Blair is situated in northern Jackson County, which was
originally part of Old Greer County. This region is known for its
rich irrigated cotton land and its early history steeped in stories
about the Great Western Trail. In 1876 veteran cowboy Lewis Warren
Neatherlin reported about life on the trail and the lush valley
near present day Blair.
B. B. Zinn, a seventeen-year-old cowhand, passed through this
area in 1884 on a cattle drive. As a married man he returned in
1892 and opened a general store with a post office named after his
daughter, Dot, in 1893. The town was established August 26, 1901,
and the name was changed to Blair, for John A. Blair, an official
of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway, which built a line
through Blair around 1907. By 1910 population stood at 508, and the
town served as a trade center for a surrounding agricultural
area.
Damaging tornados struck Blair in 1912, 1928, and 1949. The 1928
storm destroyed the school and left hundreds homeless. The town
recovered and built a new school with a safe underground
shelter.
By 1930 Blair had three cotton gins, a grain elevator, and a
hotel. Blair and Altus community leaders worked together to acquire
federal funding for an irrigation project which resulted in the
Lugert-Altus Irrigation District completed in 1947-48. Cotton, the
primary crop, accounts for the area's agricultural prosperity.
Blair's population peaked at 1,114 in 1970. At the turn of the
twenty-first century Blair, with 894 residents, attracted retirees,
military families from Altus Air Force Base, and others who
preferred small-town life and culture.
*** Do not attempt this
cache at night. ***
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