Dead and forgotten ? texas Ghost towns

9/24/2015 3:45:25 PM	Dead and forgotten ? texas Ghost towns
nurseshanna1972 San Marcos, TX 44, joined Oct. 2013	As time goes on I will and will also incourage people to post ghost towns or places of historical events and times in Texas history. Know of a town or place that is long gone then please post here. GRUENE, TEXAS Texas' Most Successful Ghost Town Comal County, Texas Hill Country On the Guadalupe River 3 Miles N of New Braunfels Population: Estimated at 20 Gruene is now included in the "greater New Braunfels" city limits. Before it became a thriving tourist Mecca, tiny Gruene was once thriving as a center for cotton farmers. Original settlement dates to before the Civil War and a town center developed under the name of Goodwin. In 1872 the Gruene family bought a large tract of land here and made agreements with a dozen or so families to share crop the 6,000 acres. Henry D. Gruene built a store to supply his cotton-growing sharecroppers in 1878. Location, Location, Location The store was also on the Austin-San Antonio stage line and had the best ford of the Guadalupe River for miles. It was only natural that Mr. Gruene should expand his business to include a cotton gin and when the local people needed entertainment, Mr. Gruene provided a dance hall. In the 1880s the International-Great Northern Railroad arrived and the town was thereafter known as Gruene although the post office remained as Goodwin (See postmark below). Gruene was thriving as the 20th Century arrived and provided ginning, banking and shipping for Comal County's cotton farmers. The town had depots for both the Katy and I&GN railroads. But nothing lasts forever and the boll weevil hit Gruene hard in the 1920s. The store and depots had already closed even before the Great Depression rolled around. Fast becoming a ghost town, the last nail was driven in the town's casket when it was bypassed by the highway after WWII. It sat for years as a time capsule until it was discovered and developed in the early 1970s. It has since been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. (See How Gruene, Texas was Saved from Oblivion by Cheryle Fuller. Meet singles at DateHookup.dating, we're 100% free! Join now!
9/24/2015 3:49:52 PM	Dead and forgotten ? texas Ghost towns
nurseshanna1972 San Marcos, TX 44, joined Oct. 2013	LUCKENBACH, TEXAS It's not Fredericksburg Lite Texas Ghost Town Gillespie County, Texas Hill Country 6 miles East of Fredericksburg on CR 1376, then South about 4.5 miles (Fredericksburg is 80 miles West of Austin) Official signs are stolen, so don't look for any. When you get close, you'll see some for "Uptown Luckenbach," which we may address in the future. For now, we'll talk about the historic and legendary Luckenbach. The one that's beckoning down in the shady grove. 1999 was the town's Sesquicentennial Celebration and in 2000 they had their Second 150th Anniversary Celebration. The house you'll pass on the way in is the Engle place. The sign showing a population of 3, is actually 2 now, due to a recent death in the Engle family. History in a Pecan Shell The Reverend August Engel established the Post Office in 1886. His sister Minnie (or Sophie depending on the source) was appointed Postmistress and in a romantic gesture put the name of her fiancée in the blank space for the requested name. That name was Albert Luckenbach. Years later when Albert and wife moved to Martinsburg the post office there was renamed Albert, Texas. The romantic naming of Luckenbach started a tradition of unconventionality that has become something of a lifestyle. We didn't say it was a romantic lifestyle, we said it was a unconventional lifestyle. The biggest contributor to this lifestyle would be, beyond a doubt, Hondo Crouch. Crouch, champion swimmer, raconteur, and columnist for The Comfort News, liked the shallow water of Grape Creek so much he and a few others bought Luckenbach's 10 or so acres from the Engel family in 1970. Mr. Crouch used Luckenbach and its tranquility as a tongue-in-cheek comparison to the nearby high-priced spread of LBJ's Stonewall Ranch. Meanwhile, the celebration of life at Luckenbach continued, with country music and with what the Germans have been known to call "liquid bread." Unless you spent 1976-77 in a coma, then you heard the song that opened the floodgates. Ask someone. It was bitter irony that Mr. Crouch died shortly after the town became famous. While other parts of Texas have Fire Ant, Chigger and Mosquito Festivals, Luckenbach celebrates Spring's arrival each year by holding a contest to see who witnesses the arrival of the first Mud Dauber Wasp. The choice of this non-aggressive and home-oriented insect reflects Luckenbach's philosophy. Luckenbach's unpretentiousness is as genuine as the portrait of FDR that remains from when the building's primary function was Post Office/Store. There's a bronze bust of Hondo Crouch in front of the store. Drop in when you're in the neighborhood.
9/24/2015 4:14:53 PM	Dead and forgotten ? texas Ghost towns
jenbutterflies San Antonio, TX 38, joined Jun. 2010	Both places have great concert venues
9/24/2015 5:26:05 PM	Dead and forgotten ? texas Ghost towns
ohdannyboy59 Arlington, TX 98, joined Sep. 2012	I'll be in Luckenbach in two weeks. Always enjoy visiting and sitting out under the big oak tree listening to crooners.
9/25/2015 2:08:59 AM	Dead and forgotten ? texas Ghost towns
nurseshanna1972 San Marcos, TX 44, joined Oct. 2013	BAKERSFIELD, TEXAS Texas Ghost Town Pecos County, West Texas I-10 and FM 11 9 Miles S of the Pecos River 36 Miles E of Fort Stockton Population: 30 est. History in a Pecan Shell Born with the oil boom in 1929, it was named by and for "town-builder" J. T. Baker and was granted a post office the same year. The buildings couldn't go up fast enough for the demand and by 1930 there was an estimated population of 1,000. After the stock-market crash the town not only declined - but almost disappeared. Buildings were sold for the lumber or moved off site. By the end of WWII there were about 50 people living in Bakersfield. In the mid 70s there were 30 people left and this is the figure that has been used ever since.
9/25/2015 2:15:23 AM	Dead and forgotten ? texas Ghost towns
nurseshanna1972 San Marcos, TX 44, joined Oct. 2013	LOBO, TEXAS The Ghost Town with a Swimming Pool Culberson County, West Texas On U.S. 90 About 12 miles S of Van Horn About 24 miles W of Valentine Lobo, Texas Topics of Interest History in a Pecan Shell Lobo with an empty swimming pool is appropriate, since Lobo lived and died on the availability of water. The original Van Horn Wells were not far from present day Lobo and the town (Lobo) was once a rival with Van Horn for the Culberson county seat. The town actually appears on the 2000 Official Texas Department of Transportation Map, but the sad truth is: the vacancy sign is up, out in Lobo. mother with baby This may or may not have been the first child born in Lobo TE Archives In 1907 Lobo had it's own post office and enough water to sustain the people who had been lured there by land promoters a few years later. The promoters lied, which is nothing new, but the buyers sued and won, which is noteworthy. The promoters were forced to built the hotel (later destroyed in a 1929 earthquake) and amenities that they had promised. The town's water had been discovered before the Civil War and the wells were the reason for the town to be on the San Antonio-San Diego Stagecoach Mail Route. The water even seemed abundant enough to make the town a water stop for steam locomotives in the 1880s. The town lost population after the seat went to Van Horn in 1911 and the 20 remaining inhabitants lay in a sleepy twilight until efficient pumps came into being just after WWII. (The post office had already closed in 1942). Enough water was produced to irrigate hundreds of acres of cotton and still have enough left over for an occasional shower. The pumping proved expensive, though, and wells were shut by the late 1960s. When the population approached 90 people, the water table fell. The population was estimated at 40 in the mid 1970s when a man named Bill Crist bought the entire town. He opened the store for awhile, but crime reared its familiar head and the building was burned. The entire town with motel, diner, several houses and a gas station were offered for sale in 1988 for $60,000. As you can see by Mr. Penney's photos, the place remains as it was. A modern ghost town, with limited water and an annual rainfall of 13.2 inches. The Culberson County map shows a cemetery for Van Horn Wells, but none for Lobo.

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