About

On April 15, 1911 the Santa Fe Railroad completed the transaction that would eventually lead to the town of Slaton. The railroad company needed a town site that was to serve as a division point to service trains traveling through northwest Texas. Slaton officially opened on June 15, 1911 named in honor of a local rancher and banker O.L. Slaton, who was instrumental in getting Santa Fe Railroad through this area. The town site was designed in a wagon wheel fashion similar to Washington D. C. Streets reached outward from the residential and business areas of the community. That day brought people by team and wagon, by train, and on foot, to participate in the land sales.

Slaton eventually serviced four daily northbound and southbound trains between Amarillo and Sweetwater. Soon the Harvey House restaurant was established and Slaton became the center of the largest division in the Santa Fe system. The post office had been established in 1910, the Slaton Journal began it's first weekly paper on June 15, 1911 and the Slaton Independent School District was established by March 9, 1912. The population grew rapidly with the railroad company employees and their families. Businesses popped up including a cotton gin and mill, the Caps and Singleton hotels, several lumber and hardware companies, dry goods and groceries and confectionaries. Cotton farming had long been established in the region and remained as one of the main staples of Slaton's economy. The town incorporated on October 26, 1923.