Established in 1929, the Museum of Texas Tech University explores a number of areas including anthropology, fine arts, clothing and textiles, natural sciences, history, and paleontology. The museum contains over seven million objects and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. As an organization run by the university, the museum's primary purpose is to conduct scientific, cultural, and research, and to share this work with students, researchers, and the general public. The museum consists of the main museum building, the Moody Planetarium, and the Natural Science Research Laboratory. The museum also manages the Lubbock Lake Landmark, a National Historical Landmark and important archaeological site a little north of the university (the site includes a visitor center and museum).
As settlers continued moving into Texas and the westward plains during the second half of the 18th century, ranching grew to become a prominent and respected occupation, and some of the wealthiest and poorest landowners were ranchers. Furthermore, as ranching predates Texas history, dating back to the 1690s with the Spaniards and their entradas, ranching is central to Texas history. Capturing and displaying this rich history is the National Ranching Heritage Center, a ranching history museum located on the grounds of the Texas Tech University in Lubbock. The variety of exhibits at this spacious museum hopes to educate both students and the public about the crucial role ranching played with regards to the Western cultural and economic experience. Visitors to the museum can discover everything from authentic horse saddles and lever-action rifles to nearly four dozen historic structures across the 27.5-acre facility.
Texas Technological College's Dairy Barn is one of the four original buildings of Texas Tech University still standing. Constructed in 1926 and designed in a combination of the Spanish Renaissance style and typical American barn construction, this was home to the college's Dairy Manufactures Department. For many years, students were allowed to house their own cattle in the barn and sell milk to the community. The barn was accompanied by a manufacturing facility that was eventually demolished. The university restored the barn and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Constructed in 1935, St. Elizabeth University Parish is the second Catholic church built in Lubbock following the 1924 completion of St. Joseph's. The building was designed in the Spanish Mission style and incorporates Spanish Colonial and Byzantine elements. Notable features include elaborate stonework, tile roofs, a bell tower, and arched windows. The parish consists of a complex of buildings and serves students, faculty, and community members who live near Texas Tech University.
The Mast House was constructed in 1925 for Dr. Clarence S. Mast and his family. Mast, a physics professor, was an original faculty member of Texas Tech University. The home was built by A.M. Hensley, a prominent area builder. The house has Doric columnns on the porch and exhibits some features of the Colonial Revival Style. This style incorporated elements of the Georgian and Neoclassical styles. The Colonial Revival style mimics American Colonial architecture around the time of the Revolutionary War and often features elaborate front doors, a common feature of colonial times. The Colonial Revival architectural style was in part a result of The Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reacquainted Americans with their past.
This historic home is significant for its architecture and association with its builder, Warren Bacon, who erected it in 1916, and his wife Myrta. The house is a fine and one of the few examples of the Colonial Revival style in Lubbock. Notable architectural features include the two-story porticos with Tuscan columns. Warren was a successful businessman, real estate developer, and civic leaders. Myrta was born to a prominent Quaker family who settled in what was the first Anglo settlement in the county. Today, the house is now the Sam Byron Hulsey Episcopal Center of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas.
This Lubbock city historical marker commemorates music legend and Lubbock native Buddy Holly. Widely considered to be one of rock and roll’s founding musicians, Holly was a contemporary with the likes of Elvis Presley and Bill Haley and His Comets. He’d opened for both of these bands before being noticed by Eddie Crandall, a Nashville talent scout who boosted Holly’s career by helping him secure a contract with Decca Records.
Constructed in 1932, the Lubbock Post Office and Federal Building is the oldest surviving federal building in the city. It is significant for its architecture and the role it played in Lubbock's emergence as the economic center of the South Plains region. It symbolizes the federal government's recognition of this development. In terms of architecture, it was designed in the Classical Revival style and resembles an Italian Renaissance palazzo. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, it is now a residential building called the Courthouse Lofts.
Located in a historic railroad freight center, the Buddy Holly Center serves as a center of the arts for residents in Lubbock. The building was constructed to service freight trains in the early 20th century. The building was later put to use for a variety of industries, an example of Lubbock’s adaptive use of buildings. In the 1950s, for example, the building served as a business warehouse and salvage yard. In the 1970s, the building was adapted to hold a restaurant. The Lubbock City Council named the building among their inaugural class of Lubbock Historical Monuments. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places near the time when the restaurant closed in 1997. The City of Lubbock purchased the building and began the process of renovation and restoration/ A few years later, the Buddy Holly Center opened as a cultural center, art gallery, and a museum that offers exhibits about the famous musician. Art exhibitions cover a variety of topics and the Center holds a permanent gallery devoted to the artists and musicians of West Texas.
This memorial honors Christopher B. "Stubbs" Stubblefield, Sr. who opened the original Stubb’s Bar-B-Q Restaurant at this location in 1968. The restaurant quickly became famous for live music and BBQ sauce. Stubbs' restaurant was destroyed in a fire in 1980 and he died in 1995. However, Stubbs' BBQ sauce can still be purchased at most grocery stores.
Wind power endures as a prominent energy source that has given humans electrical and machine power for hundreds of years, and some argue that the future of energy rests in wind power and other natural energy sources. Located east of downtown Lubbock on 28 acres of city park, the American Wind Power Center and Museum showcases over 160 American-style windmills as well as windmill history and any windmill-related information an enthusiasts would like to know. Most of the windmills on these grounds are the water-pumping styles, and nearly 60 windmills are actively pumping water. Additionally, museum-goers can discover wind electric windmills, some of which date back to the early 1920s. In addition to displaying a variety of water pumping and wind electric windmills, including the 50-meter, 660kW Vestas V47 wind turbine, the American Wind Power Center focuses on interpreting and displaying the relationship between humans, the environment, and technology through the medium of this museum.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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This short drive through Lubbock includes several museums as well as monuments, markers, and historic landmarks. New entries will be added to the tour very soon.
