ROARING SPRINGS, TEXAS. Roaring Springs is on a branch of Dutchman Creek, State Highway 70, and Farm Road 684, eight miles south of Matador in southwest Motley County. It was originally a camp of the Matador Ranch. A townsite, unofficially called Ragtown, was platted in 1912 in anticipation of railroad construction, and lots were sold by the railroad. The new name came with the first post office in 1913, the year the Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railroad started service. Passenger rail service ended in 1971. Early residents included the Clifton family, Albert Turner, O. O. Love, the Womack family, H. V. Bigham, and J. C. Hindman. In 1940 the town had 514 residents and thirty-five businesses; the population was 315 in 1980. In 1990 the population was 264, and in 2000 the town reported 265 inhanbitants and twenty-one businesses. In 2003 the community had a cotton gin, a cattle feed mill, a polyethylene pipe factory, and a jewelry factory. The town's old hotel had been converted into a bed and breakfast. A community building, constructed by the Roaring Springs Community Volunteers, was used for town events. The town remained a center for the surrounding ranching and agricultural area. The Roaring Springs Ranch Club maintained a private camp near the Roaring Springs which gave the community its name. In August the community celebrates the Old Settlers Reunion.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kathleen E. and Clifton R. St. Clair, eds., Little Towns of Texas (Jacksonville, Texas: Jayroe Graphic Arts, 1982 Eleanor Traweek, Of Such as These: A History of Motley County and Its Families (Quanah, Texas: Nortex, 1973).
