Lynn County

Lynn County is located on the High Plains of Texas, just to the west of the Caprock, and surrounded by Lubbock County to the north, Garza County to the east, Borden County to the southeast, Dawson County to the south and Terry County to the west. Tahoka, the county seat, is 30 miles south of Lubbock.

Cities, Towns & Communities

Grassland | New Home | O’Donnell | Tahoka – county seat | Wayside | Wilson

History

Lynn County formed in 1876 and named for Alamo defender George Washington Lynn (or Linn), but it remained unorganized until 1903. In that year a majority of its residents forced organization on the outnumbered ranchers. In an election held on April 7 the county was organized, with the new town of Tahoka as the county seat. Subsequently, Lynn County began to grow steadily as farmers pushed ranchers off most of the land. Between 1900 and 1910 the number of farms in the county grew from five to 201 and the number of improved acres from 246 to 20,108. Numerous new towns were founded during the early years of the twentieth century. O’Donnell was established in 1910 as a speculative venture based on the opening up of new farmlands in southern Lynn and northern Dawson counties. Wilson, thirteen miles northeast of Tahoka, was established in 1912 to attract farmers to the newly opened lands of the Dixie Ranch. Other small communities had evolved around rural schools and cotton gins, but most of them faded away by that time. An exception, New Home, in the northern part of the county, grew into a small but stable town by the 1960s.

Lynn County History 1922. Lynn County was created in 1876, but was not organized until April. 1903, with Tahoka as the county seat. While cattlemen employed its area to a limited degree for grazing purposes, there was no development to speak of and little population until the present century. The county had nine inhabitants in 1880, 24 in 1890, 17 in 1900, but by 1910 its population was 1,713; in 1920, 4,751. For many years the nearest railroad was the Texas & Pacific, seventy-five miles to the south. The influx of stock and agricultural settlers began about ten years ago, and the notable developments which centered in Hale and Lubbock counties to the north gradually extended to include Lynn County. In 1910-11 the Pecos & Northern Texas main line was built across the northeast corner of Lynn County, and subsequently a branch of the same road was extended south through the center of Lynn County, with Tahoka as one of its stations.

Location

Tahoka, TX 33° 10′ 0.336″ N, 101° 47′ 37.5612″ W

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