Fort Griffen - Texas Ghost Town

FORT GRIFFIN

NAME: Fort Griffin
COUNTY: Shackelford
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 1
CLIMATE: Warm winter, hot summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT:Winter, spring, fall

COMMENTS: Not much to see but a lot of history.
REMAINS: Ruins.

Anyone who wants to visit a ghost town that was one of the roughest and most violent places ever to exist on the Texas frontier, Fort Griffin is the place. Getting its name from the military fort overlooking the town, it was often referred to as The Flat, being located in a meadow below the fort. The town of Fort Griffin became known through the entire American west for its unsavory reputation. Consequently, it attracted inhabitants representing the lowest classes of society. The town was a haven for gamblers, saloonkeepers, prostitutes, con men and fugitives from justice. Killings were frequent. By 1874, the situation had deteriorated to the point the commander of Fort Griffin declared the town under government control and expelled many of the undesirables. At it's height, the town had a population of about a thousand residents plus twice that many as transients including buffalo hunters who had transferred to Texas from Kansas in 1873. The decline of Fort Griffin began in 1881 when the fort was closed as no longer needed and the buffalo hide hunt also came to a close. When the railroads by-passed the town heading westward, the end was in sight. The town of Fort Griffin is a true ghost town and not a single intact building has survived. . SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenoweth	Fort Griffin Courtesy Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas Fort Griffin Administration Building Courtesy Bobby Zlatevski Fort Griffin Courtesy Bobby Zlatevski Fort Griffin North Administration building Courtesy Bobby Zlatevski Fort Griffin Parade Ground Courtesy Bobby Zlatevski Fort Griffin Parade Ground Courtesy Bobby Zlatevski Fort Griffin Courtesy Bobby Zlatevski Fort Griffin Sutlers Store Courtesy Bobby Zlatevski Fort Griffin Wedding Courtesy Bobby Zlatevski Fort Griffin Courtesy Bobby Zlatevski

Anyone who wants to visit a ghost town that was one of the roughest and most violent places ever to exist on the Texas frontier, Fort Griffin is the place. Getting its name from the military fort overlooking the town, it was often referred to as The Flat, being located in a meadow below the fort. The town of Fort Griffin became known through the entire American west for its unsavory reputation. Consequently, it attracted inhabitants representing the lowest classes of society. The town was a haven for gamblers, saloonkeepers, prostitutes, con men and fugitives from justice. Killings were frequent. By 1874, the situation had deteriorated to the point the commander of Fort Griffin declared the town under government control and expelled many of the undesirables. At it's height, the town had a population of about a thousand residents plus twice that many as transients including buffalo hunters who had transferred to Texas from Kansas in 1873. The decline of Fort Griffin began in 1881 when the fort was closed as no longer needed and the buffalo hide hunt also came to a close. When the railroads by-passed the town heading westward, the end was in sight. The town of Fort Griffin is a true ghost town and not a single intact building has survived. . SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenoweth

Fort Griffin
Courtesy Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas