Meadow Moved Twice Before the Railroad Made It Stay Put

Meadow is a town that moved instead of merely spreading. It began as Primrose in northeastern Terry County, then shifted in the early 1900s to a spot three miles east of today's town. When the South Plains and Santa Fe Railway built from Lubbock toward Seagraves in 1917, the community moved again and settled beside the tracks.

The post office from Primrose, also called Old Meadow, came to the new location. J. W. Peeler moved his family there, bought the store, and placed the store, post office, and his home in the new town. The railroad supplied the fixed point that the earlier versions of Meadow had lacked.

Then came a detail too useful to be decorative. In 1920, Meadow built a 12-foot-square concrete tank in the middle of Main Street. It watered horses, cooled automobile radiators, and gave people a place to wade on hot days. Decades later, another practical bit of community-making began in Mayor George Ashburn's home: a country-music gathering intended to keep residents and attract new ones. The City of Meadow still treats the Meadow Musical as part of the town's identity.