County History
Hale County was carved from open range in 1876 and organized in 1888
The county is named for a soldier who died at San Jacinto, and its seat Plainview was named for the vast treeless landscape its founders saw.
Texas created Hale County in 1876, carving it out of Bexar County territory. It was named for John C. Hale, who died fighting at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. The county was not organized and did not have local government until 1888. Plainview became the county seat that year.
The first settler on record arrived in 1883. Z.T. Maxwell and Edwin Lowe laid out Plainview in 1886-1887 and secured a post office in March 1887. They named the town Plainview because the surrounding land was flat and treeless in every direction. The first courthouse cost $2,500. By 1910, Plainview already had 90 businesses. The Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas has a full account of the county's history.
Source to confirm: Handbook of Texas – Hale County