Vega: Old Route 66

In October of 1899, homesteader N.J. Whitfield purchased Section 90 in Oldham County at one dollar per acre. He sold a 100-foot strip right of way to the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Texas Railroad in 1903 and bartered land to four other settlers. The town of Vega was born.

Vega means “plain” or “meadow” in Spanish. Early citizens, however, had more than fields on their minds. In 1915 they voted to make Vega the Oldham County seat.

Throughout the years, Vega would suffer its growing pains. In May of 1931, a fire burned six buildings just west of the town square. Two months later, a conflagration destroyed more downtown businesses. But Vega bounced back, mixing new structure with old. This good-natured tenacity has kept Vega a Route 66 favorite.

The Magnolia Station in Vega, Texas, was built in 1924 on the Ozark Trail, a route predating Route 66.

The Magnolia Station was the second service station built in Vega during the 1920s. The Vega Motel is without question the most pristinely-kept old-road motor court in Texas,