Formed August 21, 1876 (183rd county)
Dallam County (6,703), Dalhart (7,930)
The stately looking Classical Revival courthouse was built in 1922 and sits at the corner of United States Highways 87 and 385 and 4th streets. Smith and Townes provided the design with its tall columns and dark brown brick appearance. An Annex was added in 1957. Two courthouses have been in Dalhart but the original county seat was in Texline until 1903. The county was organized on August 21, 1876. Dallam County was taken from Bexar County as the 183rd county. Dallam is named for James Wilmer Dallam, a lawyer for the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas. Dalhart gets its name from its location in both Dallam and Hartley counties. This is the reason the population of Dalhart is actually larger than the population of Dallam County; part of the city’s population belongs to Hartley County.
Dallam County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners. One District Court Judge serves Dallam, Hartley, Moore, and Sherman counties, One District Court Judge serves Dallam, Deaf Smith, and Oldham counties, and One County Court Judge serves Dallam County. The county is located in the far northwest corner of the Texas panhandle with New Mexico on the west and Oklahoma on the north. Farming and ranching are the mainstays for the county. Amarillo, Texas is to the southeast. The county center is 12.7 miles North-Northwest of Dalhart. The county is surrounded clockwise by Oklahoma and Sherman, Moore, and Hartley counties and New Mexico.
The area of the county is 1505 square miles. It is 21 out of 254 in the state. It ranks 190 out of 254 in population in the state. It has a density of 4.45 persons per square mile making it 204 out of 254 in the state. Dallam County has 84.9% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 54 crosses diagonally east to south from Sherman County to Hartley County. United States Highway 87 goes diagonally from west to south from New Mexico into Hartley County. United States Highway 287 cuts the extreme northeast corner from Oklahoma to Sherman County. United States Highway 385 enters from Oklahoma on the north and exits into Hartley County on the south. The county is a rectangle and Dalhart is on the south central border and extends into Hartley County. Dalhart is the county seat and the largest city. It is 77.3% of the county population. The county is pronounced DAL-LUM.
Texline
Dalhart
