[4] It is named for Samuel Price Carson, the first secretary of state of the Republic of Texas.

[5] Carson County is included in the Amarillo, TX metropolitan statistical area.

[6] Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado explored the Llano Estacado in 1541.

[11][12] Railroads began to reach the county by 1886 when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway subsidiary Southern Kansas Railway extended the line into Texas, making Panhandle City a railhead in 1888.

In 1889, the Fort Worth and Denver Railway linked Panhandle City with Washburn in Armstrong County.

The Choctaw, Oklahoma and Texas Railroad built across the southern edge of the county.

Borger field was discovered in 1925, sparking much oil exploration and production of the Panhandle area.

[18][19] In September 1942, the Pantex Ordnance Plant was built on 16,076 acres (65.06 km2) of southwestern Carson County land, to pack and load shells and bombs in support of the World War II effort.

Operations ceased August 1945, and in 1949, the site was sold to Texas Tech University at Amarillo for agricultural experimentation.

In 1960, Pantex began high-explosives development in support of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.