Rankin Things to Do Tips by Basaic

Historic District

Rankin has a few buildings of historic and/or architectural interest. I have no information about this restaurant but I don't think it catered to vegetarians.

Rankin Library

The Rankin Library is a nice place to stop and catch up with the latest on VT and post tips of your trip. Another nice things about libraries is the people working there are usually very knowledgeable about the area and little known attractions.

Rankin Museum

Rankin has a nice museum located in the restored Yates Hotel which was built by rich oil tycoon Ira Yates in 1927. The museum has a number of displays of the old hotel along with pioneer artifacts, a restored 1940 Ford fire truck, and a meteorite that is believed to be a fragment of the much larger one that hit near Odessa. Hours are 2 PM to 5 PM Thursday and Friday and 1 PM to 5 PM on Saturday.

Address: 101 W. Main Street, Rankin, TX

Phone: (915) 693-2758

Rankin and Upton County

Rankin is a very small town of about 700 located in the Big Bend Region of West Texas. The town was named after F. E. Rankin who discovered an important source of water in this arid country. Rankin is the county seat of Upton County and serves area cattle ranchers and the oil industry. Part of the town consists of homes and businesses that were located in the nearby town of Upland. Upland was intended to be a station on the rail line from St Louis to Chihuahua, Mexico and had a stone county courthouse built. The town was later bypassed by rail lines and suffered a severe drought so the county seat was moved to Rankin as were several of the buildings. Upton County was named after John C. Upton a Confederate Colonel killed at the 2nd Battle of Manassas (and his brother).