04/09/2026
Shared from Jason Jones
April 9,1885 (141 years ago) Clifford Bartlett Jones is born in Rico, Colorado
Jones moved to West Texas in 1913 to manage the Spur Ranch, owned at the time by S. M. Swenson and sons. At the time the ranch stretched across Dickens, Kent, Garza, and Crosby counties. However, a short time into Jones tenure, the ranch would begin to be sold off. Jones would spend much of his 25 year tenure preserving ranch records in Lubbock, where many still remain today.
Clifford was a member of Spur Masonic Lodge 1023, he served as Mayor of Spur, the President of Spur Security, President of the Chamber of Commerce, and he was a loud advocate for a state university in west Texas. Fellow Mason and Governor Pat Neff named Jones to the Board of Directors, where he would be elected chairman four years later in 1927. Jones became President of Texas Technological College in 1938. He would leave his post in 1944 due to deteriorating health. Upon his departure, Jones donated $100,000 to the university to assure the schools acceptance into the Southwestern Conference. A stadium that still bears his name today.
After his tenure at Texas Tech, Jones became director and later Chairman of Lubbock National Bank. Many of Jones letters have been preserved on the iconic letterhead from his office at the Lubbock National Bank, listing his home address in Alturo Towers, a luxury high rise apartment complex that still stands along Ave Q in Lubbock today, although not quiet as luxurious as when Clifford was a resident.
In the early 1970’s as the Scottish Rite began to take shape in Lubbock, Jones was the first pick to be the first Chairman. Although, advanced age and health issues would limit his involvement. Jones would pass away just several months before Lee Lockwood delievered charters in early 1973.
Paul Charlson’s Caprock Chronicles recounted a Masonic Banquet in 1968, where Charlie Guy, a writer for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal referenced C. B. Jones as “West Texas Number one citizen”, no doubt a  moniker that still lives on today.
