Day Trips: Stiles, Texas
All that is left of West Texas ghost town is the stone ruins of the courthouse
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., Jan. 15, 2016
Stiles, Texas, has been swallowed up by the desert brush north of Big Lake. Even without its roof, the abandoned county courthouse towers above the landscape of oil pump jacks and an occasional double-wide trailer home.
Built in 1911 of locally quarried limestone, the courthouse was the centerpiece of the biggest town in Reagan County. For a few years, the town grew as it serviced area ranches. Business began to fade when a rancher refused to grant easement to the railroad.
The tracks were eventually laid through what was to become the town of Big Lake. Named for a prehistoric dry lake bed south of town, Big Lake became the county seat in 1925 and is still the only town of any size in the county.
Ironically, it was the discovery of the first oil well on University of Texas land that caused the ultimate decline of Stiles. The Santa Rita #1 oil well outside of Big Lake in 1923 turned the small railroad depot into a boomtown.
The ruins of the courthouse at Stiles are still visible from TX-137 about 20 miles north of Big Lake. The town was established in 1894, but by 1930 it was a ghost town with only a few residents. An arsonist torched the empty courthouse twice in 1998 before getting caught. Today, the white stone walls are accessible, but protected by a high fence.
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