KENT, Culberson Co., TEXAS

by

Gary B. Speck

 

 

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE I run across a ghost town completely serendipitously.  On July 5, 2010, I was on my way to Arlington, Texas, and was traveling as many of the backroads as I could to explore as many ghost and semi-ghost towns as I could.    I had been running on Interstate 10 east of my El Paso motel for a few hours and was rapidly approaching the junction with I-20, just ten miles to the east.  I was also getting itchy to bail off the Superslab and find some ghosts.  Because of the leading edge of a degrading hurricane that was working its way up the Rio Grande Valley, I was playing cat and mouse with bands of rain and had already done a major reroute to avoid the areas most in the path of the storm system.  I had a detailed route established that would take me southeast along the river all the way to Terlingua, then wind back up towards the Dallas Metroplex.  Because of the storm system heading in that area, I decided to angle more east into areas not too far off I-20. Some 36 miles east of Van Horn, at Exit 176, I spotted a roofless rock ruin sitting on the top of a low hill south of the freeway, as well as the ruin of another large building right alongside the freeway offramp.

 

The Ghost Town Express took it upon itself to exit, and we followed the offramp.  Along the south edge of the pavement is the remaining hulk of what was once the Kent Public School.  Can’t bypass this! 

 

Kent is not a stereotypical ghost town, but more like a scattered unincorporated community with a few ghostly aspects. It is bisected by the Interstate, and if the curious person does not cross under, will miss the treasures on the other side. Most of the town’s more recent remains are north of the freeway, while ruins are on the south side.

 

So.  What’s here?  As I have not been there since July 2010, I can’t say for sure what is there now, but at that time the town had a lot going for it.  On the south side of the Interstate is the aforementioned cut rock ruin of the former Kent Public School, which closed in 1961.  Up on top of a nearby hill is another rock ruin and a water tank, which I did NOT try to visit.  The Kent School has been scavenged of anything reusable except the rock walls, and had unfortunately suffered a spate of graffiti.  Despite the spray painted tagging, the school building was most photogenic, and the early morning light worked to my advantage.  At one time it had two classrooms and an auditorium.

 

In July 2010, “modern” North Kent also proved to be an interesting stop, with its large tin-roofed Kent Mercantile, a Chevron gas station, a brick post office, a pair of flakey-painted tanks and the slab of an old building lie squeezed between the freeway and Union-Pacific Railroad all huddled in the early morning warmth.  Only the gas station was open, providing I-10 travelers with one of the few places to stop in the region.  These were all sandwiched between a frontage road, which was probably the old highway, and the railroad.  North of the tracks a half dozen homes - some abandoned - lie scattered about. 

 

Later information indicates the store and gas station that were open at the time of my visit are now closed:  Please note that the following observations were from information as posted online (EXCEPT my own from my visit on July 5, 2010).  

·       A photo on Flickr.com and dated February 14, 2010 shows the front of the post office WITHOUT the sign.  The bracket remains attached to the wall, and the door looks like it is still used. HOWEVER, I was there on July 5 and photographed the sign still hanging over the door of the post office.

·       Photos posted on http://www.ghosttownaz.info/kent-texas.php and dated December 31, 2011, show the store closed and boarded up at that time.  A May 2012 photo verified that.  Sign still up, but store closed.

·       A September 06, 2012 photograph in Panoramio.com shows the post office sign and someone walking down the steps.  The Chevron Pole sign is also still intact. 

·       Wikipedia indicates the general store was still open in 2014. 

·       In January 2016, photos on GNIS (Acme Mapper, which is basically Google “Street-view” shows the store being boarded up and the fascia sign badly faded.  The gas station pole sign is just a skeleton, the sign facings gone and the gasoline pumps having their guts removed. Below the wooden parapet and above the doors/windows of the store, someone painted “NO NUCLEAR WASTE AQUI”.  This probably is in reference to a June 2015 news item where some 70,000 tons of “high-level nuclear waste” was proposed to be stored in an above-ground facility some nine miles north of Kent.  There are several stories about the plan here, here and here.

 

Kent’s story is a long one, but pretty tame compared to some of the other West Texas ghost towns.  It was established as a ranching center called ANTELOPE in 1892.  Because it was a supply/shipping enter, the Texas & Pacific Railway (Later the Missouri-Pacific Railroad) was its lifeline, but the population never grew large.  The KENT post office initially was established April 11, 1892 with John Brownrigg as the first postmaster.  It was then discontinued on June 9.  The post office was re-established on June 20, 1893 with John Charles Rickli as the first postmaster.  In 1896 two livestock businesses were in operation.  On March 10, 1911, the town became a part of Culberson County when El Paso County shed itself of some territory, forming the new county.  In 1914, the little town had 25 people and a general store. 

 

From the 1920s through the 1960s the town’s population never varied much beyond 50-65 people, and the list of businesses remained stable with a café, gas station, general store, post office and a railroad station (& section house).  The café and railroad station no longer remain. According to the Texas State Historical Association online listing for Kent, the post office closed in 1960.  The Texas Escapes.com site says it did reopen.  In any case, the sign was up at the time of my visit.  However, I did not attempt to go into the post office (79855) because it was only about 7:30 in the morning.  On the 2015 Google photo, it’s real hard to tell, but the post office sign also appears to have been removed from the brick building north of the store.  It is also NOT listed in the current (Jan 2016) USPS Post Office listing, which indicates that it may be discontinued.  However, it is listed in the address  section of the website, but with the Van Horn ZIP Code, which indicates that it may be a branch of the Van Horn Post Office.

 

In 2000, the population was still 50, but that more than likely included ranches in the outlying area.  There just aren’t enough occupied houses in the town itself to support that many people. 

 

There is also a 22-grave cemetery located just north of the townlet, which I did not visit. 

 

This was our LONG-Term Ghost Town of the Month for Jan-May 2016, thanks to a computer (website crash) and health (surgery/recovery) glitch. 

 

Population figures:

1914 – 25, 1920-1960 – 50-65, 1980 - 20, 1990 - 20, 2000 – 50, 2010 –

 

Location:

Latitude: 31.0693026 / 31° 04' 09" N

Longitude: -104.2171394 / 104° 13' 02" W

 

As always, when you visit, please abide by any posted signage, respect the rights of the property owners and always abide by the Ghost Towner's Code of Ethics.

 

 

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FIRST POSTED:  January 10, 2016

LAST UPDATED: May 31, 2016

 

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