West, Texas

West is a city in McLennan County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,807. It is named after T.M. West, the first postmaster of the city.

The city is located in the north-central part of Texas, approximately 70 miles south of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, 20 miles north of Waco and 120 miles north of Austin, Texas, the state's capital.

History

The first settlers of northern McLennan County arrived in the 1840s. They were farm and ranch families drawn from the east by the rich lands made available by the government sale of land to build schools in Texas. The area farmers cultivated the land and grew cotton, wheat, and grain sorghum, and raised cattle. The farming community centered around a freshwater spring that became known as Bold Springs. In 1860, Bold Springs had a population of about 300 and provided services such as a blacksmith, churches, and a post office.

The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad was laid between Hillsboro and Waco in the fall of 1881. The path of the railroad passed through land owned by Thomas West, who had moved to the area in 1859. He farmed land that he had purchased and served as postmaster of Bold Springs. A train depot was built on the land he sold to the railroad company and the land running beside the tracks was divided into small sections and sold to people wanting to start businesses. The new depot included a post office, and from that time forward it was known as the West Post Office. Mr. West served as postmaster and opened the first general store. He became a successful businessman and later owned a hotel, a furniture store, and a bank.

West Texas

West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semiarid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas.

A general lack of consensus exists regarding the boundaries that separate East and West Texas.Walter Prescott Webb, the American historian and geographer, suggested the 98th meridian separates East and West Texas. The Texas writer A.C. Greene proposed that West Texas extends west of the Brazos River. Perhaps, the truth is no distinct line separates them. Rather, some places are clearly in West Texas and some are clearly in East Texas, and then some fall within a transitional zone between these two regions.

West Texas is often subdivided according to distinct physiographic features. The portion of West Texas that lies west of the Pecos River is often referred to as "Far West Texas" or the "Trans-Pecos", a term first introduced in 1887 by the Texas geologist Robert T. Hill. The Trans-Pecos lies within the Chihuahuan Desert, the most arid portion of the state. Another important subdivision of West Texas is the Llano Estacado, a vast region of high, level plains extending into Eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle. To the east of the Llano Estacado lies the “redbed country� of the Rolling Plains and to the south of the Llano Estacado lies the Edwards Plateau. The Rolling Plains and the Edwards Plateau subregions act as transitional zones between East and West Texas.

West Texas (album)

West Texas is the debut album by Jim Ward's latest alternative country project Sleepercar. Although the beginning of Sleepercar dates back to the demise of At the Drive-In, Ward only found the time to focus on the project and make it his full-time commitment after the hiatus of his second band Sparta in 2008, when he started working full-time on the Sleepercar album.

The album's music is influenced by such artists as Gram Parsons, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Wilco.

Track listing

All songs written by Jim Ward

Personnel

References

The West Texas Rednecks

The West Texas Rednecks was a short-lived professional wrestling stable and country music band in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1999. They are famous for the recording of two songs, "Rap is Crap (I Hate Rap)" and "Good Ol' Boys."

History

The West Texas Rednecks formed in June 1999 in WCW. The group developed from four wrestlers who fit the mold of a southern gimmick and had teamed with one another in the recent months. They were to be a heel group to feud with The No Limit Soldiers led by Master P. Although the Soldiers were packaged as a face stable, they failed to connect with the audience due to actions perceived as that of heels. In Master P's first and only appearance on WCW Television, (against the suggestion of the bookers and other wrestlers) he bullied heel wrestler Curt Hennig by rejecting a present he gave to Silkk The Shocker (a custom made cowboy hat) and then assaulting him with a birthday cake. This made the No Limit Soldiers look like they were the heels and in turn perceived as badguys by the fans. Hennig was a hated heel (fresh from the nWo) at this time but him being bullied by a group of people promoted as faces, producing a lack of reaction in fans due to the confusion. Not helping the situation that even with backup the Soldiers still outnumbered Hennig's group by nearly 2-1 further making them look like heels. The feud was quickly dropped and the Rednecks were given other face groups to quarrel with instead. They lasted until late October 1999.

Texas

Texas /ˈtÉ›ksÉ™s/ (Spanish: Texas or Tejas [ˈtexas]) is a state in the United States of America. It is the second most populous and second largest state by area in the US. Geographically located in the south central part of the country, Texas shares an international border with Mexico to the south and borders the states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²) and a growing population of over 27.5 million residents (July 2015).

Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest United States metropolitan statistical areas, respectively. Other major cities include Austin (the state capital) and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify Texas as a former independent republic, and as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico. The "Lone Star" can be found on the Texan state flag and on the Texan state seal. The origin of the state name, Texas, is from the word, "Tejas", which means 'friends' in the Caddo language.

The Texas (locomotive)

Western & Atlantic Railroad #49 "Texas" is a 4-4-0 "American" type steam locomotive built in 1856 for the Western & Atlantic Railroad by Danforth, Cooke & Co.. The Texas is widely known for being involved in the Great Locomotive Chase during the American Civil War as the engine that successfully pursued the General locomotive after it was stolen by Union saboteurs in an attempt to ruin the Confederate rail system. The locomotive is currently preserved at the Atlanta Cyclorama building within Grant Park in Atlanta, Georgia, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It will be restored and relocated to the Atlanta History Center in 2016.

Antebellum

The Texas was built in October 1856 for the Western & Atlantic Railroad by locomotive manufacturer Danforth, Cooke and Company in Paterson, New Jersey. It was subsequently shipped from Paterson to the Port of Savannah, traveled the Georgia Rail Road & Banking Company and Macon & Western Railroad, before finally being delivered to the W&A headquarters in Atlanta that same year.

Texas (TV series)

Texas is an American daytime soap opera which aired on NBC from August 4, 1980, until December 31, 1982, sponsored and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions at NBC Studios in Brooklyn, New York City. It is a spinoff of Another World, co-created by head writers John William Corrington, Joyce Hooper Corrington, and executive producer Paul Rauch of Another World. Rauch would hold the title of executive producer for the parent series and its spin-off until 1981.

Storylines

Premiere and first season

The debut episode featured Iris Cory Bancroft on a plane, leaving Houston after visiting her son Dennis, who had relocated to Texas with his new love to open an art gallery. During her sojourn, she reconnected with her first love, self-made millionaire Alex Wheeler. Alex is determined not to let the past repeat itself and lose her again. He arranges the Bay City-bound jet airliner, which Iris is on, to return at Houston.

The first season of the series the stories centered around the daily lives of the wealthy Wheelers and Bellmans and the middle-class Marshalls, as well as their ranching and oil interests. The series would never achieve ratings success on NBC in the USA, due to numerous factors.