HAMLIN, TEXAS

Jones and Fisher Counties, Texas Panhandle / West Texas

32°53'12"N 100°7'31"W (32.886690, -100.125207)
Highway 83, Highway 92
17 miles NW of Anson Jones County seat
42 miles NW of Abilene
18 miles S of Aspermont
20 miles W of Stamford
20 miles E of Rotan
Population: 2,018 Est. (2017)
2,124 (2010) 2,248 (2000) 2,791 (1990)

Hamlin, Texas Area Hotels › Abilene Hotels

Cotton Scene in Central Avenue, Hamlin
Courtesy The Will Beauchamp Collection
See Texas Cotton & Cotton Gins

History in a Pecan Shell

Hamlin was named after a railroad official of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway. The arrival of the railroad was announced in 1902 and the first train arrived in 1906. The county's first gypsum plant was constructed six miles outside of Hamlin in 1903.

A second railroad (the Texas Central) soon arrived followed by a third (the Abilene and Southern) in 1910. The railroads helped Hamlin prosper and in the 1920s oil was discovered. The 1940 population was 2,406 which grew to over 3,500 by 1950.

The gypsum plant evolved into part of the Celotex Corporation and in 1970 the town had eighty businesses.

The population appears to have reached its zenith in 1960 with 3,791 Hamlinites. Part of the population spilled over into Fisher County in the late 70s and early 80s.

Downtown Hamlin
Photo Courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2005

The Hamlin Water Tower
Photo Courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2005
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Sacred Heart Catholic Church East Of Hamlin
Photo Courtesy Barclay Gibson, December 2005
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Hamlin, Texas Forum

Subject: Hamlin's Bluebird of Happiness 1942

I am seeking information about two young (young in 1942-43) Black men. They were known as Joe B. and Slim.

Slim had two sisters Willy May and Lily May ? One was married to a man named James. They pulled cotton for my parents in 1942 or 1943 in Hamlin, Texas.

Most of [their] family moved on, but Joe B. and Slim did not yet wish to leave --- so they lived in our front living room for two more months before they returned to Hillsboro. My family at that time consisted of my parents (Herbert and Dolores Nauert) and me (Clinton aged 4).

After Joe B. and Slim went to town one Saturday on their return they gave me a tiny metal bluebird --- they had gotten from a box of Crackerjacks --- This was one of the only gifts I had ever been given --- other than at Christmas. I am now 68 years of age and I have never forgotten those fellows' kindness. Nor have I ever forgotten eating breakfast with them for those two months in 1942 or 1943. If I could contact them or one of their children I would just like them to know how a little kindness can mean so much to a child. My parents and I have very fond memories of those two really nice young men. Thank you, - Clinton Nauert, Greenwood, Arkansas, August 29, 2006

1907 Fisher/Jones County postal map showing Hamlin
(NW corner of Jones County)
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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