Lockett

Lockett is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 70 and Farm Road 433, six miles southwest of Vernon and seven miles west of the Foard county line in west central Wilbarger County. A settlement has existed at the site from the early 1880s, and a school was established in 1885. In 1888 the community was named for local residents T. J. and J. B. Lockett. A Methodist group had been present since 1887, and in 1898 its members built Wesley Chapel. Before 1910 Austrian immigrant Franz Weiss operated the first cotton gin in the town. A Baptist church organized in Lockett in 1909, and the Lutherans were established by 1910. In the early twentieth century the Streit family from Switzerland founded a twenty-five-piece community band. By 1918 Lockett had two general stores and several other businesses. A Church of Christ was organized later. The population between 1940 and 1960 was 125. The Lockett school was consolidated with that of Vernon in 1969. In the mid-1980s through 2000 the town reported a population of 200. The Zion Lutheran and Lockett Baptist churches remained active.