Archeological investigations conducted in northwestern Ward County have found evidence of prehistoric man in the form of occupational debris, petroglyphs, and pictographs.

Tribes occupying the area include Suma-Jumano, Apache, and Comanche.

[4] The Butterfield Overland Mail in 1858 used Emigrant's Crossing, where exposed rocks afford one of the few places safe for fording the Pecos River.

Pipelines and railroad loading tanks were constructed at Wickett, Pyote,[7] and Monahans.

Oil was discovered at Grandfalls[8] in 1929, and the nearby community of Royalty was established.

Shell Oil Company constructed an 8-acre (32,000 m2) tank that would hold a million barrels.

On May 10, 1938, Monahans won a contested election to move the county seat from Barstow.

The election was upheld in 1939, and the county seat moved to Monahans that year.

Pyote Air Force Station [11] opened in 1942, becoming the largest bomber installation in the United States.

The plane Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, was later stored here.