SMYER, TEXAS. Smyer, on State Highway 114 and Farm Road 168 twelve miles east of Levelland in east central Hockley County, originated in 1924 when rancher W. L. Ellwood began selling farm tracts. The town was named for Clinton E. Smyer, a Santa Fe Railroad division superintendent, when it was platted in 1925, the year rail service began. A school, a store, a lumberyard, and a gin were established in 1925–26, and a post office was granted in 1926 with Mrs. Enice McCullough as postmistress. An independent school district was formed in 1927. In 1929 Smyer was hit hard by a tornado that destroyed the school, the windmill, the water tank, and several residences. The town had a population of 125 and five businesses in 1940; by 1946 it had 200 residents and fifteen businesses. In 1980 Smyer had a population of 455, a store, a gin, an elevator, a gas company, a fire station, a city hall, a beauty shop, a cafe, a community center, a recreation hall, and a post office. In 1990 the population was 442. The population grew to 480 in 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lillian Brasher, Hockley County (2 vols., Canyon, Texas: Staked Plains, 1976). James Marshall, Santa Fe: The Railroad That Built an Empire (New York: Random House, 1945). Kathleen E. and Clifton R. St. Clair, eds., Little Towns of Texas (Jacksonville, Texas: Jayroe Graphic Arts, 1982).