The first settlement in the county was established as a post office in 1884 by Horatio Graves of New York, a Methodist minister and then the county’s only resident. He planned to found a religious colony there and named the place for Epworth, England, birthplace of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Graves carried the mail from Estacado and also sold supplies to settlers and XIT Ranch cowboys. In 1891 he moved his post office several miles and started New Epworth, but drought caused the site to be abandoned in 1893. Its residents joined with those of Hale City to found Hale Center.