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Slide

Slide, Texas: The Tiny High Plains Town That ‘Moved’ Its Way Into History

Slide is an unincorporated community in southern Lubbock County, Texas, located on the Llano Estacado. The settlement began in the 1890s under the name Block Twenty, a designation used by early settlers on the Southern High Plains. In 1903, a resurvey by county surveyor W. R. Standefer revealed that many residents had built homes and structures about two miles off Read more…
Sivells Bend

Sivells Bend, Texas: A Forgotten Red River Settlement with a Storied Past

Sivells Bend, located in north-central Cooke County about four miles south of the Red River, traces its beginnings to around 1850. Brothers Simon and Bill Sivells, who had previously lived in Kentucky Town, Texas, established a small store at a bend in the river. Their settlement was short-lived. Frequent Indian attacks forced its abandonment, and it took nearly a decade Read more…
Sipe Springs- Milam County

Sipe Springs, Milam County: A Vanished Texas Town with a Story to Tell

Sipe Springs was a small rural community located in southeastern Milam County near Rockdale. It took its name from nearby natural springs that provided water for early farm families in the area. While the precise founding date is uncertain, records show the community was established by the late 19th century and supported a modest population into the early 20th century. Read more…
Sipe Springs - Comanche, Texas

Sipe Springs, Texas: From Oil Boomtown to Forgotten Ghost Town

Sipe Springs began around 1870 at a natural spring in northeastern Comanche County and was formally organized in 1873. Its location at the crossroads of what are now Farm Roads 1477 and 587, about 17 miles northwest of Comanche, gave it strategic importance. By the mid-1880s, Sipe Springs had developed into a modest but thriving farming community. It supported a Read more…
Silver

Silver, Texas: The Ghost Town Built on a Million-Dollar School and 59 Oil Wells

Silver, located in northwestern Coke County, began as a ranching settlement in the 1870s. The area’s open range attracted cattle ranchers who established small herds and homesteads. In 1890, a post office was established with rancher Thomas J. Wiley (sometimes recorded as Wylie) as postmaster. That same year, the community also opened a one-room school. Drought conditions forced the post Read more…
Signal Hill

Signal Hill: The Vanished Texas Oil Boomtown Near Stinnett

Signal Hill was founded in 1926, about 1.5 to 4 miles east of Stinnett, Texas, in Hutchinson County. The town was developed by Earl Thompson, who promoted the site after conducting a tentative survey for the Panhandle & Santa Fe Railway. Although a spur line was planned, it was never built. The name “Signal Hill” came from a small rise Read more…
Sherwood

Sherwood, Texas: Exploring the Old County Seat and Its 1901 Courthouse

Sherwood was established in 1886 when land was donated for a townsite in Irion County. A post office was authorized in 1881, making it one of the earliest institutions in the community. When Irion County was officially organized in 1889, Sherwood was designated as the county seat. This status quickly gave the town importance as a local center for government Read more…
Sher-Han

Sher-Han, Texas: A Vanished Gas Camp with Moved Homes and Lost Streets

Sher-Han was established around 1944 during World War II as an industrial camp in the northern Texas Panhandle, near the Oklahoma border. The community was built by Phillips Petroleum Company, together with Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company and Michigan Wisconsin Pipe Line Company, to support a natural gas liquids extraction plant. Its name is a combination of Sherman County and Read more…
Shannon

Shannon, Texas: The Forgotten Clay County Community with Irish Roots and Tornado Tales

Shannon is a small unincorporated farming community in extreme south-central Clay County, Texas. It lies along Farm-to-Market Road 175, about twenty miles southwest of Henrietta, the county seat. Though its population has always been modest, Shannon has a history that reflects the experiences of many small rural settlements in North Texas. Founding and Early Growth The origins of Shannon date Read more…
Shafter Lake

Shafter Lake: The Lost Boomtown That Vanished After One Election

Shafter Lake was established in 1907 during a wave of land speculation that swept across West Texas. Originally called Salt Lake for the alkaline body of water on its shores, the settlement quickly adopted the name Shafter Lake in honor of Colonel William R. Shafter. Shafter, a U.S. Army officer, surveyed the region in 1875 and is credited with bringing Read more…