This is the sixth article of the ghost town series. Previous articles can be found below:
- Ghost towns of the Concho Valley: Tom Green County
- Ghost towns of the Concho Valley: Coke and Sterling County
- Ghost towns of the Concho Valley: Concho and Schleicher County
- Ghost towns of the Concho Valley: Kimble County
- Ghost towns of the Concho Valley: Mason County
- Ghost towns of the Concho Valley: McCulloch County
Everything is bigger and better in Texas, including the number of ghost towns. According to Texas Highways, the Lone Star State is home to 511 ghost towns, which is the most a state has.
Crockett County and Sutton County are home to a combined four ghost towns.
Edruvera, Texas
According to Texas Escapes, not much is known about the town of Edruvera other than the name appearing on maps in the 1920s and 1940s located on the northwest corner of Crockett County.
Emerald, Texas
Emerald is located in eastern Crockett County, seven miles east of Ozona in a level divide that stretched between the hills of the Edwards Plateau.
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), a well-driller had tapped an aquifer that was 540 below the surface in 1888. Immigration commissioner for the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway Company T. A. Wilkinson was able to persuade the company to equip the well with a pump, windmill, tank, store, and two-room school house. The town of Emerald Grove was soon established with 300 lots. TSHA says that one-fourth of these lots were to be used for business.
According to the TSHA, prospects road by railway to San Angelo, then brought by buggy to the townsite where land was available for a dollar an acre. The community grew with people from Ohio, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Iowa with buildings being made from San Angelo lumber. A post office opened in 1890 and a buckboard provided transportation and mail service from San Angelo as well.
In 1890 Ozona became the county seat of Crockett County after the county was organized and a railroad was constructed bypassing the town. The post office closed in 1891 and other businesses followed as citizens moved to Ozona. The school remained up until 1893 and the building was relocated on four wagons to Memorial Park in Ozona in 1897.
Hembrie, Texas
Like Edruvera, not much is known about Hembrie the second ghost town found in Crockett County. The Texas Escapes says a school once ran in the town though specific dates are unknown. It is also believed that a post office opened around the 1890s and closed in 1911.
The Texas Almanac also shared that Hembrie was also associated with Nix’s Ranch and 77 Ranch though it is not shared how.
Wentworth, Texas
According to a historical marker located on U.S. 277 in Sutton County just three and a half miles southwest of Sonora, the town of Wentworth was situated in the 1880s by A.J. Winkler. The town was named after P.H. Wentworth who was a Fort Terrett area rancher.
In August of 1890, a post office ran under Postmaster Thomas Stevenson. A two-story building was also constructed for the school, church, and Hall of Dee Ora Lodge No. 715. The post office was dissolved in August of 1981 after Wentworth lost the county seat election to Sonora. Most citizens relocated to Sonora along with the Lodge Hall which served as a school and community building until 1938.