Yoakum County Genealogy

Allred is a populated place (unincorporated community) located in Yoakum County and appears on the Higginbotham U.S. Geological Survey Map. It was laid out in 1938, and named for James Allred, the 33rd Governor of Texas. A post office was established and operated in Allred from May 17, 1938 through March 14, 1957. Currently located at 32.9862143, -102.8879893 / 32deg 59' 10.37" N, 102deg 53' 16.76" W

Note: All map locations are approximate.

The town is believed to have been named to honor Governor James Allred. Allred (the town) got off to a late start. Walter E. Young and M. A. Shields are credited with founding the 40-acre townsite in 1937, soon after oil was discovered in the vicinity. A water well was dug and construction of buildings began in January of 1938.

The first lot was sold in February and the post office opened in May of 1938. Being the Depression and knowing what had happened to other boom towns, city fathers quickly acquired 120 additional acres to accommodate a population estimated to eventually reach 3,000.

Walter Young sold his interest in the townsite to one Pat Malone in January of 1939; under Malone's leadership, the light plant was enlarged and a telephone system was installed. Allred reached a population of 1,200 in 1939, making it the largest town in the county. Allred got it's first newspaper - the Allred Times on May 25, 1939. Publisher Roy Royal published one issue of the newspaper and it folded for reasons not known. By 1940 the population of Allred started a decline without coming near the projected 3,000. After WWII it was down to only 750 residents.

During the school consolidations, Allred's school district merged with that of Sligo. The Allred school was later put to use as a community building.

In the late 50s there were only five households left and the Yoakum County Gas Company cut off their service - saying that it wasn't worth the cost of supplying them. In 1957 church, post office, and grocery closed and the last time it was recorded (1964) Allred's population was 50.

Allred is just north of State Highway 83 and seventy miles southwest of Lubbock in southern Yoakum County. At the site was once the largest undeveloped oilfield in Texas. The town was conceived by Walter E. Young and M. A. Shields in 1937, soon after the first oil discoveries, and probably named for Governor James Allred; actual building started in January 1938. The Allred water well was dug in January. The first lot of the original forty-acre townsite was sold to Alva Willis on February 12, 1938, and the town's post office opened in May. Later, three additions of forty acres each were added so that the town could handle a population of 3,000. The Graves Grocery, operated by Harold W. Graves, the first business establishment of Allred, opened in March 1938. Young sold his interest in the townsite to Pat Malone in January 1939; Malone enlarged the light plant and provided the town with an adequate telephone system. In 1939 the town's population of 1,200 made it the largest in Yoakum County, and new people were moving in daily. On May 25, 1939, Roy Royal published the first and only issue of the Allred Times. That same year a new school was built on the north side of town. The population declined to 750 by 1940 and to 150 by 1947.

In 1956 the Allred school district and the Sligo school district were consolidated. The Allred school building was abandoned and later used as a community building. In 1957 the Yoakum County Gas Company, which had served Allred since 1939, found it unprofitable to serve the five remaining families and discontinued service to the town. Later that year the church, the post office, and the grocery store closed. The population of Allred was fifty in 1964, though a few people still lived there in the 1980s. By 2000 the population grew to ninety.

Handbook of Texas Online Leoti A. Bennett, "ALLRED, TX"