Lipscomb County, Texas (population 3,074), is located on the Oklahoma line in the northeastern portion of the Texas Panhandle. Lipscomb was organized as a county in 1887.
The area’s scanty rainfall is alleviated by a supply of underground water for irrigating such crops as wheat, grains, vegetables, and fruit. Cattle raising, the county’s first major industry, remains its principal economic resource, and oil and gas operations are also key to the area’s economy.
The town of Lipscomb, the county seat, is an unincorporated township with fewer than 40 residents, but it has a number of preserved historic buildings as well as the Wolf Creek Heritage Museum, which offers regular programs and lectures on local historical events.
Several towns in Lipscomb County hold annual events to celebrate their cultural heritage. Booker, the largest of the five towns in the county, celebrates its Mexican heritage each year with Fiesta Days. Darrouzett has a rich German background that the town commemorates each July with Deutsches Fest, and Higgins, the southernmost community, observes its strong ranching history every two years with a festival named for Will Rogers, who worked on a local ranch as a boy.
Recently, Lipscomb County completed a project to document graves in nine cemeteries and to certify each as a historical cemetery with the Texas Historical Commission. The community dedicated and placed historical markers at the sites and published a book that describes the history of each cemetery.
Designated a Preserve America Community in December 2007.