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Historical Marker:
The 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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Plainview Santa
Fe Railroad Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, July 2009 |
Lake Plainview
historical marker by the depot
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, July 2009 |
Historical Marker
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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