Lost, Texas

Kempner School

Kempner is at the junction of U.S. Highway 190 and Ranch Road 2313, on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Lampasas River in southeastern Lampasas County. It moved a number of times during its early years of development. It was first settled in the early 1850s, when a number of families named Pickett moved to the area, which became known as Pickett Valley. The…

Cover Prototype Design

This is the first post I’ve made that doesn’t include a photograph and isn’t about some small Texas town.  But I thought I’d let you know why there haven’t been many posts lately and when you can expect to see more.

As many of you know, I’ve traveled around Texas over the past four-plus years uncovering (sometimes literally) and photographing beautiful abandoned buildings.…

Salem http://wp.me/s1kryN-salem

Salem School

Salem must have been a popular name in the late 1800s, as there are seventeen of them listed in the Handbook of Texas.  This Salem was a farming community in southern Bastrop County south of Rosanky and two miles from Jeddo.  Originally known as St. Philips Colony, Salem was populated by blacks freed during Reconstruction.  Since it was paired with the white community of Jeddo,…

Scranton http://wp.me/s1kryN-scranton

Scranton Academy

Traveling from Tennessee in 1875 to seek better lives for their families, David C. Lane and brothers Joseph and Aaron Brown settled in the western part of Eastland County and established the community of Scranton – named after a surveyor employed by the Houston & Texas Central Railroad.  By 1880 the community had enough school-age children to build its own school.  That same…

Post http://wp.me/s1kryN-post

Santa Fe Railroad Depot

Where Post, Texas sits today was cereal manufacturer Charles W. Post’s second location for his proposed model town (see Close City).  It was the second only due to its geographical location near the center of Garza County – the state legislature’s preferred location for the seats of county government.  Post is situated just below the rim of the Caprock Escarpment of the…

Grayson College Chemistry Building

One of the first settlements in Grayson County was established by immigrants from Kentucky around 1850 three miles east of the current town of Whitewright, in the middle of the state’s richest farmland.  Kentucky Town received its official designation when a post office was established in June 1954.  The town – located along stage and freight lines from…

Lost, Texas Kickstarter Campaign

This will be a rare post that is not about a specific location, so please indulge me.

This week I launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the designof my book Lost, Texas.  I am working with D.J. Stout in the Austin office of Pentagram, an international design firm, on the book design. They will produce a book prototype that I can show when I meet with prospective publishers.  The campaign has a…

Catarina http://wp.me/s1kryN-catarina

Catarina Hotel

 The name Catarina has been associated with the area since at least 1778; legend holds that it is the name of a Mexican woman killed by Indians on or near the site.  Today, tractor-trailers hauling oilfield equipment and pickups carrying workers barely slow down as they pass through what was once the town of Catarina.  The Catarina Hotel sits forlornly on a sweeping curve of U.S.…

Fowlerton School

Driving on State Highway 97 east of Cotulla, TX there is nothing to identify what was the town of Fowlerton, other than a non-descript post office, a few mobile homes, and the standard highway city-limits sign.  Once upon a time though, it was a thriving town of 2,000 people.  On my recent visit, I was able to locate the remains of the old school (above) and a small church. …

Shafter http://wp.me/s1kryN-shafter

Shafter Silver Mine

The history of Shafter is closely tied to silver mining. There is evidence that the Spaniards prospected for valuable ores in the area during the early 1600s, but Shafter became a mining town only after September 1880, when John W. Spencer, a freighter turned prospector, found silver ore there. Spencer showed an ore sample to Col. William R. Shafter (later General),…

Mentone http://wp.me/s1kryN-mentone

Mentone Community Church

As the only town in Loving County, Mentone has been dubbed the Smallest County Seat in Texas.  The Community Church (above) is one of only five to six non-residential buildings in the town.  The church was moved to Mentone in 1930 after the Pecos River flooded nearby Porterville destroying the town.  This is the oldest building in Loving County.

James J. Wheat, St.…

Santa Fe Railroad Hospital

Santa Fe Railroad Hospital

In previous posts, I have generally started the discussion at the town or regional level before discussing particular buildings.  However, for this post, I am focusing entirely on a building rather than the city where it is located.  The Santa Fe Railroad Hospital was unique because it was one of very few hospitals built by Texas railroads specifically for their…

Enochs http://wp.me/s1kryN-enochs

Church – Enochs, TX

There’s not much left to see in Enochs, TX these days except the remains of a post office, store, cotton gins, and this pretty little church.  Buildings abandoned in the Texas Panhandle either get ravaged by storms or just quietly fall apart and Enochs has some of both.  I was particularly attracted to the church by its simple lines, unadorned facade, and pueblo-styled…

Crabapple

Crabapple School

The Crabapple School is one of twelve old school buildings saved by The Friends…

Clearview

  Clearview Schoolhouse

I really like this little two-room school house.  The front facade is…

Meusebach School

Meusebach Creek School

The Meusebach School is one of several old school buildings that have…

Driftwood

Driftwood, seventeen miles northwest of San Marcos in central Hays County, grew up in the 1880s as…