Lampasas Helped Start a National Farm Movement

In 1875, a group of farmers in Lampasas County formed the first Farmers' Alliance. Small ranchers and farmers were under heavy economic pressure after the Civil War. This group came together to respond to that pressure. The movement spread across Texas and then across the country. It became one of the most important rural organizing movements of the 1800s.

The Alliance pushed for cooperative buying and selling. Cooperatives let members pool resources to get better prices. The Alliance later helped shape the Populist political movement of the 1890s. Lampasas County's place in that history is documented by the Texas State Historical Association.