Ghost Towns of Texas (Q-S)

County: Jasper
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Quihi, TX

County: Medina
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Latitude / Longitude: 29°23’30″N 99°01’48″W
Elevation: 843 ft (257 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Quihi is a ghost town in Medina County, in the U.S. state of Texas. Located 9 miles (14 km) north of Hondo, it sits at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 2676 and Quihi Creek. In 1936, Quihi received centennial marker Number 5537, a gray granite marker placed to commemorate the Texas Centennial.
Remains: In 1845, Henri Castro laid out the town on Quihi Lake. The first of Castro’s colony’s families who arrived in 1846 were from the Alsace region. One week after their arrival, the colonists tried to fortify the settlement against Indian depredations, but were targets of repeated incidents until the 1870s. Bethlehem Lutheran Church was established in 1852, and a private school opened in 1856.
Current Status: The Quihi Schützen Verein (marksmen club) was established in 1890. The club is still active but renamed the Quihi Gun Club and claiming a county-wide membership of upwards of 1,000. The Quihi population has fluctuated over the years, but has remained small.
Remarks: Louis Boehle was the first postmaster when the Quihi post office was established in 1854. The post office was discontinued in 1872, and the mail routed to New Fountain.

Quincy, TX

County: Bee
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Rath City, TX

County: Stonewall
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Latitude / Longitude: 33°00’35″N 100°10’54″W
Elevation: 1,660 ft (510 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established: 1876
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Comments: Rath City was a frontier town which existed for fewer than five years and is now a ghost town. The town was located on the Double Mountain Fork Brazos River, 14 miles northwest of Hamlin in southern Stonewall County, Texas, United States.
Remains: The town was founded in 1876. Its original establishment was meant to capitalize on the buffalo trade and it was Stonewall County’s first settlement. In 1877, the town housed a store, two saloons, a dance hall, and a few tents and dugouts. The town’s namesake was Charles Rath, whose store, built in 1875, was the structure around which the village grew. A declining buffalo population ended the settlement and it was abandoned in 1880.
Current Status: In February 1877, after buffalo hunter Marshall Sewell was killed by Native Americans, Rath City became a rallying point for over 300 frontiersmen. A group of 45 men left Rath City in pursuit of a Comanche war party led by Black Horse, in a campaign known as the Buffalo Hunters’ War or Staked Plains War. The men pursued the Comanche to a site in present-day Lubbock. A battle ensued on March 18, 1877, at Yellow House Canyon; its results were inconclusive. The hunters returned to Rath City, thus ending one of the last Indian campaigns on the southern plains.
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Rayner, TX

County: Stonewall
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Red Barn, TX

County: Pecos
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Red River Station, TX

County: Montague
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Latitude / Longitude: 33°52’23″N 97°48’31″W
Elevation: 842 ft (257 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established: 1859
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Comments: Red River Station is a ghost town south of the Red River at Salt Creek in northwestern Montague County, Texas, United States.
Remains: Native Americans long used the fertile areas near the Red River for farming and hunting. In 1859-1860, Anglo-Americans began settling the area as the population of Native Americans dwindled. During the American Civil War, Confederate troops were stationed near Red River Station and patrolled along the south side of the Red River, the border between Texas and Indian Territory.
Current Status: When the Gainesville, Henrietta and Western Railway (1886–87) crossed northern Montague County, its right-of-way crossed south of Red River Station, through present-day Nocona and Belcherville. As towns sprang up along the new rail line and with the end to the cattle drives, Red River Station faced extinction. A tornado also struck in the late 1880s, destroying much of the community. Rather than rebuild, citizens moved south to the communities along the new rail line and Red River Station again became farm land. In 1887, the post office closed and the community ceased to exist. Today, nothing remains of the former community except the cemetery.
Remarks: In December 1863, a destructive Indian raid occurred which spread from Indian Territory, across the Red River at Red River Station, through Montague County and into Cooke County, Texas. The Indians were between 200-300 strong and massacred a number of settler families. They were chased by the Confederate military before disappearing back into Indian Territory. After the Civil War, cattle drives began moving from south and central Texas to Kansas, and Red River Station was the last stop in Texas on the Chisolm Trail. Virtually all cattle driven along the Chisolm Trail crossed at Red River Station. The town grew and citizens applied for a post office in 1873, initially naming it Salt Creek. In 1884, the post office’s name changed to Red River Station. But the post office and the community would be short-lived.

Regency, TX

County: Mills
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Remlig, TX

Rexville, TX

County: Austin
Zip Code: 77474
Latitude / Longitude: 29°43’35″N 96°12’48″W
Elevation: 180 ft (50 m)
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Comments: Rexville or Reckville was an unincorporated area in Austin County, in the U.S. state of Texas. The former location of the community, now a ghost town, is in a rural area between Sealy in Austin County and Eagle Lake in Colorado County. The name Rexville is still used to identify a United States Geological Survey (USGS) quadrangle map.
Remains: The area was first settled by Anglo-Americans in the 1830s. Originally called Reckville, the settlement was founded by German immigrants in the 1870s about 6 miles (9.7 km) southwest of Sealy. In the 1880s, a spur line of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was built between Sealy and Eagle Lake. Though the town became a flag stop on the railroad, few people moved there. The Rexville community never had a post office but got its mail from Sealy. By the 1950s there was nothing in the area but a triangulation station on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and a few farms. One source lists Rexville as a ghost town.
Current Status: The one-time community of Rexville was situated at 29°43’35″N 96°12’48″W on a former railroad right-of-way about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) north-northwest of the intersection of Rexville and Mieth Roads. This junction is located on Rexville Road 4.9 miles (7.9 km) southwest of Sealy and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwest of Farm to Market Road 3013 (FM 3013) on Mieth Road. The disused railroad right-of-way converges with Rexville Road about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to the southwest of Rexville and Mieth. There is a large Wal-Mart distribution center to the northeast at FM 3013 and Farm to Market Road 3538. Rexville Road starts near U.S. Route 90 in Sealy and crosses Interstate 10 at a bridge near Sealy High School. There is no interchange. A short distance southwest of the overpass, the pavement ends and Rexville Road becomes gravel-topped. On the 1960 Rexville USGS 7.5′ Quadrangle, Rexville is marked on a railroad siding beside a gravel pit on the west side of East Bernard Creek.
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Rheingold, TX

County: Gillespie
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Latitude / Longitude: 30°20’48″N 98°41’14″W
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Established: 1873
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Comments: Rheingold School is located at 334 Rheingold School Road, in Gillespie County, Texas. In 1949, the school was consolidated with Fredericksburg Independent School District. The building is now used as a community center. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in Texas on May 6, 2005.
Remains: The Rheingold community was founded in 1859 on North Grape Creek, 13.5 miles (21.7 km) northeast of Fredericksburg. Colonists included Heinrich Herbert, Gottfried Ottmers, Conrad Bock, Peter Herber, Heinrich Eckhardt, and Peter Fahrenhorst. The settlement became known as Rheingold, because the majority land and business owners were the widows and sons of German immigrants Jacob and Peter Gold, victims of a cholera epidemic. At one time, Rheingold had a general store, cotton gin, dance hall, blacksmith shop and a gasoline service station, most of it owned by the Gold family. William Grobe was the postmaster when the community received a post office under the name Rheingold in 1878. The post office continued under the original name of Rheingold until 1907, when the mail service was transferred to Willow City. The original name of Rheingold was officially shortened to Gold when the area received a new post office in 1908. The Gold post office was discontinued in 1931, and the community received its mail from Johnson City.
Current Status: The school was consolidated with the Fredericksburg Independent School District in 1949. Rheingold School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in Texas on May 6, 2005. The building is now used as a community center.
Remarks: In 1873, William Gold donated 2 acres (0.01 km2; 0.00 sq mi) of land to accommodate the need for a school for the community’s children. Labor and materials for the schoolhouse came from area families. The first structure was a 12′ x 14′ log house. A replacement frame schoolhouse was later built. The school had an indoor wood stove for heat, and separate outhouses for girls and boys. The water supply came from a hand pump in the yard. August Schuchard was the first teacher, who taught grades 1 through 8. The school was tuition free for the first six months, but required a payment of tuition if the student continued to the end of the school year.

Ridout, TX

County: Wilson
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Rock Island, TX

County: Washington
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Comments: Rock Island was a settlement located on the Brazos River in Texas, United States, south of Graball, and northwest of Hempstead. The town once had a post office, church, and a highly acclaimed boys academy.
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Roosevelt, TX

County: Kimble
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Latitude / Longitude: 30°29’28″N 100°03’18″W
Elevation: 1,909 ft (582 m)
Time Zone: Mountain (MST)Central (CST) (UTC-6) (UTC-7)
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Comments: Roosevelt is a ghost town located 16 miles west of Junction on State Highway Loop 291 in Kimble County, Texas, United States. In 1997, Recorded Texas Historic Landmark number 4343 was designated to acknowledge the community of Roosevelt, Texas.
Remains: The establishment of Roosevelt happened when Alice C.E. Wagoner was appointed postmistress and a post office was established on August 22, 1898. Wagoner applied for the community as a different name, but the United States Postal Service named the town Roosevelt. It is presumed that the postal service chose the name for Theodore Roosevelt, who had made headlines the month before on July 1, 1898 with his charge up San Juan Hill with the Rough Riders. Roosevelt’s 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, known as the Rough Riders, was organized and trained at San Antonio on May 9–19, 1898.
Current Status: Roosevelt was a shipping point for feed and grain for local sheep and goat farmers. Horses were bred in Roosevelt for the United States Cavalry, and also for the national polo market. In the early part of the 20th century, Roosevelt hosted polo matches.
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Rooster Springs, TX

County: Hays
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Ross City, TX

County: Howard
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Ruidosa, TX

County: Presidio
Zip Code: 79843
Latitude / Longitude: 29°58’59″N 104°40’46″W
Elevation: 2,795 ft (852 m)
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Comments: Ruidosa is an unincorporated community in Presidio County, Texas, United States.
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Runnels City, TX

County: Runnels
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Rustler Springs, TX

County: Culberson
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Salona, TX

County: Montague
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Salt Flat, TX

County: Hudspeth
Zip Code: 79847
Latitude / Longitude: 31°44’37″N 105°5’34″W
Elevation: 3,730 ft (1,140 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
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Comments: Salt Flat is a ghost town in northeastern Hudspeth County, Texas, United States. It lies along the concurrent U.S. Routes 62 and 180 north of the Census-designated place (CDP) of Sierra Blanca, the county seat of Hudspeth County. Its elevation is 3,730 feet (1,137 m). Although Salt Flat is unincorporated, it has a ZIP code of 79847. The headquarters of the nearby Guadalupe Mountains National Park uses this ZIP Code although it is located closer to Pine Springs, which has no post office.
Remains: Just outside the community there is a dry salt pan. The San Elizario Salt War was a dispute over ownership and access to these salt deposits.
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Salt Gap, TX

County: McCullouch
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Latitude / Longitude: 31°18’14″N 99°35’57″W
Elevation: 1,670 ft (510 m)
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Comments: Salt Gap is an unincorporated community in McCulloch County, Texas, United States. Salt Gap is located at the junction of Farm to Market Road 503 and Farm to Market Road 504 in western McCulloch County. The community had a post office from 1905 to 1913 and from 1924 to after 1930.
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Current Status: Its population was 25 as of 2000.
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Sam Fordyce, TX

County: Hidalgo
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Sanco, TX

County: Coke
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Latitude / Longitude: 32° 0′ 30″ N, 100° 31′ 26″ W
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Comments: Sanco, Texas is a near-abandoned unincorporated community in Coke County, Texas, sixteen miles northwest of Robert Lee east of Highway 208 on an unnamed county road.
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Current Status: In 1990, the population was a mere thirty people.
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Sandy Hills, TX

County: Wilson
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Comments: Sandy Hills was a small historic settlement which was located in western Wilson County, Texas (USA), five miles west of La Vernia at the intersection of county roads 321 and 361.
Remains: The community of Sandy Hills, Texas was a small settlement in Northwestern Wilson County, Texas. All that remains of the settlement is a small brick school house located at the intersection of county roads 361 and 357. Some of the earliest settlers in Sandy Hills were Captain Joseph Dornstin, and Charles Rowley, the father of the local outlaw Bob Rowley.
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Santa Rita, TX

County: Cameron
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Latitude / Longitude: 25° 58′ 46″ N, 97° 35′ 56″ W
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Comments: Santa Rita, Texas, now a ghost town, was a town near Brownsville, Texas in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It is believed to have been the first government seat in the county in 1848, and perhaps the earliest town to have been named by English-speaking people from the area. Around the late 18th century, this area was a ranching community, even before the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas was established in 1826. When Brownsville, Texas was finally elected as the county seat a few months later, most of the residents from Santa Rita left to the winning townsite. By the late 1930s, nothing remained in Santa Rita.
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Current Status: Today, Santa Rita is found near the colonia of Villa Nueva (San Pedro), a historical site in the Rio Grande Valley, northwest of the city of Brownsville, Texas.
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Santo Tomás, TX

County: Webb
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Latitude / Longitude: 27° 44′ 39″ N, 99° 45′ 5″ W
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Comments: Santo Tomás was a coal-mining town near Laredo in west central Webb County, Texas, United States. The town was founded in 1801 by Antonio Gonzales and was named in honor of Saint Thomas. During the colonial era the land was used primarily for ranching. Pure quality cannel coal was found and extracted in 1873. In June 1882, the narrow-gauge Rio Grande and Pecos Railroad was built to transport the coal. By 1900, the town grew and had a population of approximately 1,000. By 1920, all the mines closed and the population of Santo Tomás decreased to 18.
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Current Status: Today, Santo Tomás is a ghost town near the Colombia-Solidarity International Bridge.
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Sarahville de Viesca, TX

County: Falls
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Latitude / Longitude: 31°15’00″N 95°55’15″W
Elevation: 98 m (321 ft)
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Comments: Sarahville de Viesca or Fort Milam or Bucksnort is a ghost town in Falls County, Texas, United States. The settlement was established in 1834 by Sterling C. Robertson and named for his mother Mrs. Sarah (née Maclin) Robertson and Agustín Viesca, the Mexican governor of Coahuila y Tejas. The site was located at the falls of the Brazos River, where the river formerly dropped 10 feet (3 m) and where a well-used ford was located. The town was temporarily deserted in 1836 during the Runaway Scrape and permanently abandoned soon afterward because of native American raids.
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Current Status: Fort Milam was built on the west-bank site but abandoned a few years later in favor of the town of Bucksnort which occupied the east bank. Bucksnort vanished when the nearby town of Marlin was founded. There is a county park and historical marker located where Farm to Market Road 712 crosses the Brazos south of Marlin.
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Saspamco, TX

County: Wilson
Zip Code: 78112
Latitude / Longitude: 29°14’04″N 98°17’45″W
Elevation: 479 ft (146 m)
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Comments: Saspamco is an unincorporated community in Wilson County, Texas, United States. It is situated approximately 11 miles northwest of Floresville. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had an estimated population of 443 in 2000. Saspamco was named after the San Antonio Sewer Pipe Manufacturing Company which began operations around 1901 using the red clay of the area to manufacture tile products. Saspamco is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Remains: A post office was opened in 1901, as well as a loading switch with the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway. By 1915, the town boasted a population of 125 people as well as two Churches, one Catholic and one Baptist. The town saw its heyday in the 1930s when the Saspamco plant by the same name could produce 120 tons of sewer pipe a day. In 1917, the State of Texas’s special legislature granted funds for the now-defunct Saspamco Independent School District to purchase lands in Bexar County to expand its school system.
Current Status: For a number of years in the late 1960s until the early 1980s, the quarry left from the brick manufacturing plant was used as a landfill by a private owner who used to charge nominal fees for garbage companies to dump their waste there. In the 1980s, the former TNRCC (now called the TCEQ) closed the facility as a landfill because of a lack of a landfill permit, and not having adequate drainage facilities. During this era the area saw an explosion of both the rodent and the rattlesnake populations. Since then, these populations have returned to normal levels.
Remarks: By the 1960s, most of the businesses in Saspamco closed, although the pipe company continued operations for a number of years later. Clay pipe was on the decline, as steel pipe and eventually PVC pipe greatly reduced the demand for the heavy and less reliable clay pipe manufactured in the town. In the mid-1980s, Tyson Foods opened a large poultry hatchery nearby, though this was only open for about 10 years before the facility was relocated elsewhere.

Senterfitt, TX

County: Lampasas
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Shannon, TX

County: Clay
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Latitude / Longitude: 33° 28′ 26″ N, 98° 15′ 32″ W
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Comments: Shannon is an unincorporated community on Farm to Market Road 175 20 miles southwest of Henrietta in far south central Clay County, Texas, United States, approximately 1/2 mile north of the Jack County line.
Remains: It was established in 1878 and was first known as Stampede Springs. The name was quickly changed to Shannon in honor of a pioneer family from the Shannon Valley in Ireland. A post office opened in 1893. By 1910 the local school enrolled 28 students and had two teachers.
Current Status: By 1920, its population was reported as 112. Its population remained around 100 until 1970 when only 80 residents were reported. By 1980 the population reached its current level. There are currently no business, schools or post office in Shannon.
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Sher-Han, TX

County: Hansford
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Comments: Sher-Han is a ghost town in northwestern Hansford County, Texas near the Oklahoma border. The town was constructed during World War II as an industrial camp for employees of the Phillips Petroleum Company, the Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company, and the Michigan Wisconsin Pipe Line Company.
Remains: Sher-Han’s name was derived from the Phillips Hansford natural gas liquids extraction plant and its Sherman plant. The site was in a remote location with no paved roads so the companies built low rent housing for their employees. At its peak Sher-Han had a population of about 400 people with 105 homes, a community center, a Baptist church and a grocery store with a gas station.
Current Status: Sher-han was shut down in the 1960s as it became a liability to have families living close to an industrial plant storing potentially explosive materials. The church and most houses were moved although some houses were abandoned. The rest of the town’s buildings were closed.
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Sherwood, TX

County: Irion
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Latitude / Longitude: 31°16’53″N 100°47’43″W
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Comments: Sherwood is a ghost town in Irion County, Texas, United States. It served as the county seat until 1939, when it was supplanted by neighboring Mertzon.
Remains: Sherwood was founded in 1886, and when Irion County was organized in 1889, it became the county’s seat of government and a courthouse was built. The town received a post office in 1881, with William S. Kelly as first postmaster and by 1900 the population exceeded 300. When the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway built a line across the county in 1910, Sherwood was bypassed and the new railroad town of Mertzon was established. As was the case with many small towns bypassed in the early days of rail transportation, Sherwood was essentially doomed. Commerce soon began to move to Mertzon, and in 1939 the seat of government relocated there as well.
Current Status: Today, Sherwood is home to an estimated 73 residents; the former Irion County Courthouse, built in 1901, still stands at the center of town and functions as a community center. The post office closed in 1974.
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Signal Hill, TX

County: Hutchinson
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Silver, TX

County: Coke
Zip Code: 76949
Latitude / Longitude: 32°4’15″N 100°40’57″W
Elevation: 2,100 ft (600 m)
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Comments: Silver is an unincorporated community in northwestern Coke County, Texas, United States. Its elevation is 2,100 feet (640 m). Although Silver is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 76949; the ZCTA for ZIP Code 76949 had a population of 30 at the 2000 census. Founded in 1890, the post office was temporarily closed from 1907 to 1908.
Remains: Founded in the 1870s, Silver was long a center of ranching. However, the discovery of oil shortly after the end of World War II caused the community’s population to boom, although the community has since declined.
Current Status: The oil companies moved their employees out in 1966. The school district then consolidated with Robert Lee ISD and closed the local school. Most of the houses in town were moved to other places, leaving the settlement largely depopulated.
Remarks: Silver was home to several camps of oil company employees in the 1950s and 1960s. It had an independent school district, which provided housing for teachers, offering education to the 8th grade. The town also had three churches, Baptist, Methodist and Church of Christ, a gasoline station and grocery store.

Sivells Bend, TX

County: Cooke
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Latitude / Longitude: 33°50’59″N 97°13’26″W
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Comments: Sivells Bend is an unincorporated community on Farm to Market Road 1201 just four miles south of the Oklahoma border and 20 miles north of the county seat, Gainesville in Cooke County, Texas, United States.
Remains: Early settlers from Kentucky Town, Texas arrived in 1850 and established a general store; however, north central Texas was still under constant threat from Native American attacks and settlers abandoned the store. Around 1860, settlers returned to stay and established a farming community. During the Civil War, a company of Confederate soldiers were stationed at Sivells Bend to prevent aggression from across the Red River. As the Chisholm Trail came through north central Texas in the early 1870s, a small branch of the trail went through the Sivells Bend area. The arrival of cowpunchers led to development and by 1872, Sivells Bend had a post office. By 1900, the small community reported a population of 100 with various stores, physicians, cotton gins, and a small school. But its remote location, the growth of Gainesville, and the lack of a railroad or major highway would hinder further development. Even the discovery of oil in the area couldn’t abate the decline. The post office closed in 1973, but the small community retains two churches, several homes, and its independent school (though high school students are bussed to nearby Muenster).
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Slide, TX

County: Lubbock
Zip Code:
Latitude / Longitude: 33°24’50″N 101°55’48″W
Elevation: 3,255 ft (992 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established: 1890
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Comments: Slide is an unincorporated community in Lubbock County, Texas, United States. It lies at the junction of FM 1730 and FM 41, 13 miles south of Lubbock, and has an estimated population of 44. The community is part of the Lubbock metropolitan area.
Remains: Established in the 1890s, Slide is the second-oldest remaining community in Lubbock County, behind Lubbock itself. Originally known as Block Twenty, the community got its unusual name in 1903 when surveyor W.D. Sandefer discovered that most of Block Twenty’s structures had been built approximately two miles east of their proper locations. To rectify the error, all of the community’s buildings were placed on skids and ‘slid’ two miles to the west, and Block Twenty was henceforth referred to as Slide to commemorate the event.
Current Status: Throughout its history, Slide has remained a rural cotton farming community; its population never has exceeded 50 residents. Slide did have its own post office twice in its history, once from 1904-1915 and again from 1917-1929. The last businesses closed in the 1970s, but the community’s population remained unchanged at about 44, a figure it maintained through to the 2000 Census.
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Smeltertown, TX

County: El Paso
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Smithfield, TX

County: Tarrant
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Latitude / Longitude: 32° 52′ 15″ N, 97° 12′ 55″ W
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Comments: Smithfield is a former town in north-central Tarrant County, Texas. Located 10 miles southwest of the city of Grapevine, it was originally named Zion after the Methodist Church. A Masonic lodge and businesses existed in the city by 1876. After the donation of land for a church and cemetery, the city was renamed after donor Eli Smith who moved to the area from Missouri in 1859. Fires in 1890 and 1929 destroyed many areas of commerce in the city. However, its population remained steady through the 1930s. The city was annexed by North Richland Hills in 1958; however, Smithfield Middle School and Smithfield Cemetery still carry on the name of the former town.
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Soash, TX

County: Howard
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Comments: Soash, Texas is a ghost town in Howard County, Texas. It was established by the Soash Development Company in 1909.
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Sowers, TX

County: Dallas
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Latitude / Longitude: 32°49’42″N 96°59’26″W
Elevation: 531 ft (162 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established: 1848
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Comments: Sowers is a ghost town located approximately 11 miles northwest of Dallas, Texas in Dallas County. Today, the once rural community is located entirely within the boundaries of Irving, Texas.
Remains: Sowers was settled in the late 1840s and by 1884 had a population of seventy-five and possessed several businesses including a blacksmith, a church, a doctor, a druggist, a school, and two steam gristmill-cotton gins. A post office was established in 1881, it and the town were named after early pioneer E. D. Sowers. The population was listed at 121 residents in 1905 and remained at or near that figure until the 1950s, when the community’s last reported population was a mere thirty residents in 1956. Sowers was annexed by Irving soon thereafter.
Current Status: Of the original townsite, only the cemetery remains.
Remarks: Sowers gained notoriety on November 21, 1933 when renowned criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow met family members at dusk near what is now Texas Highway 183 approximately one and a quarter miles northwest of the community, where Barrow had arranged a clandestine picnic to celebrate his mother’s fifty-ninth birthday. Since Barrow had not had a gift to present his mother, the pair planned to return the following evening for an extended visit at which time he planned to give her a gift.

Spanish Fort, TX

County: Montague
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Latitude / Longitude: 33°57’7.2318″N 97°37’36.0948″W
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Established: 1759
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Comments: Spanish Fort is an unincorporated community in north central Montague County, Texas, United States at the end of Farm Road 103 one mile south of the Red River.
Remains: Native Americans long used the fertile areas near the Red River for farming and hunting. Taovoyas, flying the French flag, established a fort here around 1750 to defend against Spanish incursions in the area. In 1759, in the Battle of the Twin Villages, a Spanish army under Col. Diego Ortiz Parrilla attacked the Taovoyas’ fortified position, but were defeated by a force of both the Taovoyas and Comanche tribes. Anglo settlers later misnamed the area Spanish Fort after assuming that the Spanish forces had built a fortification there, rather than the Native Americans.
Current Status: But Spanish Fort would suffer, as many small Texas towns did, by being bypassed by the railroad. When fencing and railroads put an end to the cattle drives, small towns not directly served by railways faltered. The 20th century saw Spanish Fort almost completely vanish. The post office, school, and newspapers all had closed by 1970. Even the oil boom in Nocona’s North Field could not save Spanish Fort, and the town has maintained a population of around 50 ever since.
Remarks: Spanish Fort received historic markers in 1936 and 1976 recognizing the Taovayo tribe culture and the 1759 confrontation with a Spanish expedition. The Spanish Fort site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Spurlin, TX

County: Hamilton
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Starrville, TX

County: Smith
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Latitude / Longitude: 32°28’12″N 95°06’58″W
Elevation: 394 ft (120 m)
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Comments: Starrville is an unincorporated community in Smith County, located in the U.S. state of Texas.
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Sterley, TX

County: Floyd
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Sterling, TX

County: Robertson
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Steward’s Mill, TX

County: Freestone
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Stiles, TX

County: Reagan
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Latitude / Longitude: 31°24’25″N 101°33’58″W
Elevation: 2,549 ft (777 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established: 1894
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Comments: Stiles is a ghost town in Reagan County, Texas, United States, about 18 mi (29 km) north of Big Lake. As the only town in the area when Reagan County was established in 1903, Stiles was made the county seat. Bypassed by the railroad and eclipsed when oil was discovered near Big Lake, Stiles was replaced with Big Lake as the county seat in 1925.
Remains: The ruins of the old 1911 Reagan County Courthouse are still visible just off Texas State Highway 137, between Big Lake and Texas State Highway 158 on Stiles Courthouse Loop. The courthouse was constructed with local stone by William Martin. In 1998, the structure burned several times, damaging the courthouse. Ralph Denton was charged with arson for several fires in Reagan County.
Current Status: Stiles lies within an ancient stream channel called Centralia Draw that rises 13 mi (21 km) northeast of Rankin in eastern Upton County (31°19’N 101°52’W) and runs east for 43 mi (69 km) across Upton, Reagan, and Irion counties to the Middle Concho River. Today, Centralia Draw remains dry most of the year except during occasional brief periods of heavy rainfall and runoff. Evidence suggests that in the past a more active spring-fed stream once flowed through Centralia Draw cutting the broad valley we see today.
Remarks: Established about 1903. Site is on land then owned by early settlers G. W. and Lizzie Stiles. Plot summarizes much frontier history, as it holds graves of cowboys who died in accidents on cattle range; one Spanish-American War veteran; victims of shootings, rattlesnake bites, epidemic dysentery. Most were pioneers of steady habits and quiet lives. Already in use for many years, the 3-acre plot was deeded to county in 1920 by J. D. Wagner, an adventuring man who lived for years alternately in Texas and in South America.

St. Mary’s of Aransas, TX

County: Refugio
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Sullivan, TX

County: Guadalupe
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Sumpter, TX

County: Trinity
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Latitude / Longitude: 31° 2′ 12″ N, 95° 3′ 14″ W
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Comments: Sumpter is a former town in Trinity County, Texas, United States. It was the first county seat of Trinity County (so designated in 1850), but after the town of Trinity was named the county seat in 1873, Sumpter was gradually abandoned.
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Sunnyside, TX

County: Wilson
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Comments: Sunnyside is a ghost town in Menard County, Texas, United States.
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Sunshine Hill, TX

County: Wichita County
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Sutherland Springs, TX

County: Wilson
Zip Code: 78161
Latitude / Longitude: 29°16’24″N 98°03’24″W
Elevation: 469 ft (143 m)
Time Zone: Central (CST) (UTC-6)
Established: 1854
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Comments: Sutherland Springs is an unincorporated community located on the old Spanish land grant of Manuel Tarin in northern Wilson County, Texas, United States. It is located on U.S. Highway 87 at the intersection of Farm Road 539, about 21 miles (34 km) east of downtown San Antonio.
Remains: Sutherland Springs was platted in 1854, and named after John Sutherland Jr., a pioneer citizen. A post office has been in operation at Sutherland Springs since 1851.
Current Status: On November 5, 2017, Devin Patrick Kelley shot and killed 26 people and injured 20 at the First Baptist Church. Kelley died afterwards. He crashed his car while being pursued by a church neighbor. He had a gunshot wound the sheriff’s department described as self-inflicted. It is the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history.
Remarks: Old Sutherland Springs occupies a portion of the South bank of the Cibolo Creek, with New Sutherland Springs (which is mostly in ruins) on the north bank of the Cibolo Creek.

Swartwout, TX

County: Polk
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Swastika, TX

County: Hale
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Quigley, TX