About

O’Donnell is a West Texas city situated primarily in Lynn County with a small section on the southend extending into Dawson County.    O’Donnell is situated 42 miles south of Lubbock, 12 miles south of Tahoka and 17 miles north of Lamesa, TX.

O’Donnell gets its name from Tom O’Donnell who was a promoter of the South Plains Railroads. He along with H. E. Baldridge and Charles H. Doak, two of the organizers and first officials of Lynn County founded O’Donnell in 1909.

H. E. Baldridge offered free building lots to churches. A Methodist church was organized in 1911; Church of Christ and Presbyterian churches in 1912; First Baptist in 1914.  

The town was incorporated in 1923.  W. R. Sanderson served as the first mayor. 

O’Donnell had what was then the largest cotton gin in the world, ginning 21,000 bales of cotton during 1961 cotton season.  The Farmer’s Coop Gin was the first of automatic gins in North America.

O’Donnell might be best known as the hometown of Dan Blocker.  Dan was an actor who played Hoss Cartwright on the long running series Bonanza.

O’Donnell is also home to the Screamin Eagles.