Lynn County grew from open range to cotton fields in just a generation

The Texas Legislature created Lynn County in 1876. It was named for George Washington Lynn (also recorded as Linn), a defender at the Alamo. But there were almost no settlers, so it had no local government until 1903, when farmers outvoted ranchers and established Tahoka as the county seat.

Cotton arrived fast. By 1910, there were 201 farms in the county. By 1930, cotton was planted on over 200,000 acres. After World War II, the economy added wheat, sorghum, and some oil production. Today the Pioneer Museum in Tahoka and the Dan Blocker Museum in O'Donnell (named for the Bonanza actor who grew up there) preserve local history. The Handbook of Texas is the primary scholarly source for county history.