Lajitas - Texas Ghost Town

LAJITAS

NAME: Lajitas
COUNTY: Brewster
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 2
CLIMATE: Warm winter, hot summer.
BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime.

COMMENTS: Current residents.
REMAINS: Many original buildings.

If one wants to visit a town where the Mexican bandit Pancho Villa once roamed, Lajitas is the place to go. Lajitas is in Brewster County, the largest in Texas, and lies along the Rio Grande River. On the other side of the river is Mexico. Originally a village of Indian and Mexican farmers, the town gained some notoriety during the early 1920s as the import site of a plant growing on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande which was useful in the manufacture of chewing gum. Mexico later put a ban its exportation and that ended the small boom it was starting to create. Then there was the search for uranium following World War II which livened up Lajitas until it was discovered there wasn't any. The town then returned to its sleepy village status. SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenowith	Lajitas Courtesy Julia Byron Lajitas Courtesy Julia Byron Lajitas Courtesy Julia Byron Lajitas Courtesy Julia Byron Lajitas Courtesy Julia Byron

If one wants to visit a town where the Mexican bandit Pancho Villa once roamed, Lajitas is the place to go. Lajitas is in Brewster County, the largest in Texas, and lies along the Rio Grande River. On the other side of the river is Mexico. Originally a village of Indian and Mexican farmers, the town gained some notoriety during the early 1920s as the import site of a plant growing on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande which was useful in the manufacture of chewing gum. Mexico later put a ban its exportation and that ended the small boom it was starting to create. Then there was the search for uranium following World War II which livened up Lajitas until it was discovered there wasn't any. The town then returned to its sleepy village status. SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenowith

Lajitas
Courtesy Julia Byron

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