Norfleet was a small community established in 1907 in southwest Hale County, Texas. It was platted by rancher and land promoter James Franklin “J. Frank” Norfleet, who laid out the townsite on the north bank of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River. The location was chosen in hopes that a railroad line would eventually pass through the area and encourage growth.
The town received a post office in 1907, which operated until 1913. During its brief period of activity, Norfleet supported a few businesses intended to serve nearby ranching families. The settlement never expanded significantly, largely because the anticipated railroad did not arrive. After the post office closed, the population declined, and many buildings were moved away. By the mid-20th century, Norfleet was no longer an active community and has since been recognized as a ghost town.
Historical Notes
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Founder: J. Frank Norfleet (1865–1967) was a rancher and land promoter in Hale County. Beyond his role in laying out the community, he became famous statewide for pursuing a group of confidence men who had swindled him in 1919. His account of that pursuit, later published in Norfleet: The Actual Experiences of a Texas Rancher’s 30,000-Mile Transcontinental Chase After Five Confidence Men (1924), gave him lasting notoriety as a self-styled “manhunter.”
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Geography: The site was situated near the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River, a major tributary in the region, which provided a recognizable landmark but did not guarantee growth.
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Decline: The failure of the railroad connection and the closure of the post office in 1913 marked the end of Norfleet’s viability as a town. Its status today is limited to scattered ranchland, with no active community functions remaining.
Legacy
Norfleet remains part of Texas ghost town history, remembered both for the ambitions of its founder and for its short-lived presence on the map of Hale County. J. Frank Norfleet himself is more widely remembered for his pursuit of con men than for his development work, but the settlement that bore his name reflects early 20th-century efforts to establish new communities in the ranching country of the South Plains.
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