Groom, Texas

Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ

One of the Stations of the Cross at the site is a tomb

A 19-story cross erected by The Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ Ministries is located next to Interstate 40 northwest of the town limits. This 190-foot-tall (58 m) free-standing cross can be seen from 20 miles (32 km) away and eight months were required to construct the cross. Surrounding the base of the cross are life-sized statues of the 14 Stations of the Cross. In addition to the giant cross and the Stations of the Cross, there is also a visitor center, gift shop and amphitheater located at the site.[7]

Inspired by this cross, residents of Effingham, Illinois, erected a similar cross that is 8 feet (2.4 m) taller. While some tourist brochures claim this cross to be the largest in the Western Hemisphere it is smaller than the cross erected in the Valle de los Caídos in Spain and elevated 500 feet (152.4 m) overground. The cross is also 18 feet (5.5 m) shorter than the 208 ft (63 m) cross at the Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine, Florida, and shorter than the 213-foot-tall (65 m) Lakeuden Risti cross-shaped church tower in Seinäjoki, Finland. The movie Leap of Faith was filmed on location near the site of the cross in Groom, but the movie was filmed before the cross was built.

The Leaning Tower of Britten, found east of Groom along I-40 (old U.S. Route 66)

Also in Groom one can find a leaning water tower, sometimes called The Leaning Tower of Texas or The Leaning Tower of Britten, which currently serves as a decorative item and roadside attraction. The leaning tower was originally a functioning water tower which was slated for demolition until Ralph Britten bought it and moved it to serve as a sign for his truck stop and tourist information center (located on a stretch of interstate that was once a part of U.S. Route 66). This truck stop can still be seen, set back off the road behind the tower, now boarded up and in disrepair following a devastating fire decades ago.[8]

The leaning water tower still remains a popular target for cameras, and the town of Groom turns on a large colored star mounted on the top around Christmas time.[9] The water tower is a common image from Route 66 photography books.

The route from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, along the Canadian River was charted circa 1849 by Captain Randolph Barnes Marcy. Published in 1859, Marcy's book, The Prairie Traveler: A Handbook for Overland Expeditions, contained maps and illustrations of routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific and was used as a basic manual by westward-bound wagon trains and travelers for years.[11]

Colonel B. B. Groom, an experienced cattleman near Lexington, Kentucky, leased from the New York and Texas Land Company 592,920 acres (2,399.5 km²) of land in Hutchinson, Carson, Gray, and Roberts counties in the Texas Panhandle in 1882, resulting in the organization of the Francklyn Land and Cattle Company. Groom purchased an estimated 1,300 head of shorthorns in 1882 and selected the Diamond F brand, approved by the Francklyn officials and filed as the company's brand in October 1882. Unfortunately, Groom's vision of the finest and most desirable cattle ranch in the United States did not materialize for him. The Francklyn Land and Cattle Company became insolvent in 1886. The bondholders foreclosed and organized a new company known as White Deer Lands (later White Deer Land Company), under the management of the agent Timothy Dwight Hobart, one of the subsequent founders of Pampa, Texas.[11][12]

Colonel Groom's son, Harrison Groom, established a camp at the edge of a little lake just west of the present town of White Deer.[11]

The site of Groom was chosen in 1902, along the route of the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway. Groom was first incorporated in 1911.[13]