Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Matador, TX

Matador is the county seat of Motley County, Texas, and was established in 1891 by and named for the Matador Ranch, one of the great cattle ranches of West Texas.

The Matador Ranch was consolidated in 1882 by a Scottish investment syndicate, and a post office opened at Matador in 1886; the ranch itself was not liquidated until 1951.

When Matador incorporated in 1912, state law required at least 20 businesses, so local ranch hands set up fraudulent temporary businesses using ranch supplies — the town's only real business at the time was a saloon.

Matador had a population of 569 at the 2020 census, with 273 households, down from a peak of 1,376 residents in 1940.

On June 21, 2023, a powerful EF3 tornado tore through the western side of Matador, killing four people, injuring ten, and destroying at least 20 homes and businesses.

Motley County, which Matador anchors, was named for Junius William Mottley, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence — but the 1876 bill creating the county misspelled his name as "Motley," and the error was never corrected.

Matador is served by the Motley County Independent School District and is home to the Motley County High School Matadors; the county lies in the service area of South Plains College.

The Hotel Matador, built in 1914 as the Carter Hotel with 15 rooms and a nine-foot oak-rimmed tub as its only bathtub, now operates as a restored bed and breakfast.

Matador's Traweek House, built in 1915–16 by physician Albert Carroll Traweek — the town's "pneumonia doctor" and first Motley County public health officer — is a designated Texas Historic Landmark, and his hospital now houses the Motley County Historical Museum.

One of Matador's most famous roadside landmarks was Bob's Oil Well, a service station topped by an 84-foot lighted steel oil derrick, whose owner paid truckers to post signs across the United States showing the mileage to Matador.