Foard County History 1922

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Foard County History Written in 1922

Foard County was created from adjacent counties March 3. 1891, and organized April 27, 1891. At that time the town of Crowell was started and was given the honor of the county seat. No towns were developed of any importance until recent years, and until the completion of the Orient Railroad through the center of the county in 1909. the nearest shipping points were at Quanah and Vernon. to which towns the farm crops and the cattle from the ranches were sent. A number of large ranches are still operated in the county, but the live stock industry has undergone many changes in recent years, and the modern stock farming and diversified agriculture are now the chief resources. Foard County is in the wheat region of Northwest Texas. but cotton is the largest single crop, and the area of cultivated land is being extended every year.

In 1900 the population of the county was 1,568; in 1910, 5,726; in 1920, 4,747. At the last census, Crowell, the county seat, had a population of 1,341. Other towns are Foard City, Thalia, Rayland and Margaret. The total area of the county is 391,680 acres, it being one of the smaller counties in Northwest Texas. The last census reported 290,704 acres in farms, with about 73,000 acres as "improved land," as compared with about 24,000 acres in 1900. There were 718 farms in 1910 and 210 in 1900. The number of cattle in 1910 was 15,879 ; in 1920, 12,402; horses and mules, about 5,208. The largest crop in 1909 was cotton, 21,356 acres ; corn, 9,155 acres ; wheat, 6,667 acres ; kaffir corn and milo maize, 3,495 acres ; oats, 2,298 acres ; hay and forage crops, 2,509 acres, and about 10.000 orchard fruit trees were enumerated. The total assessed valuation of the county in 1903 was $1,614,770; in 1913, $4,254,831; in 1920, $16,509,405.

The progress of the county as a whole is reflected in the growth of the county seat town from a country hamlet, before the railroad came, to a new-built little city, with many of the municipal and business facilities of older and larger cities. Crowell has an electric light plant. water works, telephone system, a court house costing $60,000, several school buildings, grain elevator, cotton gins, and a large variety and number of commercial establishments to supply the needs of the tributary country. - History of Texas, 1922, by W. Barrett Travis.