Olton, TX

Olton is a Lamb County city on the South Plains, set along U.S. Highway 70 and Farm Road 168 about 20 miles northeast of Littlefield. The 2020 census counted 1,989 residents. It was the first town in the county: settlers arrived around 1900, Olton became county seat when Lamb County organized in 1908, and the city incorporated in 1930. Littlefield won the county-seat fight in 1946, yet Olton kept a local school and business presence. The old Burro school, named after a herd of burros that froze beside it in a blizzard, moved to Olton in 1908.

Olton’s early economy shows up in the timeline: three cotton gins were operating when the town incorporated, and the town later supported stores, churches, a bank, hospital, library, and newspaper. Olton ISD continues to organize the town’s school life. The present-day frame is straightforward—highways to Littlefield, a local school district, and the broad semiarid plains—while the lost county-seat role and the Burro-school story keep Olton distinct.