THURBER, TEXAS—When people think of a ghost town, images of spooky, run-down buildings with doors swinging open and rolling tumbleweed springs to mind. Thurber, a ghost town on Interstate Highway 20, doesn’t fit that picture. With its overgrown pastures and rolling landscape, it’s hard to imagine that it was once a booming town home to several thousand people.
On Sunday, Feb. 15, at 2:30 p.m., Bethany Kolter, assistant to the curator at Tarleton State University’s W. K. Gordon Center for the Industrial History of Texas at Thurber, will explain why this isn’t a typical ghost town.
In its heyday, Thurber’s community consisted mainly of immigrant coal miners. After the town died in the 1930s, most of its houses and public buildings were relocated all across the region. They popped up everywhere—Stephenville, Strawn, Mingus and all places in between. Some went as far as Odessa.
No records were kept to where the houses went after the company sold them. During her discussion, Kolter will expand on where many of the buildings went and the town’s demise. Audience members will also have the chance to share any information they might have as to the whereabouts of Thurber buildings.
Kolter creates and organizes programming for the W. K. Gordon Center, as well as doing research on collections and local history. Among her exhibits, she has produced traveling and online exhibits on the relocation of Thurber houses, many of which are currently inhabited.
For those wanting to attend, the Gordon Center is located about halfway between Fort Worth and Abilene at exit 367 on Interstate 20. The Gordon Center is a museum and research facility devoted to the Texas industrial past.
The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and closed on Monday. For more information, call (254) 968-1886.
