It was the first building a person saw when they disembarked from the train. It was easy to see the Smith Hotel would be more accessible to anyone who planed to stay overnight, because it was the first thing they way. It was also easily accessible for the workers to come and go to and from work."