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Plainview
Santa Fe Railroad Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, July 2009 |
Historical
Marker TextThe
Santa Fe Railroad in Plainview 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 transportation and in 1903 raised $75,000 to use
in promoting a rail connection. J.N. Donohoo, Dr. Lee Dye, W.E. Dyer, L.S. Kinder,
L.A. Knight, Charles McCormack, J.H. Slaton, R.P. Smyth, and Dr. J.H. Wayland
led this endeavor. The city and the Santa Fe came to terms, and the first train
reached here on Dec. 31, 1906. Regular service soon followed, and oldtimers rejoiced
when train whistles heralded and end to isolation.
Once or twice a week,
land agents arrived with trainloads of prospective settlers. Local builders constructed
a courthouse,
new schoolhouse, new city hall, an electric plant, an opera
house, residences and business buildings. Soon the Wayland Literary and Technical
Institution was under construction.
Railroad service made a major contribution
to the economic development of Hale County, opening acreage to settlement and
agricultural expansion. |
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Lake
Plainview historical marker by the depot
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, July 2009 |
Historical
Marker Text
Site of
Lake
Plainview
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 & Development Co. installed a demonstration well near the Santa Fe
Railway Depot and created Lake Plainview and a park at this site. Called Texas'
largest body of water fed by a well, the lake was very popular with the public,
but expensive to maintain. After fire destroyed the pump house in 1917, park and
lake went back to nature. In 1977 the area again became a park. |
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