Vega

Understand

History

In 1879, the area was opened by the state for homesteading. The first settler, N.J. Whitfield, arrived in 1899. In 1903, Whitfield sold a 100-foot strip of land that extended across the southern part of Oldham County to the Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Texas (later Rock Island) Railroad as a right-of-way. He then sold portions of land on the south side of the right-of-way to other settlers. A.M. Miller and Howard Trigg surveyed the town site that eventually became Vega in 1903. The name Vega, which is Spanish for "meadow", was chosen because it reflected the vast prairie and surrounding countryside of the area. Soon after, Miller opened a store, and a post office, saloon, and a school that doubled as a Masonic Lodge were built in the community. In 1907, ranchers Patrick and John Landergin purchased a part of the LS Ranch from Swift & Company. Working in association with the Amarillo-based Pool Land Company, the Landergin brothers brought more prospective settlers to the community. The following year, they established a bank in Vega. When the railroad was completed, Vega began to thrive. There were several stores, a blacksmith, two churches, and a newspaper operating in the community by early 1909.

Modern amenities, such as telephone service, were introduced during the 1920s. In 1926, Route 66 was commissioned as a link from Chicago to Los Angeles and ran through Vega along the Old Ozark Trail. The arrival of Route 66 provided an economic boost for the community. The Route 66 heritage is honored by a restored Magnolia gasoline station next to the courthouse, which appears as it would have in the 1920s or 1930s. Route 66 was superseded by Interstate 40 in the 1960s.

Get in

• I-40 between Amarillo and the New Mexico border. Vega straddles old Route 66, which I-40 replaced.
• US 385 between Hereford to the south and Dalhart to the north.

Get around

You wouldn't be here if you didn't already have a car.

Go next

Just to the east of Vega, and also to the west between Vega and the New Mexico border are a number of ghost towns and near-ghost towns which have Route 66 remnants.

• Adrian is a tiny community 23 miles west on I-40/US66 which bills itself as the "midpoint of Route 66". There's a café, a souvenir shop, a small motel and a museum.
• Glenrio, a ghost town divided by the Texas-New Mexico border and abandoned when a freeway bypassed the village in the 1970s. Remains include the First/Last Motel in Texas, dilapidated fuel stations, an abandoned café, water tower and a post office.
• Wildorado and Bushland, both east of Vega have a few picturesque run-down cafés and gas stations from the Route 66 era.

Nearby

Boys Ranch

Tascosa is 25 miles (40 km) N of Vega on US385.