Friona, TX

Friona was known initially as Frio when it was established in 1898 by the Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Company as a shipping station on the Pecos Valley and Northern Texas Railway. In 1906 the name was altered to Friona when the post office was established in March 1907, with Sarah D. Olson as postmistress.

First Depot, 1887

About Friona, TX

1906 the George C Wright Land Company of Kansas City, Missouri, contracted with the Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Company of Chicago, Illinois, to sell several thousand acres of land. These lands were mostly in Parmer and Deaf Smith counties. A local office or headquarters was necessary to prepare for this gigantic sale of land. The north side of the Santa Fe railroad was chosen for the proposed town. This tract of land was surveyed and laid off into city blocks and streets. Thus, the city of Friona was born as a land boom town, and within the next year, it mushroomed in growth with buildings for business and homes.

Having founded a base of operation, the land company inaugurated a vast advertising campaign in the central states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas. On the first and third Wednesday of every month, large land excursions trains would arrive each train brought 250-500 people. The tracts of land were sold in 160-640 acre lots. Upon many of these tracts, homes and new lives were built.