Hallsville succeeded Fort Crawford and Ash Springs, pioneer settlements of the 1840s. It was founded when the Texas & Pacific Railway was built, and the first train arrived on Aug. 17, 1869. For a time the town was the western terminus and, from 1870 to 1873, the site of the T.& P. shops, attracting ox-wagon freighting in wool, cotton, and buffalo hides from the west. Named for Kentuckians Elijah and Volney Hall, Hallsville received its charter on Aug. 13, 1870. Volney Hall was a vice president of the old Southern Pacific Railway, which was rechartered as the T.& P. Hallsville acquired a sub-courthouse in 1965.