DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Old Hurley, out here in Bailey County. Half a mile to the west of where you're rolling right now, there's a townsite sitting quiet in the Texas Panhandle plains. And friend, it has a story worth slowing down for.
The year was 1907. A man named Stevens A. Coldren — working through his land company — decided this stretch of Bailey County was going to be something.
He had the townsite surveyed. He named it for Patrick J. Hurley, a New Mexico political leader born in 1883.
And then Coldren's company got to work. Up went a general store. Up went a hotel.
Up went a livery stable. And out across the flat ground, wide plowed furrows cut through the earth — those furrows were the future streets, laid out like a promise written in soil. In August of 1907, a post office was established.
Settlers came in. A church was begun. A school was begun.
On paper, on the ground, in the hearts of the folks putting down roots — Hurley was alive. Then 1913 arrived. And the railroad did not.
The railroad bypassed the town. Now, if you know anything about towns on the Texas plains in that era, you already feel where this is heading. Without that rail line, a town was fighting with one hand tied behind its back.
Efforts were made — they tried to start what they called New Hurley, right on the rail line. That effort failed too. And then, in 1918, Muleshoe became the county seat.
That was the last chapter. Hurley expired — that's the word, expired — like something that had simply run out of time. Stevens A.
Coldren, the man who promoted all of this, died in 1924. Patrick J. Hurley, the man whose name was given to the town, lived until 1963.
Long enough, you have to figure, to know that the town bearing his name was already gone. Wide plowed furrows, a post office, a hotel, a dream. Half a mile that way.
That's all that's left of the first town in Bailey County.
What the marker says
One-half mile west to townsite of Old Hurly. First town in Bailey County. Promoted in 1907 by land company of Stevens A. Coldren (d. 1924). He had a townsite surveyed and named it for Patrick J. Hurley (1883-1963), New Mexico political leader. Company built a general store, hotel and livery stable. Wide plowed furrows indicated future streets. In August 1907 a post office was established. Settlers came in and a church and school were begun. In 1913, however, the railroad bypassed town. Efforts to start "New Hurley"-- on the rail line -- failed. After Muleshoe became county seat, 1918, Hurley expired. (1970)