Editing Hutchinson County, Texas (section)

===County established===

Hutchinson County was established in 1876. The county was not organized until 1901, when [[Plemons, Texas|Plemons]] became the county seat.<ref>{{cite web| title=Plemons, Texas| url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/Plemons-Texas.htm| work=Texas Escapes| publisher=Texas Escapes – Blueprints For Travel, LLC.| access-date=December 14, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609120733/http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/Plemons-Texas.htm| archive-date=June 9, 2011| url-status=dead}}</ref> For the next four decades, ranching dominated the county's economy, while crop cultivation made gradual headway.<ref name="Hutchinson County, Texas">{{cite web| last=Anderson| first=H. Allen| title=Hutchinson County, Texas| url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hch23| work=Handbook of Texas Online| publisher=Texas State Historical Association| access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref>

The Panhandle oilfield was discovered in the 1920s. On June 1, 1923, the Sanford No. 1 J. C. Whittington well in southwestern Hutchinson County reached a depth of {{convert|3077|ft|m}} and found flowing oil. Towns sprang up in response. The population mushroomed from 721 in 1920 to 14,848 in 1930 as a result of the oil boom. By 1990, {{convert|526670107|oilbbl}} of oil had been taken from Hutchinson County lands since 1923.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Cartwright| first=Gary| title=Texas on Ice| journal=Texas Monthly| date=March 1985| pages=98,100,102}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Baker| first=T. Lindsay| title=More Ghost Towns of Texas| year=2005| publisher=University of Oklahoma Press| isbn=978-0-8061-3724-7| pages=45–47}}</ref>

Stinnett became the county seat after a special election on September 18, 1926.<ref>{{cite web| title=Stinnett, Texas| url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/Stinnett-Texas.htm| work=Texas Escapes| publisher=Texas Escapes – Blueprints For Travel, LLC| access-date=December 14, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906194459/http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasPanhandleTowns/Stinnett-Texas.htm| archive-date=September 6, 2010| url-status=dead}}</ref>