Talacogon got its name from the cogon grass that is abundant in the area. It was called so by the natives who inhabit the area before the entry of the Spanish in the Agusan River basin sometime in the 18th century. The Spanish who came in the area then adopted the name of the place as they founded it as a town in the 13th of November 1872, building a church and a town hall as commemoration to its founding. It was thus the first town founded in the riverbanks of the Agusan River and the oldest town in the province of Agusan del Sur.