Spade, Texas
census designated place in Lamb County, Texas, United States
Spade is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lamb County, Texas, United States. The population was 71 at the 2020 census.
History
Spade was named for its location on the former Spade Ranch. J. Frank Norfleet, ranch foreman, married and brought his wife to headquarters near the present townsite in 1894. The townsite was founded in 1924 when farmers began settling on former ranchland. A store and a cotton gin were built in 1931, which became the nucleus of the community. A post office was secured in 1935 and by 1940 Spade had two churches, six businesses, and 200 people. Spade has its own water system that draws on the underlying Ogallala Aquifer.
Geography
Spade is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 54 and 168, 10 miles (16 km) east of Littlefield in southeast Lamb County.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.9 square miles (4.8 km2), all of it land.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Spade, Texas” as census designated place in Lamb County, Texas, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as census designated place in Lamb County, Texas, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q982120. Authority coordinates are 33.926, -102.154. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1894, 1924 and 1931.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Spade, Texas”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Spade, Texas primary sources, Spade, Texas archive and Spade research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Spade, Texas”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Spade, Texas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.