HART, TEXAS. Hart is at the junction of State Highway 194 and Farm roads 145 and 168, fifteen miles southeast of Dimmitt in southern Castro County. It was named for T. W. Hart, who established his ranch headquarters near Running Water Draw in 1899. In the process Hart had his frame house moved on mule-drawn skids from Swisher County to the new site. In 1900 the Hart family opened a post office in the house and began selling fresh meat and groceries. The first school and church in the vicinity was a one-room building erected in 1902 near the homestead of Jack Killough, who donated the land. Hart did not become an organized town until 1925. At that time the Fort Worth and Denver South Plains Railway, encouraged by town promoters, announced plans to put a depot at the site. By 1926 the road had been completed and a depot built, with Jack Hall acting as agent. Subsequently Hart was incorporated and experienced a small boom. A six-room school was built, but in 1928 the business district was moved about three-quarters of a mile to the northwest to be closer to the depot. The school was not moved to be nearer the town center until 1936. By 1940 Hart reported a population of around 600. The Farmers State Bank opened there in December 1957. During the 1980s Hart continued to serve as a market center for area farms and ranches, with two schools, two churches, and some thirty-eight businesses, most of them related to agriculture. At that time a rodeo was held annually in February, and the Hart Days celebration each August. In 1984 the population of Hart numbered 1,008, making it the county's second-largest town. Its population was 1,221 in 1990 and 1,198 in 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Castro County Historical Commission, Castro County, 1891-1981 (Dallas: Taylor, 1981).

H. Allen Anderson