Tex68w
Beach Bum
A few weeks back I took the bike on a back road exploration/discovery ride to the last known company town in Texas. The town of Newgulf is no longer much to look at, it's mostly abandoned streets are spotty with somewhat newer homes and a tiny elementary school that somehow keeps its doors open. The post office closed in 1993 and the mine was closed about the same time. The company was known as Texas Gulf Sulfur, later know as Texasgulf, it's Boiling Dome was and still is the largest producing sulfur mine in the world, having extracted over 81 million long tons of sulfur from the site. During the towns heyday they had over 1500 residents, multiple dry goods and clothing stores, a hospital and pharmacy, schools, a movie theater, a cafe and fountain, and even a country club and golf course. The town had a semi-pro baseball team back in the 20's and 30's and the field is still there and apparently used by a little league.
I was surprised to see that the original brick smokestacks still stood even though they stopped using them in the 1930's when they moved to natural gas. The plant was originally controlled by J.P Morgan and operated 24/7 from 1928 until 1994, if they stopped production the sulfur would solidify in the pipes. It was purchased by the french company Elf Aquitaine in 1981 and remained in their control until it closed. The company air strip still exists and I got a quick glance of it before being run off by a rancher who apparently owns or leases the entire factory/mine site these days. I had no idea that I was on private property the entire time haha.
The golf course, while over grown, can still be seen as it only closed down last year. The country club building still stands along with the pro shop and it appears that they are being maintained. Some of the original row houses owned by the company still stand and the segregated cemeteries are apparently still maintained and groomed as well. I enjoyed exploring what is now considered a "ghost town" but with at least 25 new homes I wouldn't go as far as calling it that myself. I always appreciate the history of place/town and I found myself wondering what it must have been like to be there back in its prime.
I was surprised to see that the original brick smokestacks still stood even though they stopped using them in the 1930's when they moved to natural gas. The plant was originally controlled by J.P Morgan and operated 24/7 from 1928 until 1994, if they stopped production the sulfur would solidify in the pipes. It was purchased by the french company Elf Aquitaine in 1981 and remained in their control until it closed. The company air strip still exists and I got a quick glance of it before being run off by a rancher who apparently owns or leases the entire factory/mine site these days. I had no idea that I was on private property the entire time haha.
The golf course, while over grown, can still be seen as it only closed down last year. The country club building still stands along with the pro shop and it appears that they are being maintained. Some of the original row houses owned by the company still stand and the segregated cemeteries are apparently still maintained and groomed as well. I enjoyed exploring what is now considered a "ghost town" but with at least 25 new homes I wouldn't go as far as calling it that myself. I always appreciate the history of place/town and I found myself wondering what it must have been like to be there back in its prime.
