Paducah, named for Paducah, Kentucky, became the county seat of Cottle County in 1892 and obtained railroad service in 1909. The county was formed in 1876 and named for George Washington Cottle, one of the thirty-two volunteers who reinforced the Alamo just before it fell to Santa Anna on March 6, 1836. The county was formed in 1876, along with most of the counties in the region, after the Indians were removed to Indian Territory. New settlers had established large, open-range ranches and farming by the turn of the twentieth century. Paducah has a conventional courthouse square, surrounded by one- and two-story brick commercial buildings serving the basic functions of a small farming and ranching town; most are currently vacant.
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