Dateline – March 28, 2005

While collecting data for the maps I made for this site I stumbled across something interesting. I referenced a number of maps while attempting to compile a complete list of all of the municipalities in the five county area covered by DFWUrbanWildlife.com. What I found surprised me.

Consider this map of Denton County:

 
I grew up in and around Denton County and felt like I knew the area pretty well, but when I zoomed in on this map I very quickly began to notice a number of city names that I had never heard of before. Marked on this map are two such places—Stony, Texas to the north, and Drop, Texas a little further south.

There are similarly mysterious town names indicated on the map of Collin County, and to a lesser degree the maps of Dallas County and Tarrant County.

Intrigued by this discovery, I began to research a little further. I started my search for more information at The Handbook of Texas Online, A site created and maintained by the Texas State Historical Association in partnership with the University of Texas, and designed to be a “Digital Gateway” to Texas History. Here I found that many of these mystery cities are not really cities anymore. These days they would be more accurately described as simply “named places”.

But, at one time these places were small towns. Frontier towns to be more exact, most of which began to lose their municipality momentum just around the turn of the century (1900 not 2000).

Check out what the Handbook of Texas Online has to say about Drop, Texas in far west Denton County for instance:

Drop is on Farm Road 1384 four miles northwest of Justin in southwest Denton County. Legend has it that the rural community, originally part of the Denton Creek settlement established in 1854, petitioned postal authorities for a post office to be named Dewdrop. When the federal agency announced that Texas already had a town with that name, the residents simply decided to remove the first three letters and adopt the name of Drop. The Drop post office opened in 1886. Located in a wheat-producing area of Denton County, Drop acted as a supply point for area farmers. The railroad tracks, built near Justin in the late 1880s, attracted people and businesses from the surrounding rural communities. The post office at Drop was closed by 1910. In 1936 the population was estimated at thirty-eight. It was reported at fewer than thirty in 1963.

And, here is what they have to say about Stony, Texas:

Stony is on Farm Road 2622 two miles east of the Wise county line and ten miles west of Denton in far west Denton County. It was settled in the late 1850s and was named for the stony area in which it was located. Its population never exceeded fifty, probably due to the emergence of Justin, eight miles southwest, as a shipping point for area farmers. Stony had a post office from 1879 to 1918. In 1884 it had a mill, a gin, four churches, two schools, and a population estimated at 130. By 1890 the population had dropped to fifty. In 1914 the town had 100 residents, a doctor, a blacksmith, and at least two stores. From 1933 to 2000 its population was estimated at twenty-five. In 2004 a school building dating back to 1884 still stood in the community, and a restored 1839 log cabin, located nearby, was open to the public as local museum.

I decided to make a trip out to nearby Stony and Drop, Texas to get some idea of what these places are like today. I found that while these locales are not the ghost towns of western lore, there are several old and/or abandoned buildings where the towns once were.

Here are a few pictures of the more interesting buildings:

Drop, Texas

The way to Drop, Texas southbound on Farm to Market 156.
The Drop school building.
Old general store on the corner of FM1384 and Oliver Creek Road.
The old stone building is decorated with a number of fossils.
The local swimming hole.
An old farm building.

 
Stony, Texas

The way to Stony, Texas westbound on US 380.
This is what the roads look like out here in far northwest Denton County.
Evidently “Stony” can also be spelled “Stoney”
The log cabin museum. It is rumored to be the oldest structure in Denton County.
Another look at the old log cabin.
The Stony school house.
The Stony school house was established in 1884.
A church in Stony.
The old Stony general store.
A strange building in the distance, just visible from Stony.
Probably not a historic building, but strange and interesting nonetheless.
An old house in Stony, Texas.

I found this article on a web site about the city of Ponder, Texas. This write-up helped me to identify some of the old buildings in my pictures (including a log cabin which may well be the oldest structure in Denton County), and added a bit to my understanding of the history of the area.

Ghost Towns within minutes of Dallas and Fort Worth? Who would have guessed?

22 Replies to “Ghost Towns in North Texas?”

  1. This is really cool! I have been looking for a ghost town to photograph near the DFW metroplex and I think you just helped me find one!! Thanks!

    1. This is my family’s home. My father grew up here. For some reason he always wanted to leave. As for me, I am proud of this place we always called Stony. My cousin actually lives in that old white house today. It was Papa Henry and Louise’s home. Louise never left. She still gets excited when we come over….

  2. Thanks so much. I had grown up hearing that my grandmother was born in Stony, Denton County. Thanks for putting a “face” to a name.

  3. about Stony,Tx. I knew an original founder of Stony. He showed me where the Money Tree is, where the town used as a bank., the blacksmith shop, and the old saloon by the general store where Sam Bass came to divide his booty to the poor. Civilization has destroyed the saloon and general store and have converted a great old school to a junky some kind of center. Stoney, which had such a good history has been covered up and destroyed by developers. Just a few miles west on hwy. 380 onthe south side is Ranger Springs where a detachment of soldiers were stationed to protect the settelers. Good history there. On the north side of 380 just a ways west is the ghost town on Allison, used to be a wrought iron sign showing where, still some buildings left. I grew up listening to the old men tell me where stuff was and the history of it. Just a few miles down the road is a Confederate Cemetary, a forgotten silver mine amoung other things that if you didn’t know where it would be missed. My two cents. The exact locations I keep to myself to metal detect in time. Thought you would like to know some of us know from the people who lived there. Thanks,John.

    1. Interesting report on Stony and Drop. Also interesting comments from “John.” Do you really think Sam Bass divided his booty to the poor? I’ve read some interesting reports on his life, and he may not have had that much booty to begin with, being rather inept at his trade of robbing, though he managed to kill some. And, it seems he just wasn’t that nice a person, if historical information is accurate.

      Lots of Robin Hood tales about American outlaws. According to some, Clyde Barrow was a Robin Hood. Most of those who died from his gunfire maybe would have thought otherwise.

  4. Thanks so much for sharing! This is a fantastic find! I’m wondering, how do you get to the watering hole in Drop?

    1. The swimming hole is a wide spot in Oliver Creek. It is located just south of FM1384 on Oliver Creek Rd. Check on Google Maps, you can’t miss it.

  5. I was told of an old three story school house in the Stony,Texas area. Does this sound familiar to anybody ? I was also told that the school house has a tragic history.

  6. I am a retired Methodist minister. In the early 1960’s I served the Stony Methodist Church. The congregation was small but come Sunday morning we could be heard singing well down the road. We had a Sunday evening service that didn’t start until it was dark enough to have the lights on. It was there I learned to make a “stout” cup of coffee.

    1. Would love to hear some stories about what things were like in Stony and Denton County back then, Ramon. Thanks for your post!

      -Chris

      1. Chris,
        You know, Stoney is an awesome place. It is a real gem. I am a Taylor. We settled there in the mid-1800s. My grandfather (Carmen), and great grandfather (Henry) both ran the general store (wow! Over 100 years ago now). Both have since passed.

        And my father was actually raised on the plot of land at the “t intersection”. There are still about a dozen families still living there. I will say that most are a bit annoyed about “civilization” knocking on their back door. Do you blame them?

        It is really cool to see you guys showing interest in Stony.

    2. The Stony United Methodist Church still has it’s doors open. We only have church services on Sunday morning, but there are still a faithful few from the local area and as far away as Sanger, TX.

  7. Joshua,

    Carmen and Henry and the other Taylor family members were very active members of the Stony Methodist Church when I was the pastor there. Your father would have been one of the three children in the Sunday services…the other two were my boys. It was Henry who taught me how to make a “stout” cup of coffee. His rule about making coffee was, “put a lot of coffee in the pot with very little water.”….Your great grandmother played the piano every Sunday morning.

  8. I am looking on information on the whereabouts of ranger springs and Allison and the location of the confederate cemetery for a research project on ghost towns of the old west and cant seem to find these on any maps. I have been to stony and drop and am revisiting stony soon to see the newly rebuilt log cabin and would like to visit the other locations while I am out. Can someone please give me a location.

  9. We live in this area of Old Stony and love it. The Old Stony Schoolhouse has been restored. The Bonnie and Clyde gas station hideout was moved to a local family’s property to preserve it when they re-did the road several years ago. The “strange building” was my parents, and it tragically burned down about 15 years ago. I was excited to see a picture of it, as we have precious few from before the fire.

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