Levelland was literally once the home on the range where the buffalo roamed and the antelope played. But by the beginning
of the 20th century, enterprising ranchers and farmers were beginning to transform the area's boundless sea of grass into cattle ranches and crop production.
One enterprising entrepreneur, C. W. Post, the cereal king, wanted to go further. He bought the Oxsheer Ranch with the idea
of developing a town site.
For some reason he did not pursue it, but the town site
he had selected eventually became the county seat, first known as Hockley City.
However, when the post office discovered there was another town in Texas by the same name, the enterprising women of the county took one look at the uninterrupted landscape and came up with the name of Levelland.
That was in 1921, and a general mercantile store and the city's first church and school first popped up. Levelland got a boost
in 1925 with the arrival of the railroad, and the 1920s saw the
explosion of farms throughout the county. During the 1930s, oil
was discovered in Hockley County, ushering in a new industry and
a new era for the area.
Today, Hockley County is the fifth biggest producer of
oil in Texas and celebrated its billionth barrel of oil drilled in 1982.
The county is also the fifth largest producer in Texas of cotton.
A number of business related have sprung up which depend on the
economic strength of the two major industries. Levelland is the heart
of this agricultural and oil producing region, which includes a number of historic ranches, such as the Spade and Mallett Ranches.
