DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Edwin Lowden Lowe. One of the co-founders of the city of Plainview, and if you ask me, that title alone carries a weight most people never have to bear.
But let's start at the beginning, because this story covers some ground — the kind of ground that changes a man. Lowe was born in Mississippi. He made his way to Louisiana, where he married Virginia Archer.
Then he studied law, joined the Bar in Arkansas, and served in the Arkansas Legislature from 1879 to 1881. By any measure, a man building something. A life with shape and direction.
Then, in the 1880s, he set his sights on Texas. Now, a wagon train headed for Texas in the 1880s is already a story. But somewhere along that journey — somewhere out on the long road west — Virginia Archer Lowe died.
Right there, while the wagon train was halted at Buffalo Gap. The road to a new life claimed the person he was building it with. You can sit with that a moment.
Lowe pressed on. He made his way to Hackberry Groves, out here in what would become Hale County, and he found his friend — Z. T.
Maxwell — already there. The two of them, Lowe and Maxwell, each gave land to establish the county seat. That's how Plainview got its foundation — two men, each putting something of their own into the ground.
Lowe went on to serve as the first postmaster of Plainview. He had two daughters. The marker doesn't give us much more than that, and maybe it doesn't need to.
Some stories are told best by the place they made possible — and every time you roll into Plainview, you're rolling into Edwin Lowden Lowe's answer to a very hard road.
What the marker says
One of co-founders, City of Plainview. Born in Mississippi. In Louisiana, married Virginia Archer. Studied law, joined Bar in Arkansas, served 1879-81 in Arkansas Legislature. In 1880s came to Texas; his wife died en route, while wagon train halted at Buffalo Gap. Lowe joined his friend, Z. T. Maxwell, at Hackberry Groves here. Each gave land to establish county seat. Lowe was first postmaster of Plainview. He had two daughters. Recorded - 1973