You’ll Never Guess How Post, TX, Got Its Name

Anyone familiar with Lubbock and even most of West Texas has driven through the City of Post at least once. The dead giveaway when approaching the city is the strong smell of crude oil as the rigs work non-stop along the road. Yummm.

Welcome to Post, Texas

Located just 40 minutes southeast of Lubbock serving as the crossroads of US 84 and 380, the City of Post was founded back in 1907 after the previous landowner sold it.

Who did the ranch owner sell it to? Well, just a small breakfast cereal connoisseur by the name of C.W. Post, who went on to have one of the most iconic and recognizable names in the cereal market.

Post wasn't always the name, however. It used to be called "Post City" until 1914. Get this, alcohol and brothels were banned when the city was first established, relying mostly on the cotton gins and textile plants for revenue.

Slowly, the city grew to include a school, a bank, and even their very own newspaper—The Post City Post, (clever... I guess).

Post Tries to Play God

Another odd fact from Post's history is that, around 1912, the city attempted rainmaking experiments. They did this by detonating timed explosives in the atmosphere to induce rainfall.

Surprisingly, this didn't actually work. Who woulda known?

In 1916, with a combined total pledge of over $100,000 (nearly $3 million in today's economy), the city tried to become the site of a West Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, which also failed.

Post Oil Industry

Thanks to the city's oil industry which is still very much active to this day, the population boomed in the early 1960s of a whopping 4,800 in 1964. Unfortunately, Post's population has not exploded since then.

As of 2024, the population sits at roughly 2,600.