Texas Ghost Towns

[Charles B]

Howdy to the great state of Texas and all of the ghost town hunters in this region. I hope this will be a great resource for all of you. If you get out to some of these towns, how about shooting me some pictures; I'd sure appreciate it.
Well here's to Texas!


Cheers

ACME, Hardeman County, Texas

A gypsum-mining town located on US 287 and SH 285, four miles northwest of Quanah and seven or eight south of the Red River (TX/OK state line). It is just east of where the railroad line passes under US 287. The deposits were discovered in 1890, by James Sickler. It was a company town, and in 1930 had 515 people, four stores, a post office and a school. According to T. Lindsay Baker in his 1986 book Ghost Towns of Texas, the ruins of the old town lie east of the present very large, still active gypsum plant. The GNIS aerial photo isn

 

[Charles B]

ALANREED, Gray, County, Texas

This near ghost, roadside community along the south side of I-40, at EXIT 135, 44 miles east of Amarillo. This old town is full of memories of a day when it was a busy highway town along old US 66. Many buildings remain, some occupied, some not.

 

[Charles B]

ARNO, Reeves County, Texas

Not much of this town remaines except the roofless shell of a rock building, the tumbled wooden remains of a wooden building and what appears to be a loading platform along the old railroad line running just west of the Pecos River/county line. The dirt road turns to mud in wet weather; 4x4 is a must. It is located along the old railroad grade about a half mile west of SH 302, about 1.5 miles northeast of the junction with US 285, about 18 miles north-northwest of Pecos.

The rock-walled building was fronted with a concrete sidewalk that extended beyond the perimeter of the structure and off into the desert scrub. The roofless shell is showing its age, and large cracks indicate show the building

 

[Charles B]

BELKNAP, Young County, Texas

A military post support town on the north side of Fort Circle (road) a half mile east of FM 61, three miles south of Newcastle. The town was due east of Fort Belknap, which was established in 1851. In the 1860s this county seat, travel center and good-times town with its couple hundred residents, bustled with commerce as well as catered to the more prurient tastes of the soldiers. By 1880 only 44 people remained. The fort is on the west side of FM 61 and was restored in 1936 as part of the Texas Centennial celebration. Only rubble and the cemetery remain of the town.

CEMETERY:

Latitude: 33.1523350 / 33

 

[Charles B]

CHALK MOUNTAIN, Erath County, Texas

Sits along a slight bend in US 67, just west of the eastern county line. Not much remains here except a huge transmission tower, a store/gas station, an abandoned building and a house.

The combination gas station/store was closed and appears that it still operates. On the south side of the highway, across the street from the market is a pair of small buildings. One is a brick house that appears occupied and the other is what looks like may have been a small, combination store and gas station combo. The wooden Masonic Lodge is gone.

This tiny map dot was a busy little town in 1890, consisting of two churches, a post office, a school and a store. The population in 1900 was 81, but only a few people now remain.

Latitude: 32.1543106 / 32

 

[Charles B]

CLAIRMONT, Kent County, Texas

Founded in 1888, this was a ranching center at the junction of SH 208/US 380, 13 miles southwest of Jayton. In 1892, Clairmont became the county seat, and by 1900 had 65 people, a post office, and a two-story courthouse with attached jail made from locally quarried stone. Through the 1930s and 1940s the population hovered around 200, but after WW II ended, the people left, and in 1954 the county seat was transferred to Jayton. In 1990, 15 people remained.

Latitude: 33.1664842 / 33

 

[Charles B]

COLLIER, Reeves County, Texas

Just had DejaVu....Collier....Reeves...
Actor Christopher Reeves played the character Richard Collier in the classic movie "Somewhere in Time" along with the beautiful Jane Seymore. It's a wonderful movie...love story...to watch with your wife. O.K. enough of that.....Let's get back to rounding up these ghost towns!

Collier is a forgotten site located three miles north of Verhalen. This location was once a gravel quarry and shipping station along the railroad. The population has been 0 since at least 1980, and today the site consists of a private residence and an old gravel plant tucked to the east of the highway and behind a fence.

Latitude: 31.1676408 / 31

 

[Charles B]

CUTHBERT, Mitchell County, Texas

Cuthbert is now a barren site located about nine miles east of Vincent at the junction of CR 226/RR 1229. Cuthbert was

 

[Charles B]

DABNEY, Uvalde County, Texas

Dabney, Texas was situated about twenty miles west of Uvalde, on an FM road, which intersects US 90. It is an old mining town, which once mined rock for highway construction purposes and housed many of the miners who worked there. At one time John White had his White's Mines Company there, which mined the rock for decades. In the 1980's White sold out to Vulcan Materials.