Texas Historical Marker #03152
Lynn County. Formed from Young and Bexar territories; created August 21, 1876; organized April 15, 1903. Tahoka, county seat. (1936) #3152
3 mi. N on US 87, Tahoka, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #05190
Tahoka. In Dec. 1902, over 100 people met around a bonfire in a ravine to the southwest of Tahoka Lake and voted to petition for county organization and to select a townsite for a county seat to be named "Tahoka," an Indian word meaning "fresh water," Early in 1903, B. G. Sweet, Jack Alley, and W. T. "Bill" Petty organized the Tahoka Townsite Company. Sweet surveyed and platted the town, and he and L. E. King established the first mercantile store opposite the southwest corner of the public square. County elections were held on April 7, 1903, and the Tahoka Post Office opened on April 30, with Fannie N. Henderson as postmaster. Tahoka soon boasted a 2-story frame courthouse, school, two churches, a hotel, and several businesses, including a newspaper, "The Lynn County News," first published on Oct. 9, 1903, by Otis and Inez Lilly. In 1906, a bank and a cotton gin were built. The Santa Fe Railroad was extended from Slaton to Tahoka in 1910, and for several years Tahoka was one of the largest cattle shipping points in the nation. The community was incorporated on June 13, 1915, and J. E. Stokes elected mayor. Tahoka serves as a trade center for Lynn County farmers and ranchers. (1974) #5190
1612 Lockwood, Tahoka, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #15274
Lynn County Courthouse. In 1876 the Texas legislature created Lynn county, which organized in 1903 with Tahoka as county seat. A two-story frame structure on this site served as courthouse until citizens approved a bond election for the current building in Jul. 1915. Designed by William M. Rice and built by A.Z. Rogers, the three-story building with full basement housed courtrooms, office space and the county jail. Completed in Dec. 1916, the reinforced concrete building with red brick and cast stone veneer exhibits classical revival style in symmetrical facades repeated on opposite sides and porticos with ionic columns. #15274
S 1st St, Tahoka, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #03153
Lynn County. Created 1876 from Bexar Territory. Name honors G. W. Lynn, "One of those who baptized the altar of Texas with life blood at the Alamo". Tahoka Lake and Double Lakes Springs were watering places on Indian, Spanish, U. S. Army and cattle-driving trails. This was home land of nomadic Indians; visited by Spaniards, 1500s-1800s; used by New Mexicans grazing large herds of sheep in 1860s; site of last great buffalo hunts and the U. S. Cavalry's drive against Comanches, 1874-1877. Last cowboy-Indian skirmish occurred 1879 at Double Lakes. Earliest open-range cattlemen settled here in 1880s. First schools, Lynn and T-Bar, opened in 1902. In April 1903, county was organized, with Tahoka as county seat. The first officials: M. L. Elliott, county judge; S. N. McDaniel, county and district clerk; C. H. Doak, sheriff and tax assessor; W. E. Porterfield, surveyor; J. E. Ketner, H. E. Baldridge, B. Humphries, and W. T. Petty, commissioners. The Santa Fe Railroad built to this point in 1910. This has since become a major agricultural area, ranking among top ten cotton counties in Texas-- and one of the top twenty in the United States. (1970) #3153
Courthouse Square, US 87, Tahoka, TX, United States