Best is an unincorporated community in southwestern Reagan County in the western part of the U.S. state of Texas. It was portrayed in the Clyde Ragsdale novel The Big Fist. [1]
Best is an unincorporated community in southwestern Reagan County in the western part of the U.S. state of Texas. It was portrayed in the Clyde Ragsdale novel The Big Fist. [1]
Best is located in Reagan County about 85 miles (135 km) west of San Angelo, Texas and 10 miles (16 km) west of the county seat Big Lake. In 2010, the town had a population of 1. It once was one of the four major communities in Reagan County according to the Handbook of Texas . [2] Best was served by the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway.
Oil was discovered in 1923 about 5 miles (8 km) to the west at Texon. The town is reportedly named after Tom Best, an English stockholder of the Orient Railroad, which established a railroad switching station in the town in 1924. The town grew rapidly, reaching a population of 3,500 by 1925. [3]
The rapid growth of the town was accompanied by a wild reputation, as portrayed in the Clyde Ragsdale novel, The Big Fist. A commonly used slogan was coined that "the town with the Best name in the world and worst reputation." [3]
The population of the town declined after 1925 to 300 by 1945. In the late 1950s National Supply Company still operated an oilfield supply store. The population in 1990 was 25, [3] and by 2010 had declined to just 1. [4]
Sterling County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,372, making it the ninth-least populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Sterling City. The county is named for W. S. Sterling, an early settler in the area. Sterling County was one of 30 prohibition, or entirely dry, counties in the state of Texas, but is now a moist county.
Reagan County is a county on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,385. The county seat is Big Lake. The county is named after John Henninger Reagan (1818–1905), who was the postmaster general of the Confederate States and also a U.S. senator, U.S. representative, and first chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas.
Brewster County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in West Texas and its county seat is Alpine. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region, and borders Mexico. Brewster County is the largest county by area in the state - at 6,192 square miles (16,040 km2) it is over three times the size of the state of Delaware, and more than 500 square miles (1,300 km2) bigger than Connecticut.
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Sheridan is a ghost town in Logan County, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1868 at the western terminus of an important railroad line under construction, it served as a regional center of trade and departure point to the Santa Fe Trail to the south. In 1870, the local population abandoned the settlement due to the extension of the railroad west to Kit Carson, Colorado. During its brief existence, Sheridan earned a reputation for violence and lawlessness characteristic of the American frontier.
Municipalities and communities of Reagan County, Texas, United States | ||
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| Unincorporated communities | ||
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