Editing Rankin, Texas (section)

==History==
The town was founded in 1911, and the post office was built a year later.  In 1921, still a tiny community based around the ranching industry, it was designated the county seat.  Rankin was served by the [[Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway]].

The discovery of the [[Yates Oil Field]] in adjacent [[Pecos County, Texas|Pecos County]] in 1926 converted Rankin into a boom town.  Since Rankin was the nearest settlement on a rail line, it became the center for the oil-services industry for the nearby oil fields.  During the Great Depression, the population declined as the [[price of oil]] fell, and as workers moved away to work in newly discovered fields in East Texas and elsewhere; however, a secondary boom occurred in the 1940s with the discovery of the nearby [[Benedum Oil Field]].  A hospital, three new schools, and a library date from this period.  The population has gradually fallen since its secondary peak of 1,278 in 1980.<ref>[https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hjr04 Rankin, Texas in the Handbook of Texas Online]</ref>

In 1990, the Confederate Air Force (later Commemorative Air Force) filmed a famous "Don't Mess with Texas" advertising campaign using the B-17G "Sentimental Journey". later of Airbase Arizona in Mesa, Arizona, near Rankin.