Amherst began in 1913 as a cattle-shipping point on the Pecos and Northern Texas Railroad, serving the 300,000-acre Spring Lake Ranch established in 1902 by W.E. "Colonel Bill" Halsell and his son Ewing Halsell. According to local tradition, the shipping point was named for Amherst College, Mass., alma mater of one of the railway officials. In 1923, as the High Plains economy began to switch from ranching to farming, the Halsells divided much of their land for sale to an influx of new settlers, with farms available for $25 an acre. They set aside land at the railroad depot for a town and donated lots for a school and churches. The first permanent building was the Amherst Hotel, built by Halsell Land Company for prospective buyers and visitors, with space for a bank, general store, and office, and for years it was the most popular hotel between Clovis, N.M. and Lubbock, Tex. The first general store opened in 1923, a post office in 1924, and the First National Bank in 1925, and the town's first newspaper was the Argus. By 1930 Amherst had a population of 964, and in 1972 its 835 residents relied on an economy based on cotton and grain, hog raising, and cattle feeding.