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White Deer Land Museum 116 S. Cuyler Pampa, TX 79065 |
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When Pampa Was Named 'PAMPA' Real Audio by Eloise Lane In the fall of 1891, as George Tyng was supervising the construction of buildings which were intended to be the
nucleus for a town at Sutton, he was sometimes frustrated because the Southern Kansas Railroad shipped his materials to Sutton County in southwest Texas. Apparently Tyng complained to railroad officials who
then asked him to select a new name for Sutton. Tyng submitted several names which are not recorded in his letters. These names were referred to A.A. Robinson, chief engineer of the Santa Fe system.
On October 28, 1891, Tyng wrote to Foster: "The name of Sutton is to be changed when the next railroad time-card is issued. Robinson ... did not like any of the
names I suggested and proposed to call the station 'Tyng'. This of course would not do; some of the owners might suspect that vanity rather than duty prompts the outlay I have been making at Sutton."
(Earlier, in April, 1887, when the Southern Kansas Railroad was under construction, Foster had suggested 'Tyngston' as a name for a possible county seat in Gray County. Tyng had replied: "Your suggestion of
'Tyngston as the county seat for Gray County tickles; but it won't work. My great unwashed co-sovereigns would spell it 'Tingstown' ... that would make the Tyngs frantic. Thanks all the same.")
On December 22, 1891, Tyng wrote: "This place will have its post office next spring after the high officials of the Santa Fe system have selected a permanent name for the station."
At some time, in a conversation with his friend, J.S. Wynne, Tyng is reported to have said : "I have the right word. When I was in South America, I learned that level
plains like these were called 'Pampas,' which is the Spanish word for plains. We will take the 's' off it and call it Pampa." (Tyng had traveled extensively and at one time his
travels had taken him to the pampas of Argentina.) Obviously Tyng's suggestion of "Pampa" was satisfactory to the railroad officials. On April 15, 1892,
Tyng wrote: "A couple of months ago the railway company changed the name of their siding, on our land in Gray County, from 'Sutton' to 'PAMPA.' "
Tyng's letter of April 15, 1892, also gave a report on the recently constructed improvements at Pampa (formerly Sutton). |
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"The outlay has been for:
Buildings, fences, etc . $5,615.46 "No fixed town-site was regularly laid off at Pampa, but some corners were established from which lots can be sold and streets laid off, as wanted, and in relation to which our buildings have been erected. "The buildings are: A one and a half stories house, finished and painted outside, but not finished at all inside, containing a kitchen 12xl4 feet, eating room 16xl4 feet, sleeping room 12xl4
feet for the family that runs the house room 12xl4 feet used by me for all purposes, four rooms of the same size in the half story overhead, devoted exclusively to the lodging of land-lookers."
(This was the company boarding house at 116 West Atchison. It became the nucleus for the Holland Hotel and later, the first Schneider Hotel.) "A one-storied house of two rooms, each l4xl6 feet, for
lodging employees, tramps, neighbors and other travelers who pay nothing and whom policy and humanity oblige us to shelter." (This building at 318 West Atchison became the first office of White Deer
Lands in Pampa.) "A wooden barn large enough for our own use, with feed-yard and sheds for land viewers and other travelers' teams An ice house underground, now filled with 25 or 30 tons of ice for
summer use Two cyclone cellars and other minor buildings A fenced pasture of about 600 acres for loose stock A fenced garden and some plowed land for raising long forage." Sam and Emily Case were employed by Tyng to take charge of the boarding house. Tyng and any other employees of the land company paid $4.00 a week for room and board. Land viewers were charged $.25 per meal and
$.50 for a night's lodging. White Deer Lands was then ready to begin many years of promoting the town of Pampa. Though the company had other "children," White Deer for instance, Pampa was always
its favorite "child." Tyng was fond of saying that some day Pampa would be the "Queen City of the Plains. "The Spanish word pampas meaning "plains" comes from a Quechua Indian word
for "plain" ("space" or "flat surface"-Jeopardy 8 August 1989) |
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