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BARTONSITE, TEXAS. Bartonsite, a ghost town in
southwestern Hale County, was platted in 1907 on the expectation of a
Santa Fe line from Plainview to Lubbock. The Barton Ranch community
reached a population of 250 by 1909, but the rails were not laid through
the area. Most buildings were moved to Abernathy, thirteen miles to the
southeast. The post office closed in 1921.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ed Ellsworth Bartholomew, 800 Texas Ghost Towns
(Fort Davis, Texas: Frontier, 1971).
William R. Hunt |
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Barton House
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Joseph
Barton moved to the High Plains with his family in 1891 and
established the TL Ranch. They lived in a box and strip
house until 1897 when they moved
to a more substantial box and strip dwelling. By 1907 land values
had skyrocketed and Barton was now
on the verge of becoming a wealthy man. He then had an idea to
attract settlers, sell land and develop a town. The only requirement
that he needed was a railroad passing through the town. In order to
create his vision of "Bartonsite", the name he wanted for his town,
he began building this multistory Victorian home. The railroad never
came, the town folded and the house
was left alone on the plains. A member of the
Barton family occupied the
house until 1971 when the last
occupant died and willed the house
to the National Ranching Heritage Center.
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| The Barton House,
built in 1909 in Hale County, is a wonderful example of Victorian
architecture. The complex details, porch columns, captain's walk
railings, color and asymmetrical composition are all perfect details
of Victorian style.
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During the same year that the
house was built, the ranching
industry experienced a drastic transition. Many plains ranchers, who
survived drought, blizzards and the panic of 1893, moved to areas
with less severe climates that had not yet been overgrazed such as
the Edwards Plateau and the Trans-Pecos Regions. By 1920, the Plains
was primarily farmland. The Bartons, like other ranchers, had to
modify their operations in order to survive-cutting down herd size,
improving quality and planting crops. The
Barton family, while enduring many hardships, exemplify proof
that those that came to the Plains and worked hard benefited from
the land's wealth. |
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