Texas Panhandle Ghost Towns
Many towns in the Texas Panhandle have grown over time, but others have dwindled and some have been almost completely forgotten. Each has its own unique history with a story to tell. I invite you to take a look at these, you may have already driven by them and did not know it...
Ochiltree, TX - Ochiltree County
Hwy 70 and FM 3045
8 miles S of Perryton
Ochiltree was named for William Beck Ochiltree, a former Confederate officer and Texas politician. The town began 1885 and a post office opened in September 1886. Ochiltree was designated the county seat in 1889. After being bypassed by the railroad, Perryton became the county seat and the town of Ochiltree declined. The post office closed in 1921. The Ochiltree Cemetery , facing Hwy 70, still remains.
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Oil City, TX - Hutchinson County
Hwy 70 and FM 3045
8 miles S of Perryton
Oil City, originally known as Ingerton, began as a rural school located on the Henry Yake ranch. During the oil boom of the 1920s, Oil City began as a stop on the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railroad. In 1927 a depot, a new school, and a post office were built. The post office was closed in 1929 and the school closed in 1949.
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Parnell, TX - Hall County
State Highway 86
6 Miles W of Estelline
A schoolhouse was built in 1901 on land owned by G. E. Grubbs. The town, named for S. H. Parnell, was platted in 1905 northwest of the school. A post office was established in 1912. The town boomed with several businesses until the Great Depression. The school consolidated with Estelline in 1940 and the post office closed in 1971.
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Perico, TX - Dallam County
Highway 87
11 miles SE of Texline
25 miles NW of Dalhart
Perico, originally called Farwell, began in 1988 as a shipping point on the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway for the XIT Ranch. In 1905 the railroad changed their designation to Perico. A post office was opened in November 1907. The first school. a two-room building. was replaced in 1924 with a larger school with an auditorium and gym. A portion of the school is still visible today. Perico thrived until the Great Depression with several businesses in the town. The decline increased when the new highway bypassed the business district and the post office closed by 1970. The Perico Cemetery still remains.
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Phillips, TX - Hutchinson County
Highway 119
3 miles NE of Borger
Phillips, originally called Whittenburg, named after James A Whittenburg the founder of the community, began in 1926. The Phillips Petroleum Company completed its first plant in the Texas Panhandle, the Alamo Refinery, at Pantex in 1927. The Pantex community was a close rival for the Whittenburg community. In 1938, the two communities merged and was named Phillips after the company owning the refinery. The town prospered until 1960, but with improved roads in the area, most businesses shifted to Borger. The post office closed in 1970. In 1980, a hydrocarbon explosion at the refinery destroyed a large portion of the town. Soon after the explosion, Phillips Petroleum bought the land that the town was built and began to permanently close the town. The school was consolidated with the Plemons-Stinnett-Phillips CISD in 1987.
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Plemons, TX - Hutchinson County
10 miles SE of Stinnett
8 miles NE of Borger
Plemons started life in 1898 from a dugout built by rancher James A. Whittenburg. The site, however, was named for Barney Plemons, the son of William Buford Plemons, an Amarillo judge and state legislator. In 1901, Plemons was chosen as the Hutchinson county seat and a post office soon opened. The town was bypassed by the railroad (the Amarillo branch line of the Rock Island Railroad) and started into a decline. The post office closed in 1952 and today only the Plemons Cemetery and historical markers mark the former town.
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Plymouth, TX - Collingsworth County
20 Miles NW of Wellington via US 83
17 Miles S of Shamrock via US 83 to FM 1036
Originally part of the British-owned Rocking Chair Ranch, named after the English port. A nearby school moved to Plymouth in 1908, joined by the post office that same year. The post office closed in 1924 and by 1950 there were no reported residents in Plymouth and only the Plymouth Cemetery remains today.
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Ramsdell, TX - Wheeler County
Located in SW corner of County I-40, Exit 148
S on a dirt road to Sand Creek Crossing
Ramsdell was established as a station on the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway ten miles southwest of Shamrock. A permanent post office was established in November 1904 and continued operating until October 1926. The first area community telephone system was established at Ramsdell with 16 members. Although a cemetery was never established, a fence post marks the graves of a family who died of typhoid fever.
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Rockledge, TX - Donley County
6 miles W of Alanreed, TX
1-40 Exit 132 CR 19 - 1/2 mile S
Rockledge wasestablished as a side track for the Rock Island Railroad. In 1926, a petroleum pipe line was installed from the northern Panhandle to south Texas with a booster camp built by the sidetrack at Rockledge. Three families lived at Rockledge until the mid-1980s when automated controls were installed on the pumping equipment. There is no mention of a school or a post office for Rockledge. There were two murders nearby in 1905 and two bank robbers were captured nearby in 1939.
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Rolla, TX - Collingswoth County
8.8 Miles SW of Wellington HWY 83
West on FR 338
Rolla is southwest of Wellington in southern Collingsworth County. A school district was organized in 1894 and a post office was established in June 1894 and remained open until 1910. Several buildings and the Rolla Cemetery are still visible.
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Rowe, TX - Donley County
1 Mile NW of Hedley
FR 1932
Rowe was established as a shipping point for cattle for the Fort Worth and Denver City railroad in 1890. A post office was established in 1891 and the town was laid out in 1893. In 1907 disgruntled residents moved houses, businesses, and post office to a new location and establish the town of Hedley. The Rowe Cemetery is just N of Hedley on FM 1932 and is still in use today.
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Tampico, TX - Hall County
Between Turkey and Parnell
SW of Memphis
Tampico was located on the Fort Worth and Denver line between Turkey and Parnell in southwestern Hall County. It was the site of a wildcat oil well drilled in 1929 and named by its optimistic operators for an oilfield in Tampico, Mexico. In 1913, Ozark Mountains resort operator William "Coin" Harvey, founded the Ozark Trail Association in an effort to increase interest in leisure highway travel. Local panhandle communities enjoyed the benefits of the Ozark Trail promotion and the attention it drew to improvements in the Texas highway system. The Trail itself is commemorated in three different historical markers across its Texas route, one each in Tulia, Tampico, and Dimmit.
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Tascosa, TX - Oldham County
24 Miles N of Vega
40 Miles NW of Amarillo
Tascosa, named for nearby Atascosa Creek, started as a local crossing of the Canadian River which cowboys passed on their way to the railhead and cattle markets in Dodge City. Established in 1876 by ex-soldier and blacksmith Henry Kimball. The post office opened on June 24, 1878. In 1880 Oldham county was organized and Tascosa became the county seat. In 1939, Cal Farley's Boys Ranch opened after Julian Bivins donated the town site, the renovated old courthouse, and the surrounding 120 acres. The courthouse, now a museum, and the 1889 schoolhouse are the only buildings from the old town to survive. There are four cemeteries associated with Tascosa: Boot Hill Cemetery , Casimiro Romero Cemetery, Muncy Cemetery, and the Cal Farley's Boys Ranch Cemetery.
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Wayside, TX - Arnstrong County
I-27 South Exit 94 / 20 miles East on FM 285
40 miles SE of Canyon
4 miles E of Randall County line
Wayside was founded as a rural school district in 1893. It was originally named Beulah for one of the daughters of the McSpadden family, who donated the land for the school. However, Mrs. Hervey J. Bradford named the place Wayside, for its location on the "way-side" of the canyon, when it opened a post office in September 1897. At one point, Wayside had three businesses, a school, and cemetery. The Wayside Cemetery is still in use today.
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Whittenburg, TX - Hutchinson County
1 mile NE of Borger
Whittenburg was founded by area rancher James A. Whittenburg when oil was discovered in the area in 1926. Whittenburg was granted a short-lived post office that opened May 19, 1926 and closed April 14, 1927 with the mail being routed through Borger. In 1938 Whittenburg merged with Pantex and the two townsites voted to merge under the name of Phillips.
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Zulu, TX - Hutchinson County
Although it was never a community, Zulu is recognized with a Historical Marker located 4 mi. N of Morse on SH 136, then 1 mile West on FM 520.
In 1875, a large, two-room pole building furnished with staple groceries and ammunition became the first trading post in Texas above the Canadian River. The stockade, located in Indian-infested country, was fittingly named for the fierce Zulu tribe of Africa. It began as a buffalo camp which crack hunters Jim and Bob Cator (from England) had made the first permanent Panhandle residence at Christmas, 1873. In 1876 Zulu became a major depot on the Ft. Dodge-Ft. Bascom military road, and it eventually received a post office contract. It was finally abandoned, 1912.
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