60 Miles S of Lubbock on Hwy 385
80 Miles N of Odessa on Hwy 385/62
28 Miles E of the New Mexico State Line on Hwy 83

Population: 2,334 (2000)

Seagraves was originally called Blythe. This was about 1911 when the post office was on the Blythe ranch.

The Santa Fe railroad make Seagraves the end of a spur running from Lubbock and a land company owned by the railroad promoted the town around 1917. There was already a Blythe on the Santa Fe line (although it was in California) so the name was changed to that of C. L. Seagraves, a Santa Fe Railroad Official.

An oil boom in the mid-thirties made up for a fire that nearly leveled the town in 1928. 1950 was an unpleasant milestone for the town when it lost its title as most populated Gaines County town to the county seat of Seminole.

One of the few buildings that survived the 1928 fire was the Simpson Hotel. The Hotel was awarded a Texas Historical Commission Medallion in 1992. Recently it has become the Cherry Blossom Inn.

Seagraves experienced an oil boom in the 1930s which lessened some of the impact of the Great Depression. At one point in the 1950s, The chamber of commerce touted Seagraves as "The Caged Egg Production Center of the World." That slogan may have lost it's meaning to a lot of people, but to us here at Texas Escapes, Seagraves will always be The Caged Egg Production Center of the World.
(From Texas Escapes, Texas Travel Guide)

Copyright 2003
Kathy Pratt Wayman
Gaines County TXGenWeb Project