"Rankin and Upton County" Rankin Things to Do Tip by Basaic

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).