The story
Texola sits a mile from the Texas border on old Route 66, in country so unsure of itself that the state line was surveyed eight times — some early residents were told they lived in Texas, then Oklahoma, without ever moving. The town grew up around the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad, which arrived in 1902, and later along the Mother Road; its population peaked at 581 in the 1930 census, with stores, a cotton economy, and a tiny one-room territorial jail.
The road that made Texola also drained it. As traffic left Route 66 for the interstate through the second half of the century, the town shrank steadily — 106 people by 1980, then 45 by 1990 — and the businesses closed one by one. Barely forty people remain.
Texola has become a favorite stop for Route 66 travelers precisely because it is so nearly empty: the little jail, the old Magnolia gas station, boarded storefronts, and a much-photographed wall painted 'There is No Place Like Texola.'
What remains today
The one-room territorial jail, the 1930s Magnolia service station, boarded storefronts, and Route 66 roadside relics.
Questions from the field
- Is Texola, Oklahoma a ghost town?
- Nearly — its population fell from 581 in 1930 to about 40 today. A handful of residents remain among the abandoned Route 66 buildings, making it a popular near-ghost stop on the Mother Road.
From the field
The most valuable part of this record is the part only visitors can write.
Stamp your passport
Check in at Texola — GPS-verified visits earn an inked stamp.
File a field report
Road conditions, what's still standing, what's gone — your report joins the record.
Add photographs
Credited, dated, and preserved as part of Texola's permanent record.
No field reports yet — sign in to file the first.
Primary sources for this record
- — USGS GNIS feature 1098827
- — Wikipedia — Texola, Oklahoma
- — Oklahoma Historical Society — Encyclopedia