Hale Center, TX

Hale Center is the Hale County seat on the high plains of the Llano Estacado, where Interstate 27 meets Farm to Market Road 1914. The 2020 census counted 2,062 residents. It began in 1893 when two rival settlements, Hale City and Epworth, combined and moved buildings to a new central site. The railroad's arrival in 1909 revived the town after an early slump, and the county-seat role has kept its streets tied to agriculture and county business.

Hale Center has also had to rebuild. A tornado tore through downtown on June 2, 1965, destroying 29 businesses, city hall, and the fire station. The town's current civic map includes Hale Center Independent School District, whose teams are the Owls, and the July 4 Homecoming with its country fiddlers' contest. The First Baptist Church, organized in the early Hale City years and occupying a 1908 sanctuary, adds another piece of the town's long record. Hale Center is a high-plains city where rival beginnings, railroad revival, storm recovery, school pride, and county work all meet at the center of Hale County.