[3] It is named for Lt. John C. Hale,[4] a hero of the Battle of San Jacinto.

Hale County comprises the Plainview, Texas micropolitan statistical area.

Johnson, established the Cross L Ranch and the XIT to raise cattle.

[6] In 1883, New York Methodist minister Horatio Graves became the first white permanent settler in the county.

[6] The city of Plainview has its beginnings in 1886 when rancher Zachery Taylor Maxwell moved his family and 2,000 sheep from Floyd County to the site of two hackberry groves[7] on the old military trail established by Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie.

[5] The Santa Fe Railway came to Plainview in 1906,[10] and Wayland Baptist College was founded the same year.

In addition to bone and man-made artifacts, archeologists found the remains of 100 extinct bison about twice the size of modern "buffalo".

[14] Oil was discovered in 1946 in the Anton-Irish field of Lamb and Hale Counties.

[17] As of March 7, 2008, Plainview has allowed the sale of packaged alcohol within the city limits.