Home County of Doctor Oscar H. Loyd (1868-1959)

Oldham County's first physician. A civic leader, weather researcher and humanitarian. Born in Kansas, he attended medical school in Missouri, and in 1907 moved to Vega with his wife, Lulu Mills Loyd. Despite opposition from ranchers, he introduced farming to the area; broke sod with county's first steam tractor; exhibited best produce in the county -- first at the Tri-State Fair (which he helped to organize) in Amarillo, and then at state fairs in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Texas. A volunteer weather observer for over 30 years, he telephoned daily reports at his own expense to the Amarillo Weather Bureau. His weather notes are now in Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon. To make sick calls, Doctor Loyd bought a Maxwell, the first automobile in the county. During the 1918 flu epidemic he not only cared for the sick day and night but also dispensed food and buried the dead. As a civic leader, he organized the county's first Chamber of Commerce and a baseball team which he transported to its games. He actively sponsored the original Highway 66 Association. His estate was left to religious and charitable groups in the county.