Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads.
Well, I have always been intrigued with the history of the "Wild West", outlaws, locations around when our state was founded that are no longer. Last year I read some old books about my hometown, and county from back in the logging days, and days of "Wanted posters", etc.. and found that the famous outlaw John Wesley Hardin is from there. I also read some of the stories about the shoot outs, and found that for a brief period in exile Jessie James served as a temporary Deputy. Growing up I never imagined there would be so much history from such a one light town.
I decided to do further studies about the land my families ranch lay on, and found that there used to be 2 school districts on the bordering ranch back when busses weren't around, and schools were small and more abundant due to the fact that you needed to be able to walk to them. I went walking back in the woods and found an old cemetary, the old school buildings, an old mill, and some old broken down bridges and pull cars. I also decided to go to the old ghost town of "Sumter" which was in the middle of a forest you had to travel by Jeep, or other 4x4 to get to, and found alot of old buildings, and basicaly a town abandoned. Something you may see out of a scary movie.
Anyway, I have since been facinated with these places, and collect old 1800's maps in order to locate significant areas. Have any of you any knowledge of any places like this in your area, or ever had any interest in these places? Oh! don't confuse "Ghost Towns" with small one horse towns. I've noticed that being a huge issue with some others who didn't know the difference.
Well, I have always been intrigued with the history of the "Wild West", outlaws, locations around when our state was founded that are no longer. Last year I read some old books about my hometown, and county from back in the logging days, and days of "Wanted posters", etc.. and found that the famous outlaw John Wesley Hardin is from there. I also read some of the stories about the shoot outs, and found that for a brief period in exile Jessie James served as a temporary Deputy. Growing up I never imagined there would be so much history from such a one light town.
I decided to do further studies about the land my families ranch lay on, and found that there used to be 2 school districts on the bordering ranch back when busses weren't around, and schools were small and more abundant due to the fact that you needed to be able to walk to them. I went walking back in the woods and found an old cemetary, the old school buildings, an old mill, and some old broken down bridges and pull cars. I also decided to go to the old ghost town of "Sumter" which was in the middle of a forest you had to travel by Jeep, or other 4x4 to get to, and found alot of old buildings, and basicaly a town abandoned. Something you may see out of a scary movie.
Anyway, I have since been facinated with these places, and collect old 1800's maps in order to locate significant areas. Have any of you any knowledge of any places like this in your area, or ever had any interest in these places? Oh! don't confuse "Ghost Towns" with small one horse towns. I've noticed that being a huge issue with some others who didn't know the difference.
Ok ya made me giggle. My Mom is very interested in genealogy and has done extensive work on locating her past. Well your mention of Jesse James the famous outlaw happens to be Moms distant cousin. I dont know how that relates to me though.
The previous place I lived we were a 3 hour drive to southern Utah which is long known to have more ghost towns then anyplace else. Also we did the drive to Northern Nevada where good ol Virginia City still stands. Virginia City is where the old TV sitcom Bonanza was filmed. Little has changed in Virginia City from 1880.
We went to the old child hood home of Billy The Kid. It is privatly owned now but there is a Billy The Kid Museum nearby in a tiny town called Beaver, Utah. Back in dem dar hills is where the famous outlaws would hide after a bank robbery. No pig Sheriff would dare go out into those hills with caves everywhere....too dangerous. We did a trail ride out there on rented Horses. There is some writing on the walls from those like Machine Gun Kelly, Bonny and Clyde and Butch Cassidy. This writing is not put there for tourists. It is real. Few know of the existance of these writings but some trail ride guides know.
I LOVE that stuff!! I didn't start getting a real interest until we moved to Colorado and there are ghost towns all over out there. We actually have gotten out and walked around and explored some of them. I would love to find ones in Texas. I know there are several but don't know where they are in relation to me or how far I'd have to travel. I guess I need to start doing some homework
I've got a link for you that actually surprises me. I always thought this place still existed as a really small town off of I-20 in West Texas, with a couple of gas stations at mile marker 22. And was I ever surprised to learn this.....
yep, right down the road from me, in a town called "The Grove", which is also my hangout-they have jamborees there on third Sat of the month. and jamborees just outside the actual ghost town, but still in the town of The Grove, at a private garage every Sat.
it is still totally intact, with the whole town there-bank, postoffice, mercantile, saloon (Cocklebur Saloon) with swinging doors).
google it and you will find plenty of info. and if you want to see the jamboree, just search for The Grove or Cocklebur Saloon on youtube and you will find my videos i have recorded there
the town is for sale for a million dollars. owned by a great guy, Moody Anderson. he piddles around there usually all weekend maintaining the town, and if you drop in, he's likely to give you a full personal tour and invite you into the saloon for a coke. (that's how i got introduced to the town and have been a regular ever since!)
The Grove is a special place in my heart, and being there during the jamborees every Sat nite, brings as much tears to my eyes as my Sunday mornings at Cowboy Church. this IS small town Texas at its' best. and to think, most of Ft Hood and its' 50,000 soldiers, plus contractors/civilians, dont even KNOW that this exists in their backyard. HOW SAD. They aint livin.
Bannack Montana. It's not in Texas but it's go a neat history. Henry Plummer was the sheriff but what the citizens of Bannack didn't know was he was also the one who was the leader of the gang that robbed stagecoachs. Go to www.ledgendsofamerica.com
Clairemont is a good ghost town; lots of interesting structures remain. Same with Desdemona, The Grove, Gruene and Justiceburg.
The queens of them all however, are Indianola (the town killed by Mother Nature) and Thurber, which was once the largest settlement between Fort Worth and El Paso; the current population is estimated to be about 5.
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
Ghost Towns of Texas
Linear Mode
