Groom, Texas

Groom is a town in Carson County, Texas, United States. The population was 552 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Amarillo metropolitan area. It is on Interstate 40 east of Amarillo and west of Oklahoma City.

Geography

Groom is located in the southeastern corner of Carson County. Interstate 40 (I-40) bypasses the town to the north, with access from Exits 110 through 114. I-40 Business) passes through the center of town.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

As of the census

Inspired by this cross, residents of Effingham, Illinois, erected a similar cross that is taller. Though some tourist brochures claim this cross to be the largest in the Western Hemisphere, it is smaller than the Valle de los Caídos cross in Spain, which is elevated overground. The cross is also shorter than the cross at the Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine, Florida, and shorter than the Lakeuden Risti cross-shaped church tower in Seinäjoki, Finland. The movie Leap of Faith was filmed on location near the site of the cross in Groom, but the movie was filmed before the cross was built.

Leaning water tower

thumb|left|The Leaning Tower of Britten, found east of Groom along I-40 (old U.S. Route 66)

Also in Groom one can find a leaning water tower, sometimes called The Leaning Tower of Texas or The Leaning Tower of Britten, which currently serves as a decorative item and roadside attraction. The leaning tower was originally a functioning water tower which was slated for demolition until Ralph Britten bought it and moved it to serve as a sign for his truck stop and tourist information center (located on a stretch of interstate that was once a part of U.S. Route 66). This truck stop can still be seen, set back off the road behind the tower, now boarded up and in disrepair following a devastating fire decades ago.

The leaning water tower still remains a popular target for cameras, and the town of Groom turns on a large colored star mounted on the top around Christmas time. The water tower is a common image from Route 66 photography books.

Education

The Town of Groom is served by the Groom Independent School District.

History

Early exploration

The route from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, along the Canadian River was charted circa 1849 by Captain Randolph Barnes Marcy. Published in 1859, Marcy's book, The Prairie Traveler: A Handbook for Overland Expeditions, contained maps and illustrations of routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific and was used as a basic manual by westward-bound wagon trains and travelers for years.

Colonel B. B. Groom

Colonel B. B. Groom, an experienced cattleman near Lexington, Kentucky, leased from the New York and Texas Land Company of land in Hutchinson, Carson, Gray, and Roberts counties in the Texas Panhandle in 1882, resulting in the organization of the Francklyn Land and Cattle Company. Groom purchased an estimated 1,300 head of shorthorns in 1882 and selected the Diamond F brand, approved by the Francklyn officials and filed as the company's brand in October 1882. Unfortunately, Groom's vision of the finest and most desirable cattle ranch in the United States did not materialize for him. The Francklyn Land and Cattle Company became insolvent in 1886. The bondholders foreclosed and organized a new company known as White Deer Lands (later White Deer Land Company), under the management of the agent Timothy Dwight Hobart, one of the subsequent founders of Pampa, Texas.

Harrison Groom

Colonel Groom's son, Harrison Groom, established a camp at the edge of a little lake just west of the present town of White Deer.

Notable people

Leland Chapman, bounty hunter
Steve Haskins, professional golfer