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Hale County, Texas 1850-1950 as pictured in archived government photographs, vintage postcards, old school yearbooks family albums and newspapers.

Click on the photos or titles below to view full size

Sometime around 1890 every member of the Arthur Barton Cheves family and four horses were needed to harvest wheat near Petersburg in Hale County Texas.

In 1922 Virgil Lemons, Ruth Kiser and Van Foster posed after a tennis game at Wayland College in  Plainview Texas. Tennis outfits were a little different in those days!

Sometime in the 1920s Margaret and Eddie Miller were playing in their yard with their cat in Plainview Texas when an unknown photographer captured this photo.

In the 1890s Dr. E.M. and Mrs. Harp at their panhandle homestead in Hale Co., Texas with their children, dog, cow, and chickens. Dr. Harp was one of the first physicians on the high plains. Since there were no roads at that time, he plowed furrows radiating from his house so patients could find their way to his home office on his ranch. The lumber for the house was hauled by wagon from the rail terminal in Amarillo.  . . .

In 1935 Pearl Hutcherson posed with with two of her grandsons in Plainview Texas
Pearl graduated from Texas Tech in 1928. She began her married life in a dugout in Scurry County in 1900 and worked in her role as a rancher's wife.
. . . Photo courtesy Brent Lemons

In 1933 Ruby Hutcherson Lemons sat on the bumper of a car in Plainview with her sons, Carl (Sonny) and Warren. Ruby taught music at the Gatesville Reform School for Boys for 8 years. Her first son, pictured on left, was born with severe cerebral palsy. Carl Norman (Sonny) Lemons never spoke, walked or used his hands. She refused to institutionalize him and took care of him from 1929 until her death in 1973. He lived until the age of 64 after being told he wouldn't live six months.

Sometime in the 1870s a circuit riding preacher named Sinclair posed for this rare photo with his horse team that carried him on a 250 mile circle across the windswept Texas Panhandle and Eastern New Mexico preaching, providing baptisms, weddings and funerals for pioneers in the area. Mr. Sinclair died in 1900

In the late 1880s after a rain near Plainview Texas created a natural Baptism trough,  wagons lined up and pioneers clamored to take advantage of the opportunity and witness the event ...

Very nice image of Joe Phillips on his Farmall Tractor in Hale County Texas in 1950s

This amazing photo of J. Frank Norfleet (on left) was taken between 1921 and 1924. At age 55 Norfleet became a famous international manhunter when he single-handedly captured a gang of criminals who had swindled him out of $45,000 in 1919. The man on the right is W.H. Mercer, Secy. to Senator Mayfield. 

Some time in the 1920s fire fighters and local officials climbed aboard the fire truck and posed for this old photo postcard to promote Plainview

Downtown Plainview Texas in 1897

Mules, Horses and Wagons from two freight teams line Plainview's dirt street in front of early stores including Mrs. M. B. Fowle Dry Goods, Irick and Dyer Groceries, City Drug Store, Williams Bro's. Cheap Cash Store, Donohoo and Ware Dry Goods . . . Huge photo see full size

Photo of Plainview Texas in 1890 showing wide dirt street with cattle, horse-drawn freight wagons and Melton Leach Mercantile store. The idea of founding a town here began in 1886 when Z. T. Maxwell moved with his family and 2,000 sheep from Floyd County and established a farm . . . Read more and view photo full size

In 1893 a two-story hotel was moved 45 miles from Dimmitt Texas to Plainview Texas. This remarkable photo is believed to have been taken when it arrived . . . see full size

As late as 1904, immigrants were still making their way to the Texas Panhandle by wagon train. This photo, believed to have been taken near Littlefield, shows horses pulling covered wagons on their way to a new life in the Plainview Texas area . . . zoom in

Sometime in the early 1900s an unknown photographer took this large detailed photo of the north side of the courthouse square in Plainview Texas showing horse-drawn carriages and one early car with white tires parked on the dirt street . . .  Tap the photo to see full size

Staff and students appear in this photo of Wayland Baptist College in September 1910. Boys on the right dressed in black and girls on the left dressed in white.
 ... zoom in

Mr. and Mrs. Bishop paused for this photo in front of the Santé Fe Rail Station in Plainview before making their RR 1 mail route on a Harley Davidson in Hale County Texas in 1915 . . . see this amazing photo full size

Plainview & Lubbock stagecoach being pulled by mules with four passengers seated inside the stagecoach on a Sunday in Lubbock Texas in 1907. The driver is W. M. Crawford who owned the stage. The time to make the trip . . . Read more See full size

Was there ever a street named Restriction in Plainview Texas? Yes, until 1916 when the city council renamed it 11th street. The inscription on this photo shows 1842 as the date. Not likely, as Plainview wasn't founded until 1888. Before that there just wasn't much around here except flat open Prairie. Take a closer look

With two stories up and one to go, construction workers, students, teachers and parents posed for this large highly detailed photo of the Plainview High School in 1916 . . . see full size

Steam Engine powers a silo on a farm near Plainview Texas in 1912 as men on horseback and farmer's wife look on . . . take a closer look

In the early 1900s a crowd gathered around an earthen stock tank near Petersburg Texas to witness Robert Hall being baptized by a Church of Christ minister . . See full size image

Did you ever pump an aluminum tube to siphon water from an open ditch? Here's how it was done in Hale County Texas in the 1950s. Some farmers were so good at it they could set a tube with one hand and from the far side of the ditch ... See full size

In 1914 a large crowd gathered in front of the First National Bank on Pacific Street in this huge photo of Plainview residents, early cars, carriage and a man on horseback . . . see full size

Ware Hotel Plainview Texas in 1925

Ware Hotel Plainview Texas in 1925 with South Plains Drug and Stubbs Men's Store

In 1907 the Lynn County News documented a family's journey from Tahoka to Floydada via Lubbock, Plainview and Lockney in a Buick named Callie. It's a fascinating story of the people they traveled with and the people From Tahoka, Lubbock, Plainview, Lockney and Floydada . . . see the article

PB Snyder Strawberry Farm Plainview Tx in 1910

Picking strawberries on the P B Snyder farm six miles south of Plainview in 1910.

Plainview Lake in 1913

In 1913 Plainview Lake was filled by an irrigation pump with fourteen million gallons of water after 158 hours and was the largest body of water in Texas supplied by a well. It covered thirty acres and had a depth of five to six feet. The lake was a popular . . . Read more

Landowner Joe Phillips, Mr. T.A. Knight and son Marvin whose family lived on the 360 acre half-section of land near Plainview, Texas for over 30 years.

If you like these images, you can browse and view more than a thousand images of early life in Texas in eBay's Historical Texas Collection. . .