Plainview, city, seat of Hale County, northwestern Texas, in the southern Great Plains; incorporated 1907. It is a commercial and processing center for an irrigated agricultural region in which cotton, grain, and livestock are produced. Manufactures include packed meat, flour, and farm supplies. Wayland Baptist University (1908) and the Museum of the Llano Estacado, a regional historic museum, are here. The main development of the community, settled in 1886 and named for the uninterrupted view across the Great Plains, began with the coming of the railroad in 1907. Population 22,187 (1980); 21,700 (1990); 22,336 (2000).
