The Passing of a Lubbock Icon brings the End of an Era

Over a lifespan of 108 years, Julia Segura García witnessed some of this city’s most historical moments.

To put her life in some sort of historical perspective, consider the following facts and dates in the city’s historical record:

• Lubbock was not incorporated as a city until 1909

• The city’s first electrical plant was not begun to be built until 1916

• Lubbock’s first two hospitals were not established until 1917

• Texas Technological College was not established until 1923

She was in fact already in her teens during some of the most significant historical moments in this city.

When Mrs. García first moved to Lubbock in 1926, the city’s population was about 4,051; today the city has a population of over 200, 000.

During her lifetime, Mrs. García witnessed the invention of most of the things we take for granted today. Among them are aspirin, antibiotics, and wireless communications through radio airwaves; motion pictures, radio, television, and the modern airplane.

Among the most notable historical figures to take center stage during her early life were Francisco “Pancho” Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, (Mckinley was assassinated in 1901; consequently Mrs. García was alive during 2 presidential assassinations). And she was one of the few people who was alive during two turns of the century; the 1900's and 2000.

Upon her arrival in Lubbock, she moved into the “Barrio Guadalupe”; long considered Lubbock’s oldest Mexican American neighborhood. Although, stories abound as to which Lubbock families first established the area also known as the Guadalupe neighborhood, Mrs. García and her family were surely among the very first.

A survivor of the Lubbock May 11, 1970 tornado which nearly devastated the Guadalupe neighborhood, Mrs. García along with her family rebuilt her home and ...