Plainview, Texas

Everything Plainview is known for

12 songs mention this city 1 artist from here

Music in Plainview

Songs About Plainview

Plainview
Kin Faux
80%
"Song about Plainview"
Plainview
Galcher Lustwerk
80%
"Song about Plainview"
Plainview
Bernie Nelson
80%
"Song about Plainview"
Am I Amarillo
Aaron Watson
54%
"head towards Plainview"
West Texas Town
George Strait
53%
"all the way to Plainview"
Amarillo Highway (For Dave Hickey)
Terry Allen
52%
"I'm a high straight in Plainview, side bet in Idalou"
Amarillo Highway
Emily Nenni
51%
"I'm a high straight in Plainview"
Smile
Curtis Grimes
49%
"I’ve counted stars in Plainview"
west texas town
george strait & dean dillon
45%
amarillo highway
terry allen
29%
high cotton
blue water highway
24%
Amarillo Highway
Robert Earl Keen
6%
"I'm a high straight in Plainview"

Artists From Plainview

R
Red Beard Wall
metal Pop: 19

History of Plainview

Lockney, TX RoadyGoat

Lockney's a place that sticks with you. You might drive through and think it's just another small Texas town clinging to the plains, but it’s got a story to tell. It's a town built on cotton and grit, rising from the ashes of that awful fire in 1910 that nearly wiped out the business district. Standing on the courthouse square, you can almost feel the echoes of those days, and maybe, if you listen close enough, you can hear whispers about that time capsule they say is buried somewhere beneath your feet. But Lockney's more than just history; it’s about the people who’ve walked these streets.

16.3 mi away

Lockney, TX RoadyGoat

Lockney sits high on the plains, a little pocket of West Texas that's always been about the land. You can see forever from here, close to 3,400 feet above sea level — that's higher than you might think. It was the promise of that land, rich and ready for farming, that drew folks in the late 1800s, and it’s still the reason the town exists today. Named for a land commissioner, it quickly became a hub for cotton. Even a terrible fire that wiped out the business district back in 1910 couldn't stop the steady rhythm of planting and harvest. Folks come through now for a glimpse of that quiet life. Or perhaps they’re just passing through, pausing to read the *Lockney Headlight*, still printing the local news like it has since the beginning. Some even stick around hoping to witness the unearthing of that rumored time capsule beneath the courthouse square. But ask anyone who’s truly made Lockney home, and they'll tell you it's the people that keep this place alive. It's the shared history, the friendly wave from a passing pickup, and the Friday night lights shining down on another Longhorns-Floydada showdown that truly defines Lockney. And if you're lucky, you might even spot a pronghorn or two out in the pasture, a reminder of the wild beauty that still surrounds this resilient little town.

16.3 mi away

Lockney, TX RoadyGoat

Lockney sits high on the plains, a little over 3,300 feet up, so you can see for miles in any direction. It started as a dream in 1891, named after John T. Lockney, a land commissioner. That's when the Lockney Headlight newspaper fired up its presses, and it’s been chronicling life here ever since. Agriculture took root quickly, and the landscape transformed into a sea of cotton. Even now, driving in, you still see those fields stretching out, broken only by the occasional flash of a pronghorn antelope. The town has seen its share of hard times. A terrible fire in 1910 swept through the business district, leaving folks with nothing but ashes and the will to rebuild. They did, brick by brick, and the spirit of Lockney endured. Football is big here. The Lockney Longhorns take on Floydada every year, and that rivalry is something else. And down on the courthouse square, there’s talk of a time capsule buried long ago. Most of all, Lockney is a place where neighbors know each other, a quiet spot on the high plains where friendly faces are just part of the scenery.

16.3 mi away

Dean, Jimmy Ray

1928

Jimmy Ray Dean, singer, instrumentalist, songwriter, television host, and businessman, was born on August 10, 1928, in Olton, Lamb County, Texas. His family soon moved to the community of Seth Ward just outside of Plainview, Texas. He was the son of George Otto Dean and Ruth (Taylor) Dean. Dean is best-known as a country music artist and as the face and voice of the Jimmy Dean Meat Company, which he started in 1969. Some of Dean’s major contributions include his variety series, The Jimmy Dean Show , and his award-winning single “Big Bad John.” Born and raised in the Panhandle of Texas, Dean was influenced by music from an early age. His absentee father, George Otto Dean, was a singer and songwriter, but it was his mother who taught him to play an instrument. Dean’s mother, Ruth, ran a barbershop to help support her family while learning to play the piano by correspondence, then went on to teach Dean how to play when he was ten years old. Dean used his knowledge of music to teach himself to play the guitar, harmonica, and accordion. Dean dropped out of high school after ninth grade and tried irrigation farming when he was just sixteen. By the time he was seventeen, he had joined the Merchant Marine. His one-year term included service aboard the S. S. Heigara that sailed to Lima, Peru. At the age of eighteen, Dean joined the United States Army Air Forces and took his training at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Sheppard Field in Wichita Falls, and in San Antonio (at what became Lackland Air Force Base ). While stationed at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., Dean stepped in playing the accordion for a band known as the Tennessee Haymakers after their fiddle player fell ill, and when the fiddle player returned, the band kept Dean instead. In 1949 Dean left the Air Force. He married Mary Sue Wittauer on July 11, 1950. Eventually they had three children. Changes in band personnel led him to form Jimmy Dean and the Texas Wildcats, which he fronted. In 1952, while performing with the band, Dean was discovered by disc jockey Connie B. Gay, who asked to represent him. Dean and the Texas Wildcats signed their first professional recording contract, and in 1953 the band had its first national hit on the 4 Star label with the single “Bumming Around,” Dean’s first recorded song. He made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry on May 16, 1953. In January 1955 Dean and the Wildcats began a daily half-hour afternoon program called Town and Country Time on WMAL-TV in Washington, D.C. Later a Saturday night program, Town and Country Jamboree , was added. Dean’s show provided important early exposure to budding country legends such as Patsy Cline (a regular on the program) and Roy Clark (Dean’s guitarist in the Texas Wildcats until he was fired for habitual tardiness). The regional success of the program led the CBS network to carry a national program called The Morning Show and hosted by Jimmy Dean beginning in April 1957. The success of that show bested rival NBC’s Today and eventually led to Dean’s move from Washington, D.C. to New York City for his own Jimmy Dean Show , broadcast on weekdays and Saturdays. Unfortunately the move spelled the end for the Texas Wildcats. That same year, Dean signed with Columbia Records. His television program was cancelled in 1959. He bounced back with the enormously successful single “Big Bad John,” which debuted at Number 1 on Billboard on November 6, 1961, and remained in that spot for five weeks. Written in an hour-and-a-half while on a plane ride to Nashville, Tennessee, “Big Bad John” told the story of a heroic miner who sacrificed his life in order to save the lives of his fellow workers. Dean’s song reached Number 1 on both the country and pop charts and helped to launch a public craze for saga songs—songs which typically told ballads of larger-than-life characters that performed heroic deeds. In 1962 Dean won a Grammy for “Big Bad John” for Best Country and Western Performance Recording. Dean went on

Tsha Handbook →

Slaughter, Colonel C. C.

1856

First native-born cattle king of Texas. Eldest of several rancher brothers. At age 12 "made a hand" on East Texas ranch of father, Rev. Geo. W. Slaughter. By 17 made his own trades in lumber, wheat, cattle. In 1856 moved his cattle to Palo Pinto County, on his first West Texas ranch. During the Civil War, he supplied beef to Confederacy and served in frontier regiment, to prevent Indian attacks. After the war he led cattlemen in aiding economy of bankrupt Texas by securing cattle markets. A fat steer bought for $6-8 in Texas by middleman was sold for $30-40 at shipping point. In 1867 he sold 300 head at record $35 and led the way to rancher marketing. Kept his love for trailing, even after he became millionaire. He also pioneered improvement of Texas Longhorns by use of champion Shorthorn and Hereford bulls. In Eastern speeches, he advocated beef on daily diet. To curb rustlers and establish efficient roundups, he helped organize first cattle raisers association. His 89,000-acre "Running Water" spread in Hale and Lamb counties was part of 1,000,000 acres ranched. He was a banker, active churchman, philanthropist. His descendants have erected a memorial center bearing his name on the campus of Wayland College here. 1965

Historical Marker →

Plainview Point, Discovery Site of the

1941

The first of this distinctive type of early man dart point was found by 15-year-old Val Keene Whitacre in 1941, in a caliche quarry on Running Water Draw. In 1944, quarry workers uncovered a fossil bone deposit, which was noted by scientists surveying the geology of the Plains. The next year a team of archeologists from the University of Texas, including Dr. E. H. Sellards and Dr. Alex D. Krieger, excavated the site and found 26 man-made artifacts, including several of the points, in association with the remains of about 100 extinct bison (Bison Taylori), about twice the size of modern species. The long flint point was then named for this site. The bone bed probably resulted from the primitive hunting method of stampeding bison over a cliff, and butchering of the dead and crippled animals for food. The cliff eroded away and covered the bones with 12 to 14 feet of silt. When exposed, the bone bed was 62 feet long, up to 10 feet wide, and 1.5 feet thick. Radiocarbon dating indicates that this site is 8,000 to 9,000 years old. The Plainview point is found most commonly in the Great Plains region of North America, but has been located also in Alaska and Mexico. 1973

Historical Marker →

Meharg, Emma Grigsby

1925

Born in Lynnville, Tenn.; moved to Texas with parents, Jasper N. and Mary A. (Calvert) Grigsby, 1883. Graduated from college, became a teacher, married Samuel W. Meharg. Came to Plainview (1902), where she and husband were educators. She helped organize clubs, First Presbyterian Church, U.S.A, civic endeavors. Had daughter and son. Won international renown, 1925, as Texas' first woman Secretary of State, by appointment of first woman Governor, Miriam A. Ferguson. Erected - 1972

Historical Marker →

Hale County

1883

Hale County is on the Llano Estacado in northwest Texas, bounded on the east by Floyd County, on the south by Lubbock County, on the west by Lamb County, and on the north by Swisher and Castro counties. Its center point is at 34°05' north latitude and 101°50' west longitude, about forty miles north of Lubbock. The county was named for John C. Hale , who died at the battle of San Jacinto . Hale County covers 979 square miles of flat terrain, with fertile sandy and loamy soils and many playas; the elevation ranges from 3,200 to 3,600 feet above sea level. There is a considerable supply of underground water from the vast Ogallala Aquifer. Running Water Draw cuts southeastward across the county through Plainview, and Black Water Draw touches the southwestern part of the county. Hale County's average annual rainfall is 19.34 inches. The average minimum temperature in January is 26° F, and the average maximum in July is 93°; the growing season lasts 211 days. Hale County produces an average annual agricultural income of $160 million, 80 percent of which comes from cotton, corn, soybeans, sorghums, wheat, and vegetables; the remainder derives from beef cattle, swine, and sheep. In 1982 the county had 468,000 acres of irrigated land. Petroleum production in 1990 was more than 1,941,000 barrels; by January 1991 more than 148,177,000 barrels of oil had been pumped from Hale County lands since its discovery in 1946. Food processing and the manufacture of farm equipment generated $46,700,000 in 1991. The county's road network includes U.S. Highway 87 (Interstate 27), which runs north to south, and U.S. Highway 70, which runs west to east. The Santa Fe and the Fort Worth and Denver rail lines cross the county. Important evidence of early man was discovered in 1941 within the city limits of Plainview, where a fossil bed yielded the skeletons of a hundred bison and more than two dozen flint tools, including a distinctive projectile point used with a spear or atlatl; this type of point has been called the Plainview point since its discovery. Radiocarbon dating of articles found in the excavation demonstrated that human beings lived in the area about 9,000 years ago. Comanches hunted in the area from the early eighteenth century to the 1870s, preying on the large herds of buffalo that roamed the plains. By 1876, when Hale County was marked off from Bexar County, both the Comanches and the buffalo had disappeared. The wealth of the isolated country was not immediately obvious, although there was some money to be made from the bone business and from taming mustangs . The first cattle were brought into the area in 1881, when Illinois brothers named Morrison established the Cross L Ranch, which covered twenty square miles at the corners of Hale, Lamb, Castro, and Swisher counties (the Morrisons later sold the spread to C. C. Slaughter ). The first permanent settler in the county was Horatio Graves, a Methodist minister and farmer, who purchased four sections and moved into the area in 1883; he experimented with farming by growing garden and feed crops. Within the next two years other settlers, including A. E. Adams, A. N. Jones, D. L. Shepley, and F. M. and L. T. Lester, moved into the county with their families. Once a month Graves carried the mail for local ranchers and other settlers from Estacado to a post office he established in 1884. His home became the center of the community during the early years of settlement; church services and school classes were held there. In 1886 another early settler, Z. T. Maxwell, located his homestead at the site of two hackberry groves on the old military trail established by Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie . The town of Plainview later grew around Maxwell's settlement. After establishing Hale County in 1876 the Texas legislature attached it successively to Baylor, Donley, and Crosby counties for administrative purposes. The county was organized in 1888, with Plainview as county seat. In 1890 the census counted 721

Tsha Handbook →

Lake Plainview

1913

Lake Plainview was constructed in 1913 within the city limits of Plainview in Hale County by the Texas Land and Development Company to promote the sale of irrigated farms developed by the company. The idea, which originated with Harry J. Miller, company president from 1912 to 1916, called for the installation of an irrigation well within sight of the Santa Fe railroad depot. As rail passengers arrived, they would be able to view the well in operation. The company purchased a thirty-acre tract adjacent to the depot to hold the pumped water. Construction began on March 20, 1913. Workers built a concrete levee around the site and ringed it with a gravel road, installed concrete walks and outdoor lights, and planted grass, shrubs, trees, and flowers along the walks. The pump began filling the lake in May 1913, and on July 1 the lake reached its capacity. When full it was five to six feet deep and was the largest body of water in Texas supplied by a well. To make the lake a more interesting attraction, the company imported several types of exotic birds, including Indian cranes, white and black swans, peacocks, and sheldrakes, and stocked the lake with catfish and bass. In addition to its promotional features, Lake Plainview provided residents of the area with a number of diversions, including boating, swimming, picnicking, sightseeing, and occasionally ice skating. Concerts were provided from a bandstand placed in the middle of the lake. The costs of fuel, equipment, and maintenance soon outweighed the benefits. A fire on June 17, 1917, destroyed the wellhouse and ended the venture.

Tsha Handbook →

Sports in Plainview

⭐ HOMETOWN LEGENDS Class 5A · Football

Plainview Bulldogs — Plainview — a college & pro athletic pipeline

3 alumni who reached major-college or pro sports

Plainview High School in Plainview, Texas, has a history of athletes moving on to higher levels of competition. The school's athletic programs have helped prepare a number of students for careers in major college and professional sports. These former Bulldogs have represented their hometown on national and international stages, showcasing the talent developed within the Plainview community.

Among the notable alumni who have gone on to professional sports are Michael Egnew, who played in the National Football League; Jerry Sisemore, also a National Football League player; and Jamar Wall, who played in both the National Football League and the Canadian Football League. Their achievements reflect the dedication and skill nurtured during their time at Plainview High School.

Pro/D1 alumni
3
Class
5A
Key Players
  • Michael Egnew — , National Football League player
  • Jerry Sisemore — , National Football League player
  • Jamar Wall — , National Football League and Canadian Football League player
The moment

Jerry Sisemore went on to play in the National Football League.

Sources: Wikipedia · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)

Everything Near Plainview

61 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Explore Plainview on the Map
All music from Texas → · Browse more cities