State atlas · filed under TX

Ghost Towns of Texas

Texas has every kind of ghost: cotton gins and courthouse losers on the plains, border and buffalo-soldier posts, oil boomtowns that moved with the derricks, and the mercury camps of the Big Bend.

745 sites surveyed across Texas — 9 charted with full records so far, entered by year of settlement. The rest are awaiting verification.

✕Charted — click for the recordSurveyed — records pending

Survey note

The federal place-name archive records 745 vanished or historical sites in Texas — ghost towns, mining camps, townsites, and railroad stops. We chart them a few at a time, as the records can be verified. Every mark on this map is a place that once had a name.

TownYearsLast pop.Classification

IndianolaCalhoun Co.1846–18870Vanished Place Belle PlainCallahan Co.1876–19050Vanished Place ToyahReeves Co.1881–196961Near-Abandoned SherwoodIrion Co.1886–193630Near-Abandoned TerlinguaBrewster Co.1888–194658Near-Abandoned ThurberErath Co.1888–19365Historic Townsite GlenrioDeaf Smith Co.1903–19765Near-Abandoned LoboCulberson Co.1907–19910Verified Ghost Town Medicine MoundHardeman Co.1908–196610Near-Abandoned

Society Pro

See Texas as the surveyors drew it, 1879 to 1919

530 USGS survey sheets from those years cover Texas. Pro lays them over today's map with a swipe between then and now, and adds every mine feature, lost place and mineral site the federal record holds for the state.

24,824mine features

2,664mineral sites

370lost places

530survey sheets

The full survey ledger

Every vanished town the federal archive records in Texas — each with its own record page, verified and expanded over time.

AcmeHardeman Co.Antelope GapMills Co.AntiochHouston Co.Atascosito CrossingColorado Co.Baby HeadLlano Co.BelknapYoung Co.Bennett PlaceBrewster Co.Bennett PlaceBrewster Co.Bennett PlaceBrewster Co.BiggersCollin Co.Black PointRefugio Co.Bluff CityHouston Co.BobbittvilleHouston Co.BuchananJohnson Co.Buffalo SpringsComal Co.Bulverde EastComal Co.Bulverde SouthComal Co.Bulverde WestComal Co.Camp WorthSan Augustine Co.Champ d'AsileLiberty Co.Childers MillBell Co.ClarksvilleCameron Co.Corpus Christi de la IsletaEl Paso Co.Crims ChapelRusk Co.DabneyUvalde Co.Deep Well CrossingHopkins Co.Dog RidgeBell Co.Ellison SpringsEastland Co.EmbreeDallas Co.Flat PrairieFannin Co.Fort LeatonPresidio Co.Fort Phantom HillJones Co.FriendshipHarrison Co.FrijoleCulberson Co.Glen EdenGrayson Co.Glenn SpringsBrewster Co.GlenrioDeaf Smith Co.GloverHouston Co.Gwinns CrossingColorado Co.Hale CityHale Co.Halls Bluff TownHouston Co.Harbor CitySan Patricio Co.Harpers CrossingHopkins Co.Haw CreekFayette Co.Horsehead CrossingCrane Co.IolantheSterling Co.JacobsCottle Co.KilkareHarris Co.KimballBosque Co.La LomitaHidalgo Co.LeadayColeman Co.McKinleyvilleHouston Co.MenaRed River Co.MerrimanEastland Co.Mineral SpringsCaldwell Co.Mormon GroveGrayson Co.Mustang PrairieHouston Co.NashvilleMilam Co.Negros Liberty SettlementLiberty Co.New HopeDenton Co.New WashingtonHarris Co.OglesLampasas Co.Old Round RockWilliamson Co.Old TascosaOldham Co.OrianaStonewall Co.ParnellRoberts Co.ParrisCollin Co.Pecan GroveCoryell Co.PineryCulberson Co.PittsvilleFort Bend Co.Pleasant GroveBastrop Co.Pleasant GroveLee Co.Port SullivanMilam Co.RenovaAngelina Co.RickerBrown Co.Round HouseNavarro Co.Santa RitaReagan Co.SavannahRed River Co.SemproniusAustin Co.SenterfittLampasas Co.Shafter LakeAndrews Co.ShilohBastrop Co.Soldiers MoundDickens Co.Spanish BluffBowie Co.Springers RanchHemphill Co.Star RouteCochran Co.SumpterTrinity Co.TaitonWharton Co.TinajaBrewster Co.WatkinsTerrell Co.West HamiltonShelby Co.WestbrookBlanco Co.

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