Hale County · 1936
Formed from Young and Bexar territories; created August 21, 1876. Organized August 13, 1888. Named in Honor of John C. Hale, a lieutenant who fell at San Jacinto. Plainview, County Seat.
View on map ↗Hale County, Texas
Historical Markers in Plainview, Texas
Plainview is home to 32 official Texas Historical Commission markers — each one telling a piece of the city’s story. Browse the markers below, then find them on the map and discover more nearby with RoadHistorical.
The Old MacKenzie Trail · 1936
General Ranald Slidell MacKenzie The Old MacKenzie Trail by "Larry" Chittendon Stretching onward toward the sunset, o'er prairie, hill and vale, far beyond the double mountains winds the Old MacKenzie Trail. Ah, what…
View on map ↗Colonel C. C. Slaughter · 1965
First native-born cattle king of Texas. Eldest of several rancher brothers. At age 12 "made a hand" on East Texas ranch of father, Rev. Geo. W. Slaughter. By 17 made his own trades in lumber, wheat, cattle. In 1856…
View on map ↗Gates Hall · 1965
Original administration building of Wayland Baptist College. Site (in town founded in 1887) given by J.H. Wayland, a physician settling here 1891. Built 1909-1910, in term of first president, Dr. I.E. Gates, for whom it…
View on map ↗Three Miles Northeast to Site of Seth Ward College · 1970
Original buildings erected in 1906-07. The school opened September 18, 1907, as Central Plains College and Conservatory of Music, with Dr. L.L. Gladney as president. The Nazarene Church maintained the college until…
View on map ↗Emma Grigsby Meharg · 1972
Born in Lynnville, Tenn.; moved to Texas with parents, Jasper N. and Mary A. (Calvert) Grigsby, 1883. Graduated from college, became a teacher, married Samuel W. Meharg. Came to Plainview (1902), where she and husband…
View on map ↗Hackberry Groves · 1972
At this site in early days stood the South Plains' most significant trees-- twin hackberry groves, on 1870s trail used by buffalo hunters, surveyors, law officers, and early settlers. On public domain, this site was…
View on map ↗Discovery Site of the Plainview Point · 1973
The first of this distinctive type of early man dart point was found by 15-year-old Val Keene Whitacre in 1941, in a caliche quarry on Running Water Draw. In 1944, quarry workers uncovered a fossil bone deposit, which…
View on map ↗Edwin Lowden Lowe · 1973
One of co-founders, City of Plainview. Born in Mississippi. In Louisiana, married Virginia Archer. Studied law, joined Bar in Arkansas, served 1879-81 in Arkansas Legislature. In 1880s came to Texas; his wife died en…
View on map ↗Former Office Site of Texas Land & Development Company · 1973
Unique agricultural pioneer. Founded in 1912 by J.W. Grant and M.D. Henderson, who obtained Eastern and European capital to develop 65,000 acres of Hale, Floyd and Swisher county lands. This area became one of the most…
View on map ↗Green Machinery Co., Inc. · 1974
Founded by George Emmett Green (1875-1960), whose work revolutionized Texas agriculture. Mechanically-gifted, Green mastered water well development, worked as pattern maker and draftsman in pump factories, and operated…
View on map ↗Rawleigh Porteus Smyth · 1975
(August 4, 1855 - February 2, 1941) An Austin native and graduate of the Texas Military Institute, R.P. Smyth became a Brigadier General after Spanish American War duty. As a surveyor, he ran boundaries (1887) of the…
View on map ↗The Santa Fe Railroad in Plainview · 1975
Operating in the Texas Panhandle since 1886, the Santa Fe Railroad about 1900 laid plans to extend its line into the rich agricultural domain of the South Plains. Meantime, Plainview leaders saw the need for better…
View on map ↗W. J. "Jeff" Williams · 1975
Born in Johnson County, Texas, Jeff Williams came to Hale County in 1896. Largely self-taught, he began surveying in 1902 and worked on the XIT Ranch resurvey of 1909. He was Potter County surveyor, 1907-15, and held…
View on map ↗Dr. James Henry Wayland · 1976
James H. Wayland, born in Missouri, decided to be a physician after he almost lost a foot at 16 in an accident. He studied at Kentucky School of Medicine, then came to Texas. After practicing in Fort Worth and Azle, he…
View on map ↗Slaton Well · 1976
The Plainview Commercial Club, led by President J. O. Wyckoff, saw the potential of irrigation during a 1910 visit to wells in New Mexico. Local banker and farmer J. H. Slaton agreed to bear cost of a test well sunk on…
View on map ↗Schick Opera House · 1977
Businessman Levi Schick (1855-1936) launched the Schick Opera House in this building on Oct. 11, 1909. A traveling opera company opened the facility with a performance of "Little Dollie Dimples". Later attractions…
View on map ↗Site of Lake Plainview · 1977
The City of Plainview, founded in the 1880s, sought agricultural supremacy for its trade area. Civic leaders pioneered irrigated farming in 1911 by boring the first of many deep water wells. In 1912, Texas Land &…
View on map ↗Snyder Commnuity · 1977
Born in Illinois, Mennonite minister and farmer Peter B. Snyder (1864-1948) was living in Minnesota when a search for inexpensive land led him to Texas. In 1906, he bought property in Hale County from John H. Buntin and…
View on map ↗Running Water Community · 1978
Attracted by abundant water from Running Water Draw, J. W. and T. W. Morrison established a ranch in 1881 with headquarters about ten miles west of here. Most of the early settlers in this region worked for the ranch.…
View on map ↗Halfway · 1979
Settlers came to this area seeking abundant grass, fertile soil, and water. This site, acquired by R. L. Hooper (1872-1952) and his wife Ada Mae (Hughley) (1880-1955) in the 1890s, received its name because it stood…
View on map ↗Liberty Community and Finney Switch · 1979
In 1887 Joseph B. Leach and his brothers, John and Dee, immigrated to this area from Liberty, Kentucky. Joseph filed on a 160-acre homestead and built a half-dugout and sod house and a windmill. The Leach brothers often…
View on map ↗Lamar School · 1981
The first Plainview schoolhouse was built in 1887, the year the town was founded. Located northwest of this site, it was a half-dugout sod building similar to many of the pioneer homes of the area. Built by local men…
View on map ↗Blasingame Home · 1982
When J.W. Pipkin constructed this Colonial Revival residence in 1910, Plainview was experiencing a period of dramatic economic development as a railroad center. In 1918 the home was purchased by F.E. Blasingame and his…
View on map ↗Montgomery Ward Building · 1982
This commercial structure was built in 1929 for the Plainview Montgomery Ward store. Located on land owned by J.H. Slaton, Guy Jacob and others, the building housed the business for almost 40 years. The architectural…
View on map ↗Happy Union · 1983
Attracted by the availability of inexpensive land and a healthful climate, the families of J. T. Matsler, S. M. Pearson, W. P. Long, J. H. Calvert, J. V. Neil and others began settling this part of Hale County about…
View on map ↗Plainview Daily Herald · 1984
Originally known as the "Hale County Hesperian," this newspaper was established in the late 1880s by D.B. Hill and John Davidson. In 1891 John Minor Shafer, an early Plainview area settler, became the owner and…
View on map ↗Prairieview Community · 1988
The Prairieview Community traces its history to a rural settlement which began in the late 19th century. Miss Alice Rosser opened a school in a brush arbor at Mapes in 1889. Later housed in a one-room building erected…
View on map ↗First Baptist Church of Plainview · 1990
Organized on November 23, 1890, Plainview Baptist Church began with eleven charter members. The new congregation called the Rev. I.B. Kimbrough as pastor, and they soon erected their first church building at the…
View on map ↗Bellview Community and School · 1992
Much of this rural community's early social and religious history is closely associated with its schoolhouses. Area residents built their first schoolhouse in 1903, one year after organizing a rural school district.…
View on map ↗Plainview Cemetery and Memorial Park · 2012
PLAINVIEW CEMETERY AND MEMORIAL PARK ESTABLISHED c. 1909 HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2011
View on map ↗Finney Field · 2021
In the late 1930s, area aviation enthusiasts organized Plainview Flying Club, acquiring a two-seat Aeronca Chief with a 65-horsepower engine. Their first site was six miles south of Plainview, later moving north of…
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