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Tascosa, originally called Plaza Atascosa, was an Oldham County village by 1875. As one of
only three towns in the Panhandle, it developed a reputation as a rowdy and sometimes violent cowtown. When it became
the county seat in 1880, its position as a leading early Panhandle town was strengthened. For decades Tascosa continued
to serve as a small trade and administrative center.
In 1887 the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, building from Amarillo to Colorado, crossed
the northeastern corner of the county, passing within two miles of Tascosa. Another village, "new" Tascosa, popped up on
the road less than two miles from the old site. By 1890 the county had five ranches, more than 30,000 cattle, and 270
residents. Oldham County entered the twentieth century as a ranching area supporting 349 residents and only slightly
influenced by the railroads crossing it. By 1900 it had twenty-three ranches, encompassing 578,246 acres; the
agricultural census reported 30,226 cattle, but no crops, in the county that year. Crop farmers began to move into the
area after 1904, when the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway laid tracks through the southern part of the county for
a line connecting Amarillo to Tucumcari, New Mexico. The new railroad encouraged additional settlement, and a small
number of wheat farms were established along the Rock Island right-of-way between 1900 and 1910; the towns of Adrian,
Vega, and Wildorado also sprang up along the route. By 1910 Oldham County had eighty-seven farms and ranches and a
population of 812. About 1,400 acres were planted in wheat that year, along with fifty acres in corn and 693 acres in
sorghum. The economy remained essentially dependent on ranching, however, and 25,000 cattle were reported.