Darrouzett, TX

Darrouzett, on State Highway 15 in northern Lipscomb County, began as a station on the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway in 1917. The town was platted at the junction of Plummer and Kiowa creeks and was originally named Lourwood after Opal Lourwood, the first child born there. Upon completion of the rail line in 1919–20, the town was renamed in honor of John Louis Darrouzet, who served as an attorney for the Santa Fe. Settlers and businesses moved south from the Sunset community in Oklahoma to be near the railroad. By 1920, when it was incorporated, Darrouzett had various businesses, two churches, a school, a post office, and a population of 425. The Darrouzett Cooperative Association was formed to make the town a grain-marketing center. A bank, a high school, and several grain elevators were added by 1930. During the 1940s and 1950s Darrouzett became "the best paved town per capita of the Panhandle," at a cost of some $80,000. In 1972 Darrouzett's leaders launched the Village Improvement Plan, under which recreational facilities were improved and expanded and cultural events like the annual Deutsches Fest were initiated. In 1984 Darrouzett reported twelve businesses and a population of 444. In 1990 its population was 343, and in 2000 it was 303.