Lipscomb

Formed August 21, 1876 (204^th county)

Lipscomb County (3,058), Lipscomb* (37), Booker (1,433)

William M. Rice provided the Classical Revival designs of the 1916 tan brick courthouse.  The very tiny community of Lipscomb, home to the courthouse, has the building located on a square at Main Avenue and Oak Street.  Texas State Highway 305 passes four blocks west of the square.  Two courthouses have been in Lipscomb since the formation of Lipscomb County on August 21, 1876.  Lipscomb County was originally part of Bexar County and the 204^th county.  The county and county seat were named for Abner S. Lipscomb, Secretary of State for the Republic of Texas. 

Lipscomb County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Lipscomb, Gray, Hemphill, Roberts, and Wheeler counties and One County Court Judge serves Lipscomb County.  The county is in the top northeast corner of the Texas panhandle northeast of Amarillo, Texas.  The county center is 4.5 miles West-Northwest of Lipscomb.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Oklahoma and Hemphill, Roberts, and Ochiltree counties. 

The area of the county is 932 square miles.  It is 96 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 224 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 3.3 persons per square mile making it 217 out of 254 in the state.  Lipscomb County has 80.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 60 cuts the southeast corner from Oklahoma on the east into Hemphill County to the south.  United States Highway 83 nips the southwest corner from Ochiltree County, west, to Hemphill County, south.  A square shaped county has the small community of Lipscomb located in the southern third of the county.  Booker is on the northwest border of the county and extends into Ochiltree County.  Lipscomb is the county seat and Booker is the largest city.  Lipscomb is 1.2% of the county population although it is unincorporated.  Booker is 46.9% of the county population.  The county and county seat are pronounced LIPS-CUM.