[3] The county is named for Thaddeus Stevens, a Reconstruction era Pennsylvania politician.

Other early towns included Lafayette, founded by Quakers in 1886, and Moscow, established in 1887.

[4] The conflict culminated in the July 25, 1888, murder of Sheriff Cross of Woodsdale and three of his men in the Hay Meadow Massacre by Sam Robinson of Hugoton and his supporters.

[4][5] The issue was eventually resolved in 1887 when Hugoton became the permanent county seat, though tensions remained high for several years after.

In the 1930s, the prosperity of the area was severely affected by its location within the Dust Bowl.

This catastrophe intensified the economic impact of the Great Depression in the region.

The current members are Joe D. Thompson, Tron Stegman, and Pat Hall.

In fact, the last Democrat to crack thirty percent of the county's vote was Jimmy Carter in 1976, and since Carter only Michael Dukakis during the drought and farm crisis-influenced 1988 election has received so much as twenty percent.