TEXOLA

NAME: Texola COUNTY: Beckham ROADS: 2WD GRID: 2 CLIMATE: moderately cool/cold winter, pleasant summers, slightly rainy autumns and stormy springs BEST TIME TO VISIT: autumn and summer

COMMENTS: Never more than a few buildings and a few people who settled there and never left, today Texola has one bar for the old-timers. It is the only spot between Erick, Oklahoma, and Sharock, Texas, two other towns that suffered the same fate when I-40 opened and Route 66 was declassified. However, though Shamrock and Erick are rebounding with nostalgia and folks who refuse to let their towns die, there is no hope for Texola, on the stateline border, once the elders pass away. Just another ghosttown to explore for travelers tired of the interstates! REMAINS: one bar, two houses, several foundations

Founded in the early turn-of-the-century and recommissioned after Route 66 was paved in the 1930s, Texola once had 40 residents and more than two dozen houses, a cafe and a visitor's gas and stop. Probably named after TEXas and OkLahomA on a now-long-gone stateline sign with special lettering to draw the attention of early trail travelers to the town rather than further west. Submitted by: Robin Fletcher

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