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Young County  was named for Col. William C. Young. It covers 919 square miles of hilly country with elevations from 1,000 to 1,300 feet.  Young County is drained by Lake Graham, near the center of the county, and by the Brazos River, which forms Possum Kingdom Lake in the southeastern part of Young County.

Spanish explorers Diego Ortiz Parrilla and Pedro Vial were the first to call attention to the Young County area. In 1759 Parrilla crossed the northwest corner of what is now Young County en route to the Taovaya Indian  The county was included in the Peters colony, a Mexican land grant made in 1841. The United States Army established Fort Belknap on the Red Fork of the Brazos River where eventually the town of Belknap grew up. Fort Belknap became one of the largest and most important military posts in North Texas prior to the Civil War. Young County was established by the Texas legislature in 1856 from lands formerly assigned to Bosque and Fannin counties. The town of Belknap was chosen as the Young County seat and was a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail route. Young Counties early years were marred by conflicts between Indians and white settlers in the region. The Brazos Reservation, originally 18,576 acres, was doubled in size to make room for other western Indian tribes. Among the 2,000 Indians living there were Caddos, Anadarkos, Wacos, and Tonkawas, each with their own villages and all relieved to have protection from the Comanches. Some Indians served as scouts for the army and Texas Rangersqv against warring tribes. Neighboring whites objected to Indians' military duties and blamed any area trouble on the Indians.Racial antagonisms forced  Governor Hardin R. Runnels and Gen. Sam Houston to ask the federal government to move the reservation Indians from Texas. The Indians were removed to Indian Territory in July. Some months later most were slaughtered by Comanches.

By 1860 the United States Census counted 592 people, including ninety-three slaves, living in Young County.  Though Confederate soldiers held Fort Belknap during the Civil War, Indian problems  led many of the original settlers to abandon the area. In 1865 the county's government was dissolved, and the area was attached to neighboring Jack County.  Fort Belknap was reoccupied by federal troops in 1867, but by 1870 there were only 139 people, including four blacks, living in the county.  After the federal government redoubled its efforts to suppress Indian activity in the region, the area again began to attract settlers, especially after the lands of the Brazos Indian Reservation were opened to settlement in 1873. The county was reorganized in 1874, and the county records were brought back from Jacksboro. This time the new town of Graham, platted in 1873, was chosen as the county seat. Meanwhile, cattle ranching remained important to the economy. Stockmen gathered at Graham in 1877 to form the Stock-Raisers' Association of North-West Texas (later the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association).

The Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway reached Graham in 1902. The population more than doubled during this period. Meanwhile, oil exploration and production was rapidly reshaping the economy. Actual production of petroleum began in 1920, and wildcatters, workers, and others looking for opportunities swarmed into the area. The population reached 20,128 by 1930. The area was hit hard during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  Despite federal help, the population fell by more than 50 percent during the depression, and in 1940 only 9,642 people lived there.