J.G. Witherspoon, long called the Father of Foard County, was the driving force behind organizing the new county, using his ties in several surrounding counties to assemble 700 square miles of land for its creation. On Feb. 12, 1891, John H. Stephens of Vernon introduced a bill to name the new county Beaver, but Senator Townsend removed that name and substituted Foard to honor his law partner. The bill passed on Feb. 16, 1891, and was signed on Feb. 21, 1891. Crowell and Foard City then competed to become the county seat, and in an election held on Apr. 27, 1891, Crowell won with 183 votes to 106 for Foard City. On April 28, 1942, a tornado struck the badly wrecked courthouse at 8:40 pm, tearing out all the clock mechanism and leaving only the east-facing dial intact. The storm left 11 people dead, 125 injured, and more than 1500 homeless, while ninety percent of buildings, both businesses and homes, were destroyed or damaged, and fire wiped out one business block. Two hundred Civilian Conservation Corps workers helped with cleanup, and the Red Cross and National Guard provided meals and drinking water in the days after the disaster. With World War II only five months old, building materials were difficult to obtain because much of them were being directed to the military as the nation prepared to fight Germany, Japan, and Italy.