[originally found at, and quoted from, http://www.ci.lamar.co.us/. Link is no longer live.]
History of Lamar
"As the rail lines winded westward new towns came into being, some of their own accord, others through the efforts of "town site platters". The far west saw much of these promoters during the seventies and eighties. When a location was selected, though often through connivance, a railway station was built. Thus the story of the founding of Lamar Begins.
There was a station on the Santa Fe Trail known as Blackwell, designated as railroad mile post 499, the distance from Atchison, Kansas. It was merely a small depot and stock yards siding. On either side of the track were the holdings of A. R. Black, a cattleman of very extensive operations, whose home and ranch quarters were located nearby. The location was ideal for running cattle. To the south was an unlimited areas of rich grass land and to the north the Arkansas River with its forest of cottonwood and plum trees which furnished water refuge for cattle during winter weather. A small irrigation ditch furnished water for raising grain crops, prairie hay could be harvested from the low land.
Mr. Black was typical of the prosperous cattleman of his period. To him the vast plains area was only intended for grazing and he had little or no patience with farming. Typical of large land holders he became annoyed with the ever increasing arrival of homesteaders. The railway station gave him easy access to the county seat at Las Animas or occasional trips to Denver, or perhaps to that newer town of Pueblo.
Mr. Black was living in an area which was destined to change. There was a decided movement of population westward which was being taken advantage of by the town promoters. This gentry might not be considered entirely ethical in present day light, but men in the past century were not always endowed with to many qualms. If there was profit to be had in starting a town, a town would be started. During that period the town site business had been flourishing, so flourishing in fact that the promoters had nearly run out of town site possibilities, but an opportunity did present itself in eastern Colorado and that opportunity was Blackwell.
Early in 1866 Mr. Black was approached, it is stated, to donate certain of his lands adjacent to Blackwell as a town site. In return he was to reap a substantial profit from the sale of town lots constituting property which he retained. Mr. Black refused to consider any proposition whatever, although he was threatened that another town would be started close by and his depot moved. Mr. Black considered this a bluff. No one could start a town where would the people come from? Shortly however, the promoters had found a man with title to land in section 31, three miles west, who was willing to sell and did. Worse, yet, the depot was to be moved. Mr. Black immediately boarded a train for Denver, consulted his lawyer and prepared to secure an injunction. The next day was Sunday and since the injunction was issued Monday, Sunday was used by a wrecking crew of the railroad to move the Blackwell depot three miles west to mile post 502. They threw aside the Blackwell sign and exhibited the name Lamar and so Lamar was born, May 24, 1886.
The new city was named after Lucius Quintius Lamar, Secretary of the Interior under Grover Cleveland. The name Lamar was used successfully in order to secure a land office. Thus Lamar came into being with all of the usual fanfare and advertising of the time. Likewise came the people, enticed by the thought of free land, and town lots soared to a new high. For a couple of years Lamar enjoyed a very hectic career. It was the last town to be established in this fashion and it is the youngest town of an consequence on the main line of the Santa Fe. Lamar is the County Seat of Prowers County with agriculture as its main industry."
Janet and Robert Wolfe Genealogy