Hartley, TX

Hartley is a census-designated place in east-central Hartley County, Texas, at the junction of U.S. Highways 87 and 385, about 14 miles southeast of Dalhart. The town sits in open Panhandle country, where the road grid and the horizon do more to orient you than a cluster of neighboring settlements. Hartley is also the county's namesake and a place where the old county-seat story still hangs over the map, even though the seat moved to Channing in 1903.

The community began as a tent village in 1888 after the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway bought a right-of-way through the site. A permanent town was platted by 1890, with a school district already in place; the railway and later homesteader advertisements helped turn the stop into a town. The early courthouse was eventually moved out to Channing on wheels, a memorable Panhandle detail. Hartley now has a small population and is served by Hartley Independent School District. The local scoop is that Hartley is a road-and-rail town that lost the courthouse but kept the county name, the school, and its spot at the U.S. 87/385 crossroads.