- Best, Texas
Best is an unincorporated town in southwestern Reagan County in the western part of the
U.S. state ofTexas . It was portrayed in the Clyde Ragsdale novel “The Big Fist”. [ Ragsdale, C., The Big Fist, Dell Publishers, 1950. Summarized at http://www.biblio.com/books/70893425.html ]Location and population
Best is located in Reagan County about 85 miles (135 km) west of
San Angelo, Texas . In 2000, the town had a population of 2. It is one of the four major communities in Reagan County according to a historical guide written by the University of Texas. [ [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/hcr3.html Handbook of Texas Online - REAGAN COUNTY ] ]History
Oil was discovered in the area in 1923. The town is reportedly named after Tom Best, an English stockholder of the Orient Railroad, which established a railroad switching station in the town in 1924. The town rapidly grew reaching a population of 3,500 by 1925. [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/BB/hnb32.html TSHA Online - Texas State Historical Association ] ]
The rapid growth of the town was accompanied by a wild reputation, which was portrayed in the Clyde Ragsdale novel, The Big Fist. A commonly used slogan was coined that “the town with the Best name in the world and worst reputation.”
The population of the town declined after 1925 where it was 300 by 1945. The population in 1990 was 25.
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
