Upland First Upton County Seat
Rankin, Upton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Now abandoned, the town of Upland (10 miles N) was intended as a station on the rail line from St. Louis to Chihuahua, Mexico. It was also located near the stage route of the Butterfield mail line. Henry Halff and his son platted the townsite in 1908 and a school opened the same year. In 1910 Upland was named the first county seat and a stone courthouse was constructed later. By passed by new rail lines and suffering from a severe drought, the town declined. Homes and buildings were moved here by 1921 when Rankin became the new seat of government.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Platted in 1908 by Henry Halff and his son, Upland was conceived as a stop on a projected St. Louis–to–Chihuahua rail line and sat near the old Butterfield stage route. Named the first seat of Upton County in 1910, it gained a stone courthouse and a school, but when new rail lines bypassed it and drought set in, the town withered. By 1921 its buildings had been hauled off to Rankin, and Upland was left to the prairie.
Why it matters
Upland's rise and abandonment capture the boom-and-bust fate of countless West Texas towns whose survival hinged entirely on where the railroads chose to run.
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Related people
- · Henry Halff
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of First Church in Upton County
Rankin, TX
When pioneers abandoned nearby Upland and resettled at Rankin in 1912 along the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway, they first worshipped in the railroad depot before building a shared church on this corner. Future oil baron Ira G. Yates led the donors, and Baptist, Church of Christ, and Methodist trustees jointly oversaw the "Rankin Union Church," finished in 1915. For a time it also housed the local school and remained the county's only church until the late 1920s.
Elliott Ranch
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George Elliott pushed onto the wide-open West Texas range in 1880, building near the old Butterfield Stage Road and hauling water fifty miles from the head of the Concho. His ranch house served as the first polling place of the county that formed in 1887 and later anchored the vast Halff-brothers 'Quien Sabe' and Circle Dot cattle operations. As Upton County organized, it did double duty as a mail station, salt house, and cowboy bunkhouse.
Rankin
Rankin, TX
Rankin became the seat of Upton County in 1921, taking its name from F. E. Rankin, who donated the land for the railway station that anchored the town. More than a shipping point, the station was the hub of community life—host to Saturday-night cowboy dances and Sunday church services alike. The town later produced world-champion rodeo stars Toots Mansfield and Allen Holder.
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