Hereford, the county seat and principal town of Deaf Smith County, is on US 60 and US 385 just southwest of Amarillo.
When the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway was completed in 1899 from Amarillo to Farwell, initially called Blue Water for the waters of Tierra Blanca Creek, one mile to the south. Residents renamed the settlement Hereford, after the cattle brought to the area by ranchers.
The economy is based on the processing, storage, and shipping of cattle, grain sorghums, wheat, cotton, and a variety of irrigated vegetables.
The original wooden frame courthouse, transported by wagon to the new site, was used until the completion of a marble-faced structure in 1910.
Since 1975 the nation's largest all-girl rodeo has been held in Hereford in August. In 1990 the population was 14,745.
