Mother Nature Has Shown No Mercy to This Ghost Town Near El Paso

Texas holds the record of having the most ghost towns in the country; over 500 exist throughout the state. One became a ghost town mainly in part due to the cruel mistress that is Mother Nature: Lobo, Texas.

Where is Lobo, Texas?

Located just 12 miles south of Van Horn (and 2 hours outside of El Paso), the town of Lobo sits along Highway 90 in southwestern Culberson County. For many people living in the 1800s, it was the main source of finding water from local wells.

For a while it was a small town of only a few people until 1929, where an earthquake hit the town, destroyed the town's hotel, causing the population to dwindle to just 10 by the mid 1930s.

Many people WOULD end up coming back to the town & things would look up with the arrival of the Texas Mica Company & a few railroad houses. The town would even make an appearance in an 1980 Old Milwaukee commercial.

However that wouldn't be enough to save the town. Due to the extreme heat drying up the water (and only getting 13 inches of rain every year), every one would get up & leave. By 1991 the town would be abandoned. You can see many historic photos posted on the Texas Escapes website.

Where is the town of Lobo Texas now?

Today only a few buildings exist; a four room hotel, a boarded up gas stations & countless buildings left abandoned. But in 2001 the town would bought by 2 new owners: Alexander Bardorff & Axel Roessler. Together they would bring some rejuvenation with the arrival of the Desert Dust Cinema festival that would be held between 2011 -2018. You can actually see videos of these festivals from Alexander's YouTube channel.

Sadly that too wasn't enough to save the town as it currently up for sale as of May 2023.

It's one of the many tragic stories of ghost towns thriving and sadly...not surviving. But we've seen with some ghost towns in Texas, at least there are buildings still here. Some towns don't have anything more but a dinky little sign...

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