Harmon County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 2,488, making it the second-least populous county in Oklahoma, behind only Cimarron County. It has lost population in every census since 1930. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Hollis.

History

Following an election on May 22, 1909, Harmon County was created by proclamation of

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Lee Cruce on June 2. Carved from adjacent Greer County, the new county was named in honor of

Judson Harmon Judson Harmon (February 3, 1846February 22, 1927) was an American United States Democratic Party, Democratic politician from Ohio. He served as United States Attorney General under President Grover Cleveland and later served as the 45th governor ...

, who was Governor of Ohio at the time. The area now covered by Harmon County had been a part of Greer County, Texas until the U. S. Supreme Court awarded it to

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...

in 1896.Wilson, Linda D
"Harmon County,"
''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'', Oklahoma Historical Society, 2009. Accessed April 4, 2015. Another election held September 1, 1909, confirmed Hollis as the county seat. There were two other contestants: the towns of Harmon and Rosser. County offices operated in rented space until a courthouse was built in Hollis in 1926. In 1930, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma was actually farther east than originally believed. It returned the disputed land to Texas, reducing the county's area to its present size. A railroad built from Altus, Oklahoma to the Texas state line came to Hollis and Gould in 1910. The line was built by the Altus, Wichita Falls and Hollis Railway (later acquired by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of , of which is land and (0.3%) is water. It lies in the Gypsum Hills physiographic region, and is drained by the Red River and its tributaries, the Salt and Elm forks of the Red River and Lebos and Turkey creeks.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 62 * State Highway 5 * State Highway 9 * State Highway 30

Adjacent counties

* Beckham County (north) * Greer County (northeast) * Jackson County (southeast) *

Hardeman County, Texas Hardeman County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 3,549. The county seat and largest city is Quanah, Texas, Quanah. The county was cr ...

(south) * Childress County, Texas (west) * Collingsworth County, Texas (northwest)

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 3,283 people, 1,266 households, and 863 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 1,647 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 72.65%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 9.78%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.13% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 14.32% from other races, and 1.92% from two or more races. The population was 22.78% Hispanic or Latino. There were 1,266 households, out of which 30.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.70% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% were non-families. 29.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.03. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.90% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 24.10% from 25 to 44, 21.10% from 45 to 64, and 21.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.80 males. The median income for a household in the county was $22,365, and the median income for a family was $29,063. Males had a median income of $21,530 versus $16,658 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $13,464. About 23.50% of families and 29.70% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 38.20% of those under age 18 and 19.90% of those age 65 or over.

Population decline

Common to many rural counties in the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

the population of Harmon county has declined steadily since 1930. Between 1930 and 2020, Harmon County lost a greater percentage of its population than any other Oklahoma county, from 13,834 in 1930 to 2,488 in 2020, a decrease of 82.1%."Oklahoma: Population of Counties by Dicennial Census," https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/cencounts/files/ok190090.txt, accessed May 11, 2018

Politics

Economy

Agriculture has been the main component of the county economy. Cotton, wheat and sorghum have been the principal crops. By 1930, farmers had sizable holdings of cattle, poultry, horses, mules, swine, sheep and goats.

Communities

City

* Hollis (county seat)

Town

* Gould

Unincorporated communities

* Arnett * McQueen * Vinson

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Harmon County

Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
{{authority control 1909 establishments in Oklahoma Populated places established in 1909