Lometa

Lometa is on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway at the junction of U.S. Highway 183 and Ranch Road 581, 16? miles northwest of Lampasas in western Lampasas County. A saltworks known as the Swenson Salines was located eight miles from Lometa, near the mouth of Salt Creek on the Colorado River. During the Civil War much of the salt mined for the Confederate Army came from this saltworks, which was abandoned after several postwar attempts at private operation. Lometa was founded in 1885, when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway began building west from Lampasas to San Angelo. A depot named Montvale, the first stop west of Lampasas, was established 2? miles from Senterfitt, and a railroad agent named Cox took up residence. Eventually the entire town of Senterfitt, buildings and all, was moved to the new location. The first store was opened by J. T. Brown and a man named Woffard. Frank Longfield, executor of the estate of Alfred J. North, deeded the right-of-way to the railroad; 200 acres of this land became the townsite, and the town was laid out on May 17, 1886. Hoping to prevent the new town from becoming as wild as Senterfitt, a group of prominent citizens, including A. L. Horne, John W. Stephens, and W. B. Floyd, made a vow never to allow an open saloon. When the post office was established in 1886 with Frank McKean as postmaster, the residents discovered that there was already a Montvale in Texas, so the town was renamed Lometa (evidently from Spanish lomita , "little hillock"