unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
Crosby County, Texas
Crosby County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 5,133. The county seat is Crosbyton. The county was founded in 1876 and later organized in 1886. Both the county and its seat are named fo ...
, United States. According to the ''
Handbook of Texas
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...
'', the community had an estimated population of 70 in 2000. Kalgary is part of the
Lubbock metropolitan area
The Lubbock metropolitan area is a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the South Plains region of West Texas, United States, that covers three counties – Crosby, Lubbock, and Lynn. As of the 2010 census, the Lubbock MSA had a population ...
.
History
The community was established around 1905 when E.P. Swenson started selling portions of his SMS Ranch. Originally known as Spur, the community became known as Watson, after early settler Richard Watson Self. A post office opened in 1911, but closed two years later. It reopened in 1925, then closed for good in 1955. In 1927, the community's name was changed from Watson to Kalgary after another community named
Watson
Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) is an ultraviolet Raman spectrometer that uses fine-scale imaging and an ultraviolet (UV) laser to determine fine-scale mineralogy, and detect orga ...
was found to be in the state. By the early 1930s, Kalgary was home to about 10 residents. That figure rose to 100 in 1940. At that time, three stores and a gin were operating in the community. During the latter half of the 20th century, the population was estimated to be around 140. That number had decreased to 70 by 2000. It further decreased to 6 in 2010.
It was named for the city of
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
, in
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
.
Paleontologist
Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...
Postosuchus
''Postosuchus'', meaning "Crocodile from Post", is an extinct genus of rauisuchid reptiles comprising two species, ''P. kirkpatricki'' and ''P. alisonae'', that lived in what is now North America during the Late Triassic. ''Postosuchus'' is a ...
'' fossil in Kalgary.
Although Kalgary has experienced both population and economic decline in recent years, local folk-hero meteorologist John Robison from Lubbock TV station KCBD has made it his mission to bring increased visibility and attention to the town by excessively mentioning it on-air during severe weather events, promoting the dream that it will become a prosperous exurb of Lubbock in the near-future and a global tourist destination.
Geography
Kalgary is situated along Farm to Market Road 261 in southeastern Crosby County, about southeast of Lubbock and south of Crosbyton. It is located within the rolling plains along a drainage divide that separates the White River and the
Salt Fork Brazos River
The Salt Fork Brazos River is a braided, highly intermittent stream about long, heading along the edge of the Llano Estacado about east-southeast of Lubbock, Texas. From its source, it flows generally east-southeastward to join the Double Moun ...
, both tributaries of the
Brazos River
The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 14th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater ...
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, Kalgary has a
semiarid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...
Watson School was built in 1907. Nichols was the main instructor. In 1949, the local school district - known as Self County Line – joined the nearby
Crosbyton Consolidated Independent School District
Crosbyton Consolidated Independent School District is a public school district based in Crosbyton, Texas, United States.
It is located in Crosby County, a small portion of the district extends into Garza County.
Crosbyton Consolidated ISD ha ...
. No more classes were held in Kalgary after an October 1952 fire destroyed the local school.