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Rayner

Rayner, Texas: The First Stonewall County Seat That Time Passed By

Rayner was once the county seat of Stonewall County, Texas, and today stands as a ghost town marked only by its old courthouse, cemetery, and traces of its early life. Founding and Early Growth Rayner was platted in June 1889 by Walter E. Rayner, a land speculator who gave his name to the town. Stonewall County itself had been created Read more…
Rath City

Rath City, Texas: The Short-Lived Buffalo Hunters’ Boomtown on the Brazos

Rath City was a brief but notable buffalo hunters’ camp and trading post on the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River in present-day Stonewall County, Texas. It flourished only a few years during the peak of the southern plains buffalo hunt before vanishing as quickly as it appeared. Founding and Purpose In 1876, Kansas hide trader Charles Rath established Read more…
Quincy

Quincy, Texas: The Ghost Town That Never Took Root

Quincy was a short-lived settlement in Bee County, Texas, founded in the early 1890s as part of a land development effort. The town was laid out on the former John Quincy Ranch, originally owned by Augustin and Juan Moya. In 1891 the property, about 10,500 acres in size, was purchased by Ohio businessman David Swickheimer. Swickheimer and his associates hoped Read more…
Quigley

Quigley, Texas: A Logging Camp That Faded with the Piney Woods Timber Boom

Quigley was a small logging camp in Jasper County, Texas, established in 1905. It was founded by C. E. Slade, who operated under contract with the Miller-Link Lumber Company, a significant player in East Texas’s early 20th-century timber industry. The camp existed during a period when the dense pine forests of the Piney Woods were being heavily harvested to supply Read more…
Pyote

Pyote, Texas: From Oil Boomtown to Rattlesnake Bomber Base Legacy

Pyote traces its origins to the early 1880s as a Texas & Pacific Railway watering stop known as Pyote Tank. A telegraph office was established there in 1881, before the completion of the railway line. The town’s name has been linked to either coyote (reportedly mispronounced by Chinese railroad workers) or to the peyote cactus found in the region. Oil Read more…
Pumpville

Pumpville, Texas: The Railroad Water Stop That Became a Ghost Town with a Living Church

Pumpville was established in 1882 as a station along the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway, which later became part of the Southern Pacific system. The location was originally called Samuels, but in 1887 the name was changed to Pumpville after wells were drilled to provide water for the railroad’s steam locomotives. Water was struck at significant depth, and soon Read more…
Provident City

Provident City, Texas: The Town That Faded After Big Promises

Provident City was established in 1909 by the Provident Land Company of Kansas City, Missouri. The company acquired land in northeastern Colorado County, Texas, between Goldenrod Creek and Sandy Creek, and divided it into tracts of five to ten acres. These parcels were heavily promoted, often to families in the Midwest, many of whom purchased the land without ever seeing Read more…
Proffitt

Proffitt, Texas: The Frontier Settlement That Time Left Behind

Proffitt is a former rural community in west-central Young County, Texas, near Elm Creek and the Brazos River. It was settled in the early 1860s by Robert S. Proffitt and his family, who established homes and ranching operations in the area. The settlement eventually took on the family name and grew into a small but active hub for local farmers Read more…
Princeton

Princeton, Texas: A River Landing Overtaken by History

Princeton was a small settlement established in 1839 on the Sabine River in northeastern Newton County, Texas. The townsite was laid out on a rise known as Princeton Bluff, also called Possum Bluff, which offered a suitable landing spot for boats traveling the river. Early Role on the Sabine River During the mid-1800s, the Sabine River was an important transportation Read more…
Preston

Preston Bend, Texas: The Red River Town Beneath Lake Texoma

Preston, often called Preston Bend because of its location on a large bend of the Red River, was an early trading and settlement hub in what later became Grayson County, Texas. Early Settlement and Founding In the 1830s, trading pioneer Holland Coffee and his partner Silas Cheek Colville established a post on the Red River to facilitate commerce with local Read more…