Editing Hale County, Texas (section)

==History==
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In 7000 BC, [[Paleo-Indians]] were the first county inhabitants. Later Native American inhabitants included the [[Comanche]].<ref name="Hale County, Texas">{{cite web|last=Leffler|first=John|title=Hale County, Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hch01|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 16, 2010}}</ref> The Texas Legislature formed Hale County from [[Bexar County, Texas|Bexar County]] in 1876.<ref name="Hale County, Texas"/>  A few years later (1881), brothers T.W. and T.N. Morrison, and W.D. Johnson, established the Cross L Ranch and the XIT to raise cattle.<ref name="Minister Horatio Graves"/> In 1883, New York [[Methodism|Methodist]] minister Horatio Graves became the first white permanent settler in the county.<ref name="Minister Horatio Graves">{{cite web|title=Minister Horatio Graves|url=http://www.plainviewtexaschamber.com/stats_history.html|work=Plainsview and Hill County History|publisher=Plainview Chamber of Commerce|access-date=December 16, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110618031054/http://www.plainviewtexaschamber.com/stats_history.html|archive-date=June 18, 2011}}</ref>

The city of Plainview has its beginnings in 1886 when rancher Zachery Taylor Maxwell moved his family and 2,000 sheep from [[Floyd County, Texas|Floyd County]] to the site of two hackberry groves<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Matt Warnock|title=Remarkable Plants of Texas: Uncommon Accounts of Our Common Natives|year=2009|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-71851-7|page=19}}</ref> on the old military trail established by Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie. The city's name comes from the area's vista.<ref>{{cite web|last=Davis|first=Charles G|title=Plainview|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hep10|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Society|access-date=December 16, 2010}}</ref> The county was organized in 1888, with Plainview as the county seat.<ref>{{cite web|title=Plainview, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Plainview/Plainview.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=December 16, 2010}}</ref> By 1900, the county had 259 farms and ranches, with a population of 1,680.<ref name="Hale County, Texas"/>

The Santa Fe Railway came to Plainview in 1906,<ref>{{cite web|title=Santa Fe Railway|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasRailroads/Santa-Fe-Railroad-in-Plainview.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=December 16, 2010}}</ref>
and [[Wayland Baptist University|Wayland Baptist College]] was founded the same year.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brackney|first=William H|title=Congregation and Campus: Baptists in Higher Education|year=2008|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=978-0-88146-130-5|page=240}}</ref>
In 1909, businessman Levi Schick opened the Schick Opera House.<ref>{{cite web|title=Schick Opera House - Plainview, Hale County, Texas|url=http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5189004598|work=Texas Historical Markers|publisher=William Nienke, Sam Morrow|access-date=December 16, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928144359/http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5189004598|archive-date=September 28, 2011}}</ref>
The county's first motor-driven irrigation well was drilled five years later.<ref name="Hale County, Texas"/>  The Texas Land and Development Company was organized in Plainview in 1912. Its purpose was to entice settlers by dividing a large tract of land into individual farms, and preparing each farm for occupancy.<ref>{{cite web|last=Brunson|first=B R|title=Texas Land and Development Company |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dst01|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 16, 2010}}</ref>

The [[Plainview Site]] was discovered in 1944. In addition to bone and man-made artifacts, archeologists found the remains of 100 extinct [[bison]] about twice the size of modern "buffalo".<ref>{{cite book|last=Gibbon|first=Guy E|title=Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America : An Encyclopedia|year=1998|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-8153-0725-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofpre0000unse/page/655 655]|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofpre0000unse/page/655}}</ref>

Oil was discovered in 1946 in the Anton-Irish field of [[Lamb County, Texas|Lamb]] and Hale Counties.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Totten|first=Robert T|title=General Geology and Historical Development, Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles: ABSTRACT|journal=AAPG Bulletin|year=1956|volume=40|doi=10.1306/5ceae382-16bb-11d7-8645000102c1865d }}</ref>

Country artist [[Jimmy Dean]], his brother Don Dean, and cousin-in-law Troy Pritchard founded the [[Jimmy Dean (brand)|Jimmy Dean Sausage Company]] and opened the Jimmy Dean Meat Company in 1969.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Calhoun|first=Fryar|title=Jimmy Dean|journal=Texas Monthly|date=August 1983|pages=120–123, 198–200, 206}}</ref>
As of 2010, Hale County was one of 62 counties in Texas still legally barring the sale of alcohol.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wet/Dry Status of Texas Counties as of November 2010|url=http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/images/wetdry.gif|publisher=Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission|access-date=December 16, 2010|archive-date=February 19, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219233831/http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/images/WetDry.gif|url-status=dead}}</ref>
As of March 7, 2008, Plainview has allowed the sale of packaged alcohol within the city limits.<ref>{{cite web|title= After a year of alcohol... 03-15-09 |date=March 15, 2009 |url=https://www.myplainview.com/news/article/After-a-year-of-alcohol-03-15-09-8430735.php|publisher=Plainview Daily Herald|access-date= October 21, 2020}}</ref>