Giants in arts, agriculture and business

Louise Underwood 1919-present

Arch Underwood 1893-1972

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Arch Underwood was the patriarch of one of Lubbock’s most influential families and a giant in the cotton industry.

He left his native Athens in 1938 when he realized major cotton production was moving west to the South Plains.

By the late 1950s, he owned eight of the 18 largest firms storing government-owned cotton. His Texas Compress and Warehouse Co., had facilities in 20 South Plains towns.

Underwood had political influence, and counted presidents as friends.

Through his children his bloodlines also extended into the Chambers and Prather families.

His daughter-in-law, Louise Hopkins Underwood, has been influential in arts both locally and across the state. She has received numerous honors for her contributions to the arts, and the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts is named in her honor.

“I cannot think of any Lubbock family who has had as much an economic and cultural impact on Lubbock and this area,” said Charles Verner in the 1996 A-J obituary on Louise’s husband, Harris.

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Spencer Wells
1890-1962

Wells, originally from Weatherford, began working in the clothing business in high school. He continued in San Angelo and in Lubbock, where in 1922 he hired on with Hemphill-Price to sell shoes and men’s clothing. Rising through the ranks, Wells was named vice-president and general manager of the store when co-owner M.L. Price died and the store name was changed to Hemphill-Wells.

He was on Texas Tech’s board of directors from 1936-43 as well as president of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce. Wells held the director’s post of the West Texas Chamber. He also hold the distinction of serving as the first Chief Goodfellow in Lubbock’s Christmas charity drive and worked in a number of other charity drives. He also helped organize the Matador Club, which later became the Red Raider Club, and was one of the organization’s first presidents.

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