HALL, TEXAS. Hall, also known as Hall Valley, is on Farm Road 2997 six miles west of Richland Springs in western San Saba County. It was founded in 1903, when settlers began purchasing land from the Hall and Sellman ranches. The Hall Ranch had been founded in 1855 by John Mabin (Pony) Hall. Some of the early settlers were Frank Templeton, Bill Wicker, and a Mr. Woolsey. By 1905 a building had been constructed for a school and the Unity Baptist Church. In 1913 a separate building was erected for the church. The following year the school building burned, and the students finished the school term at Woodmen's Hall. The community replaced the destroyed building with a three-room structure, which served the town until the school was consolidated with the Richland Springs schools in 1932. Frank Templeton opened the first general store in the community in 1906, and on September 14, 1911, William Nathan Hudson established the Hall post office, in honor of the Hall family, in his general store. Also in 1911 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway constructed a line and depot in Hall, and in 1912 the railway built cattle pens in the community. In 1914 the community had a population of 150, a bank, two general stores, and Christian and Baptist churches. The population fell to an estimated eighty-two by 1925, and the continued low population resulted in the post office's being discontinued around 1942-43. The estimated population of the community in 1986 was fifty, and the area was known for its peanuts, grain crops, and ranches. In 2000 the population was fifteen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: San Saba County History (San Saba, Texas: San Saba County Historical Commission, 1983).

Karen Yancy