Tascosa - Texas Ghost Town

TASCOSA

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

COMMENTS: Current residents.
REMAINS: Museums and much to see.

Tascosa had two lives. The first was no different from the early cowboy town with its saloons, red light district, boot hill and its share of violence. It also was the first true town in the western Texas Panhandle. The town thrived during the 1870s and early 1880s becoming the seat of government for Oldham County in 1880 that lasted for thirty-five years. As has happened so many times before when a railroad bypasses a town, it dies. A few residents remained until 1939 when they departed and Tascosa became a ghost town. In that same year the town was reborn when Bivins Ranch donated 120 acres to become the site for a home for boys to be known as Boys Ranch on the very site of Tascosa. It has developed into a major facility consisting of residence halls, a school, dinning hall, athletic fields and homes for staff. Beginning with twelve boys, it now numbers over four hundred. Serving as historical monuments from the past and open to the public are the old stone courthouse and the 1889 schoolhouse. Tascosa is located at the east end of Texas Highway Spur 233. SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenoweth	Inside the Tascosa Saloon Courtesy Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas Tascosa circa 1900 Courtesy Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas

Tascosa had two lives. The first was no different from the early cowboy town with its saloons, red light district, boot hill and its share of violence. It also was the first true town in the western Texas Panhandle. The town thrived during the 1870s and early 1880s becoming the seat of government for Oldham County in 1880 that lasted for thirty-five years. As has happened so many times before when a railroad bypasses a town, it dies. A few residents remained until 1939 when they departed and Tascosa became a ghost town. In that same year the town was reborn when Bivins Ranch donated 120 acres to become the site for a home for boys to be known as Boys Ranch on the very site of Tascosa. It has developed into a major facility consisting of residence halls, a school, dinning hall, athletic fields and homes for staff. Beginning with twelve boys, it now numbers over four hundred. Serving as historical monuments from the past and open to the public are the old stone courthouse and the 1889 schoolhouse. Tascosa is located at the east end of Texas Highway Spur 233. SUBMITTED BY: Henry Chenoweth

Inside the Tascosa Saloon
Courtesy Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas

Tascosa circa 1900
Courtesy Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas

BACK