EARTH, TEXAS. Earth, on U.S. Highway 70 and Farm Road 1055 in northwestern Lamb County, was established in 1924 by William E. Halsell,^qv who also founded Amherst. Originally Halsell called the place Fairlawn or Fairleen, but it was renamed Earth, supposedly for a sandstorm blowing when storekeeper and first postmaster C. H. Reeves had to come up with a name acceptable to postal authorities in Washington. Another story is that Reeves described the storm in a letter to Washington and received the reply: "The earth seems to move in your country. You will call the post office Earth." Still another story is that Halsell was impressed with the region's fertile soil and wanted the name Good Earth, which the post office shortened. The population of the community was 350 in 1930 and 600 in 1940, when the town had sixteen businesses. Earth was incorporated in 1947. Its population was reported as 1,104 in 1960, as 1,152 in 1970, and as 1,512 in 1980. The community's population increases over these last few decades made it unusual among West Texas towns. Its growth can be attributed in part to the improved production of local farmlands since irrigation was developed and to the establishment of Plant X, Southwestern Public Service's generating plant, three miles south, which employs a number of residents. A medical clinic opened at Earth in 1957 and a swimming pool in 1959. Earth is a grain and cotton center. In 1990 its population was 1,228; by 2000 it had dropped to 1,109.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vincent Matthew Peterman, Pioneer Days: A Half-Century of Life in Lamb County and Adjacent Communities (Lubbock: Texas Tech Press, 1979). Evalyn Parrott Scott, A History of Lamb County (Sudan, Texas: Lamb County Historical Commission, 1968). Fred Tarpley, 1001 Texas Place Names (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980).

William R. Hunt