Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Estelline, TX

Estelline is a small incorporated town at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and State Highway 86 in eastern Hall County, Texas, near the Red River.

Estelline was established in 1892 by brothers Elam and Math Wright on the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, on land that was originally part of the Diamond Tail Ranch.

The town was named for Estelle de Shields, the daughter of an early settler.

Estelline incorporated in 1912 with a mayor, a city marshal, and five aldermen, and by then its population had passed 1,000.

In 1927 the railroad began building a branch line from Estelline toward Plainview, but the Great Depression closed the town's bank and cut the population to 603 by 1940; businesses later shrank from fifteen in 1947 to four by 1980.

In 1983 Estelline's citizens voted to allow alcohol sales, making Estelline the only place to buy alcoholic beverages in otherwise dry Hall County.

Estelline is nationally known for traffic enforcement on U.S. 287: in 2012 the National Motorists Association ranked it #1 on its list of North America's worst speed-trap cities with populations under 50,000, and the town has long relied on fines from speeders to help pay its bills.

Estelline was the home of Hot Idea, the champion of the 1977 All-American Futurity, one of quarter horse racing's richest races.

The town still calls its government the 'Town of Estelline,' with a Town Hall and Town Council, even though Texas law treats all incorporated municipalities as cities; the Town Hall was mysteriously gutted by fire in 2012.

Estelline's population has declined for decades — 194 residents in 1990, 168 in 2000, 145 in 2010, and 121 in the 2020 census — and its students are served by the Memphis Independent School District, about 14 miles northwest.