Upton County

Upton County's county seat is Rankin. The county was created in 1887 and later organized in 1910. It is named after two brothers, John C. and William F. Upton, both colonels in the Confederate Army. 

It is in the heart of the Permian Basin and is the oldest town in the county, having been established in 1911. Rankin, named for early-day rancher F. E. Rankin, was founded after Upland. The county seat, eleven miles north, was missed when the Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient Railway was routed south instead of following the Butter Overland Mail route along Centralia Draw to the north.

As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,308.

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