Early settlers to Hale County referred to the territory west of Hale Center as the Center Plains community. At this site, a cemetery and a schoolhouse established to serve the vast area stood on property donated by William S. Bolivar, who began homesteading the area in 1890. The first post office, listing the settlement as Copenhagen, opened in 1902 in the home of postmaster T. H. Miller. When construction of the proposed Panhandle Short Line Railroad from Vega to Lubbock bypassed the community in 1907, the post office and school were moved to the newly platted town of Norfleet. The town failed by 1910 when plans for the rail line were abandoned, and the school was moved back to Center Plains. The schoolhouse also served as a community center, and people of all faiths worshiped there on Sundays. Plans to consolidate with other area schools were rejected in 1925, but officials divided the district in 1937 and transferred the students to Hale Center and Cotton Center schools. Center Plains was once the nucleus of a large rural community, but only the cemetery remains.