Plainview is a
ghost town
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
in southwestern
Wharton County in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
. It was located at the intersection of
Farm to Market Road 441 (FM 441) and
Farm to Market Road 1163 (FM 1163), southwest of
El Campo. The community had its own school from as early as 1916 until 1948. The town hall building still existed in 2014, but there were only a few homes nearby.
Geography
Plainview was situated at the intersection of FM 441 and FM 1163. Approaching the junction from the south, FM 441 curves to the west and FM 1163 curves to the east, while County Road 309 continues north.
Louise can be reached by going west via County Road 312,
Hillje is to the north on FM 441 and El Campo is to the northeast on FM 1163.
History
There is a published photo of Plainview School #20 taken by County School Superintendent Oswald Garrett in 1916. The school required four mule-drawn wagons at a cost of $100 per month in order to haul the students to class. Altogether, the Plainview school district covered 40 sections.
By 1926 there were four teachers, 130 white and four black students. In 1948, the school was merged into what is now the
Louise Independent School District. In 1989 the old meeting hall was located at the townsite
and it was still there in 2014.
[See photo of meeting hall.]
File:Wharton Co TX Plainview Hall.JPG, The old Plainview Meeting Hall is located on FM 441.
File:Wharton Co TX FM 441 and 1163.JPG, View is south where FM 1163 (left) converges with FM 441 (right).
File:Wharton Co TX Plainview Crossroad.JPG, There is a single house at the Plainview crossroads.
References
{{Wharton County, Texas
Ghost towns in South Texas