COUNTY LINE

NAME: County Line COUNTY: Hale ROADS: 2WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Moderate BEST TIME TO VISIT: Spring

COMMENTS: At the intersection of FM 179 and 597, approximately 20 miles west of Abernathy, TX. A few residents remain. Prominent farmers still include the McGuires (Derl and son Wayne) as well as the Teakells, and a few others. REMAINS: Two old gins, a Baptist church and a few houses

(Hale and Lubbock counties). County Line is at the intersection of Farm roads 179 and 597, twelve miles west of Abernathy and twenty-four miles northwest of Lubbock on the Lubbock and Hale county line. It grew up around a school begun in the early 1900s, though settlers were living in the area before then. The school was first known as Murray, then as Harold County Line, and eventually just as County Line. It was consolidated with the Abernathy school in April 1935. An early settler in the area was J. C. Turner, who operated the first store in the early 1920s. Other longtime residents included the Pettis, Harrell, Murray, Rice, Claxton, Vaughn, and Noble families. During the 1930s and 1940s County Line grew to include three grocery stores, two blacksmith shops, two garages, and a gin. In the mid-1980s active businesses at the community were the County Line Co-Op Gin and the Teakell Independent Gin. Ike Bennett, ginner of the County Line Gin, was 1985 Ginner of the Year for the state of Texas. Also in the 1980s the County Line Baptist Church, founded about 1910, remained active with an average weekly attendance of around thirty-five. A store operated at the community until March 1986. Although the Texas Almanacqv reported a population of thirty at County Line in the mid-1980s, local estimates noted only between ten and fifteen permanent residents there. At that time increased migrant employment sometimes raised the total to near fifty during ginning seasons. In the 1980s the community of County Line was bordered by the Anton-Irish Clear Fork oilfield, and most of the area's oil rights were under the jurisdiction of Amoco Oil, which maintained an office near the community. The Texas Almanac continued to report a population of thirty for County Line in the early 1990s. The population dropped to fifteen in 2000. Submitted by: Eben Emerson

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