Center Plains Community

Norfleet, the town that briefly took Center Plains' post office and school, was platted in 1907 for rancher J. Frank Norfleet and had several businesses and a post office from 1907 to 1913 before the expected railroad failed and most buildings were moved away. Center Plains' students eventually went to Cotton Center, itself formed in 1925 when the Bartonsite, Anchor and Norfleet schools consolidated; J. C. Brown laid out its townsite and opened a gin that year. Cotton Center got a post office and its first irrigation well in 1935.

What the plaque says

Center Plains Community Early settlers to Hale County referred to the territory west of Hale Center (9 mi. E) as the Center Plains community. A cemetery and a schoolhouse, established to serve the vast area, were located at this site on property donated by William S. Boliver who began homesteading the area in 1890. The first post office, listing the settlement as Copenhagen, opened in 1902 in the home of T. H. Miller, the postmaster. When construction of the proposed Panhandle Short Line Railroad from Vega to Lubbock bypassed the community in 1907, the post office and school were moved to the newly platted town of Norfleet (1 mi. W). The town failed by 1910 when plans for the rail line were abandoned, and the school was moved back to Center Plains. The schoolhouse also served as a community center and people of all faiths worshiped in the facility on Sundays. Plans to consolidate with other area schools were rejected in 1925, but officials divided the district in 1937 and transferred the students to Hale Center and Cotton Center schools. Center Plains was once the nucleus of a large rural community, but only the cemetery remains. (1980)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Ranching and Farming in Hale County — 8.0 mi
• First Baptist Church of Hale Center — 8.3 mi
• Nils Akeson — 8.4 mi
• Site of Epworth — 8.5 mi