Ellen

Ellen is on Farm Road 784 fifteen miles southeast of Plainview in eastern Hale County. Early residents in the area included the Churchwell, Beard, Whitney, Faytinger, Daugherty, Line, and Young families. The community was named for Ellen White, wife of Edward M. White, who started the town of Petersburg, Texas. An Ellen post office opened in May 1904 with Carl W. Richardson as postmaster; it closed in January 1923. A school was started at Ellen in 1905; in April 1917 the Ellen Common School District was established. The Ellen school was also used as a church and community center. The district was consolidated with that of Petersburg in the mid-1940s. In the mid-1980s Ellen still appeared on county maps, although no town landmarks were evident.