LESLEY, TEXAS. Lesley is on State Highway 256 in northwestern Hall County. It was on the property of James P. Montgomery and was named for his son. Montgomery opened a post office on October 17, 1902, at his house, where it remained until 1907, when it was moved to T. J. Hayes's general store. It was discontinued in 1915, and mail was sent to Lakeview. Nevertheless, by 1920 Lesley had a school, two churches, three stores, and a cotton gin managed by J. U. Sheppard. A blacksmith shop, a restaurant, and a filling station had been added by 1928. However, the Great Depression and subsequent improvement in transportation resulted in a general decline for Lesley, and in 1937 its school was consolidated with that of Lakeview. In the 1930s and 1940s the population was ten. By the early 1970s it had reached seventy. In 1980 the community had the gin, the H. O. Adams, Jr., Grocery, and six residences. The population was estimated at thirty-nine in 1984. In 1990 and again in 2000 it was forty-five.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Inez Baker, Yesterday in Hall County (Memphis, Texas, 1940). Virginia Browder, Hall County Heritage Trails, 1890–1980 (2 vols., Canyon, Texas: Staked Plains, 1982, 1983).
