Nils Akeson

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and it's one worth hearing. Nils Akeson. Born in Sweden in 1866, died in 1944, and in between those two bookends, he managed to build a town, run a ranch, haul in a railroad, and keep the mail moving, all on the flat, wide-open canvas of the Texas Panhandle.

Now that is a life with some acreage to it. In the late 1880s, Nils made his way from Iowa down to this sparsely populated stretch of north Texas. Sparsely populated.

That's a polite way of saying there wasn't much here. But Nils Akeson didn't seem to mind starting from scratch. As an officer of the Hale County Townsite Company, he helped establish the town of Hale Center.

He helped put it on the map, literally. Then he went to work for the XIT Ranch, and if you know anything about Texas ranching, you know the XIT was famous. Nils worked there from 1893 to 1899, six years riding the rhythms of one of the great ranches in the state.

After that, he turned to the post office, serving as Hale Center's postmaster from 1900 to 1907. Letters coming and going through a growing town, and Nils was the man sorting them. Then came 1909, and here is where the story gets its real thunder.

He helped bring the Santa Fe Railroad through Hale Center. A railroad changes a place in ways that are hard to overstate, and Nils Akeson had a hand in making it happen. He also established the town's first mercantile business, because once the trains are comin', somebody's got to be ready to sell something.

And if you think he was slowing down, consider this: Nils also served as mayor, land developer, church administrator, and school trustee. The official marker for this Swedish-born Iowan Texan was placed in 1993, and it earns every word. Some people pass through a place.

Nils Akeson built one.

What the marker says

(1866 - 1944) In the late 1880s Swedish born Nils Akeson moved from Iowa to this sparsely populated area of north Texas. As an officer of the Hale County Townsite Company Nils helped establish the town of Hale Center. He worked for the famous XIT Ranch from 1893 to 1899 and served as Hale Center's postmaster from 1900 to 1907. He helped bring the Santa Fe Railroad through Hale Center in 1909 and established the town's first mercantile business. As mayor, land developer, church administrator and school trustee Akeson played a prominent role in Hale Center's early development. (1993)