Randall County, Texas

Cities, Towns and Counties

Amarillo (partly in Potter County) | Canyon (Canyon City) – county seat | Lake Tanglewood | Happy (partly in Swisher County) | Timbercreek Canyon | Palisades | Umbarger

History

Randall County History 1922. Located on the northern edge of the Staked Plains region, and just south of the Panhandle metropolis, Amarillo, Randall County’s territory was opened to settlement with the building of the Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad in 1888. Its area is level except where broken by the Palo Duro Canyon and the Tierra Blanco Canyon, and its most depend­able water supply is obtained from underground. Formerly the livestock industry took precedence over all others in this county. Many large ranches are still conducted, but during the last twenty years homeseekers have placed a large acreage under cultivation.

The population of the county in 1880 was only 3 ; by 1890 there were 187 inhabitants ; in 1900 the population was 963 ; in 1910, 3,312, and in 1920, 3,675. A considerable number of Germans and other European people have found homes in this county. The chief town is the county seat, Canyon City, which in 1910 had a population of 1,400, nearly half the entire population of the county. In 1910 the West Texas Normal was established by the state at Canyon City, and that was the first state institution given to the Panhandle country.

Randall County was organized July 27, 1889. The chief impetus to its development was given in the construction of the Pecos & Northern Texas Railway from Amarillosouthwesterly to the New Mexico line, constructed in the year 1898. The substantial growth of Canyon City dates from the coming of that railway, and several other stations have been established along the line. In 1907 a branch of the Pecos & North­ern Texas was completed from Canyon City south to Plainview. These two roads, with the Fort Worth & Denver City close to the northern boundary, give Randall County unusual railway facilities.

The total area of the county is 599,680 acres, of which 278,484 acres were included in farms in 1910. The amount of “improved land” in 1910 was about 94,000 acres, as compared with only 8,000 acres in 1900. There were 363 farms in 1910 and ninety-six in 1900. The last enumeration reported 25,914 cattle ; 4,875 horses and mules.

The staple crops are the forage plants utilized chiefly in connection with livestock farming. In 1909, 28,682 acres were planted in hay and forage crops ; 6.617 acres in kafir corn and milo maize ; 5,212 acres in wheat ; 1,307 acres in oats ; a small acreage in corn and other cereals, and about 7,000 orchard fruit trees were enumerated. The assessed valuation in 1903 was $1,678,184, in 1913, $4,617,764, and in 1920, $4,959,928. – History of Texas, 1922, by W. Barrett Travis.

Location

Canyon, TX 34° 58′ 49.2024″ N, 101° 55′ 7.6872″ W

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