Hermleigh

History

Hermleigh's history begins in 1907 when a townsite was surveyed on land donated by two men named R. C. Herm and Harry W. Harlin near the small community of Wheat. Citizens chose to name their new community "Hermlin" (an amalgam of the surnames of the two landowners) but this name was rejected by postal officials as being too close to the nearby town of Hamlin, potentially causing confusion between the two communities. The compromise of "Hermleigh" was settled upon, and the post office opened shortly thereafter. The Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railway was built through the new community, and residents of Wheat began to relocate to Hermleigh. In 1911 the Santa Fe Railroad reached the community, and Hermleigh developed into a shipping point and trading center for local ranchers and cotton farmers. A school opened to serve area students in 1913, and by the late 1910s the community had its own newspaper (the Hermleigh Herald). Hermleigh briefly changed its name in the late 1910s to Foch to honor the French field marshal and World War I hero Ferdinand Foch, but reverted to the original name shortly thereafter and continued to flourish until the early 1930s, when the effects of the Great Depression brought an end to Hermleigh's growth. Though adversely effected by the Depression, Hermleigh remained stable throughout most of the twentieth century and by 1980 was home to over 700 residents. By 1990, however, the population had fallen dramatically to approximately 200 and some of the remaining businesses closed down. The community inexplicably rebounded during the 1990s, with the population reaching 393 by the 2000 Census. Hermleigh is the hometown of former head coach of the Baylor Bears football program, Grant Teaff. The most expensive pig ever sold was owned by a Hermleigh…

Geography

Hermleigh is located at (32.634619, -100.759336). According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 9.1 square miles (23.5 km2), all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  986
• White-winged Dove

  Zenaida asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  960
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  589
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  494
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  450
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  395
• Great-tailed Grackle

  Quiscalus mexicanus (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  348
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

  Tyrannus forficatus (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  312

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2026-08-23
  17 km SE of Ackerly, Texas
• M 3.9 — 2026-07-23
  23 km NW of Westbrook, Texas
• M 2.9 — 2026-07-19
  6 km WSW of Westbrook, Texas
• M 2.6 — 2026-06-10
  5 km SSW of Westbrook, Texas
• M 2.7 — 2026-06-06
  16 km NNE of Hermleigh, Texas
• M 2.8 — 2026-06-06
  16 km NNE of Hermleigh, Texas