Plains, TX

Plains is a Yoakum County town and county seat on the Texas High Plains, about 13 miles east of the New Mexico line and 59 miles southwest of Lubbock. The 2020 census counted 1,355 residents. U.S. 82 is the main route, and Plains Independent School District serves the town. Sulphur Springs Draw runs through the community; its springs once fed a flowing stream but dried after groundwater pumping, and the draw is now a park.

W. J. Luna founded Plains around Sulphur Draw after moving to the area in 1905, and the post office followed in 1906. When Yoakum County organized in 1907, Plains became the county seat, bringing the courthouse, newspaper, library, and county offices into the town's daily orbit. Oil discovered nearby in 1936 joined agriculture as the area's main economic base. The old bonus shack, the county seat, the school district, and the dry draw mark a High Plains service town shaped by water, land, and energy.