Uplift Town (McLean nickname)

The Texas town of McLean had a bra factory in the first half of the 29th century. McLean was humorously nicknamed “The Uplift Town” on a sign, and also went by the nicknames of “Uplift City” and “Uplift Capital.” The bra factory closed in 1970; since 1991, the building has housed the Devil’s Rope Museum, explaining the story of barbed wire.
 
   
Wikipedia: McLean, Texas
McLean is a town in Gray County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Pampa, Texas Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 830 at the 2000 census.
 
Wikipedia: Devil’s Rope Barbed Wire Museum
The Devil’s Rope Barbed Wire Museum is a museum located in McLean, Texas, USA. The museum was officially opened in 1991 and focuses on barbed wire and its history. The museum is thought to have the largest collection of published material concerning barbed wire.
 
The Devil’s Rope Museum is housed in a converted brassiere factory and is dedicated to the history of barbed wire, fencing tools, and ranching heritage.
     
Google Books
All aboard!:
What! in that little car?
By Colbert Williams
Brighton: C. Williams
1985
Pg. 48:
The next little town on our route was McLean which, we were puzzled to read, advertised itself as ‘the uplift town’. However, the explanation was included in its list of commercial enterprises: oil, cattle, agriculture - and a bra factory.
 
Google Books
Lone Star Swing:
On the Trail of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
By Duncan McLean
New York, NY: Norton
1998, ©1997
Pg. 304:
Uplift City they used to call this place. Know why? Cause of the brassieres. We made brassieres for the whole South-West. Not any more, no sir. We’ve been going downhill since they closed.
 
Google Books
Texas Curiosities:
Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff
By John Kelso
Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press
2004
Pg. 231:
Hanging from the ceiling of The Route 66 Museum is an old road sign that says 19 MILES TO MCLEAN, TEXAS, THE UPLIFT TOWN..
   
Google Books
Billy Connolly’s Route 66:
The Big Yin on the Ultimate American Road Trip
By Billy Connolly
London: Hachette Digital
2011
Pg. ?:
In what remains of the centre of town, McLean’s main attraction is housed in a former bra factory that once gained the town the fantastic nickname ‘Uplift City’.
 
NM Barbed Wire Collectors Association
Uplift Capitol of the World, McLean, TX
March 30th, 2011 |  Author: wesley
One new addition to the museum is an old sign that was recently uncovered by a construction crew. On the sign McLean is proudly proclaimed the “Uplift Capitol of the World.” Back in the golden era of Route 66 one of the major businesses of McLean was a bra manufacturing business. Evidently the town was quite proud of that business too. Today the Devils Rope/Route 66 Museum is housed in the very building that used to be the bra factory!
 
Google Books
Route 66 in Texas
By Joe Sonderman
Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub.
2013
Pg. 30:
This billboard, highlighting some of the local industries (including the bra factory), stood on four-lane Route 66 entering McLean from the west. The bra factory made McLean the “Uplift Capitol of the World.” It closed down in 1970. The old factory now houses the Devil’s Rope and Old Route 66 Museum, the first museum with a Route 66 theme.
     
Pampa (TX) News
2 museums, 1 roof
Posted: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 6:00 am
By Timothy P. Howsare
History of Old Route 66, barbed wire preserved in McLean
(...)
While the bra factory was open, Trew said McLean was nicknamed the “uplift town.”