Lakeview

Lakeview, on State Highway 256 in northern Hall County, has occupied two separate townsites. The first began near the center of the county on a section of the Southern Pacific Railroad survey on May 21, 1890. A town company was formed, and soon the site had a small store, a post office, a blacksmith shop, a church, and a cemetery. Several houses were also erected, and the town made an unsuccessful effort to become the county seat. Soon after the election, most of the houses were sold to farmers, and the land reverted to the family of S. L. Lindley. The post office was moved several times before being located at the homestead of David H. Davenport, who operated a rural store, in 1902. In 1905 Davenport purchased a tract of land two miles north of his farm. Since soft water was available there, he decided to build a town. After donating a site for a cotton gin, which was erected by the brothers W. J. and S. E. Lewis, Davenport moved his store and post office to the site and on June 11, 1908, platted the new town of Lakeview. In 1910 he established the First State Bank of Lakeview. The first school opened in 1908, and between 1915 and 1919 the town had a newspaper, the Lakeview News