A predecessor of present Lubbock, this area became the center of a heated dispute in 1890 among three factions led by W.D. Crump, W.E. Rayner, and Frank Wheelock as they competed to found the county seat. Unlike most Texas county seat contests, the rivals had no long-established towns behind them, and their main interest was organizing the county. During the rivalry, two settlements were founded. The Crump faction, later joined by the Wheelock group and several financial backers, established Old Lubbock at this site. Known as North Town because it lay north of Yellow House Canyon, it occupied section 7, block A, bounded by the present streets of Quirt, Ash, Erskine, and Kent. The settlement soon reached about 50 residents and reportedly had 37 buildings, including the county's most historic structure, the Nicolett Hotel. Rayner's competing settlement south of the canyon was named Monterey and was popularly called South Town. Rather than becoming permanently hostile, the factions reached a compromise on December 19, 1890, unique in West Texas history, and as a result the city of Lubbock was founded on the site where it now stands.