Valentine
is the only incorporated city in Jeff Davis County, Texas.
It is located on U.S. Hwy 90. According to the 2000 census
Valentine has a population of 187 people.
Today
Valentine is known mainly for its post office which receives
an abundance of cards every year to be stamped and sent to
Valentines all over the country. Valentine is also known for
a little movie called “Dancer Texas, population 81” which
was filmed there and the surrounding area in 1997. A
building façade “Oasis Gas Station” remained on the deserted
roadside until early 2005.
In 2005 a new building appeared
west of Valentine on highway 90, Prada Marfa was erected as
a work of art. Within its walls are shoes and other items
from the fall 2005 Prada collection. In time the earth
friendly building will decay and the display will become a
ruin, but for now security alarms buzz at attempts to tamper
with the “art”. Valentine recently constructed a memorial to
the veterans which sits peacefully on the highway through
town.
Some say
Valentine was named for Valentine’s Day when a railroad crew
of the Southern Pacific Railroad laying tracks heading east
from Van Horn stopped there on February 14th,
1882.
Others
believe Valentine was founded on December 23rd or
24th, of 1881 and named for John Valentine, President of
Wells Fargo and a major stockholder in Southern Pacific.
Valentine
became a significant shipping point for the railroad because
of it’s location between El Paso and Sanderson (Texas). Its
location allowed railroad crews to lie over for a few days.
In 1900
Valentine had two saloons, a butcher shop and a general
store. Area ranchers shipped cattle out of Valentine but by
the 1950s with the increase of trucks being used to haul
cattle, Valentine’s railroad depot was closed down. At that
point Valentine was no longer a thriving railroad community
and the majority of the businesses closed down.
At 5:40am
on August 16, 1931 the largest earthquake known to have
occurred in Texas took place near Valentine. All the
buildings were damaged and even the tombstones in the local
cemetery were rotated.
Send your Valentine a
Valentine from Valentine Texas!
Each
Valentine’s Day the postmaster receives hundreds of requests
to have their Valentine postmarked from Valentine, Texas.
To have your Valentine sent from Valentine, place your card
in an envelope pre-stamped and addressed to the recipient.
Place this in another envelope and mail it to:
Postmaster, Valentine, Texas
79854.
The
postmaster will postmark your envelope with a postmark from
Valentine, Texas
