CEDRIC, TEXAS. Cedric, a mile west of Ralls in Crosby County, was laid out in 1911 by Julian Bassett in an effort to kill the infant town of Ralls. Bassett had opened the town of Crosbyton in 1908 and, in a successful attempt to secure the county seat for his town, built in 1911 the Crosbyton-South Plains Railroad from Lubbock to Crosbyton. The rail line crossed John R. Ralls's ranch, and Ralls decided in 1911 to open a town, named for him, on the railroad. Bassett, wishing to be rid of the competition posed by Ralls' townsite, refused Ralls a depot. He laid out Cedric, where he built four brick business buildings, which were never occupied, and a depot. Settlers in Ralls freighted supplies from the railroad stop in Cedric to their community. By 1915, when the Santa Fe Railroad bought the Crosbyton-South Plains Railroad and made Ralls a regular stop, Bassett had conceded that he could not destroy the rival settlement and sold Cedric to John Ralls, who moved Cedric's depot and sidewalks to Ralls.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, June 10, 1951. Nellie Witt Spikes and Temple Ann Ellis, Through the Years: A History of Crosby County (San Antonio: Naylor, 1952).
