Bankersmith (also sometimes written as Banker Smith) is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Kendall County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. The town was founded in 1913. It lies approximately halfway between Fredericksburg and

Comfort Comfort is a state of physical or psychological ease, often characterized by the absence of hardship. Individuals experiencing a lack of comfort are typically described as uncomfortable or in discomfort. A degree of psychological comfort can b ...

, near the border of Gillespie County.

History and geography

Bankersmith Train Station

Bankersmith originated in 1913 as a

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

along the San Antonio, Fredericksburg and Northern Railway which served nearby Grapetown, Texas, running between Fredericksburg and Comfort. The town and rail station drew its name of "Bankersmith" from Temple Doswell Smith, an important Fredericksburg

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

president who financed the railroad. In the early 1940s, the railroad abandoned the line running through Bankersmith.

Old Route 9 / Old San Antonio Road

Old Route 9 / Old San Antonio Road is the first

paved road A road surface (British English) or pavement (North American English) is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, macadam, ho ...

running north into Fredericksburg, that ran through Bankersmith after the founding of the Bankersmith Train Station. However, the much later

U.S. Route 87 U.S. Highway 87 (US 87) is a north–south United States highway (though it is signed east–west in New Mexico) that runs for from northern Montana to southern Texas, making it the longest north–south road to not have a "1" in ...

did not pass through Bankersmith. It later became an important alternative route between Fredericksburg and Comfort.

Bankersmith Post Office

During the 1920s, Bankersmith reached its peak population of approximately 50. The

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was sometimes listed as being in Kendall County and sometimes listed in Gillespie County, depending on the abode of the current

Postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

. It was surrounded by a small business district which served the train station. By the 1940s, the town was all but abandoned and the post office was gone—although some residents persisted into the 1960s.

The Old Tunnel of the San Antonio, Fredericksburg and Northern Railway

As the town was located in the

Texas Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...

, it is near one of the few railroad tunnels in the state (the only railroad tunnel in Texas when it was constructed). The tunnel is long, took six months to dig, and cost $134,000 at the time. The tunnel is now part of Old Tunnel State Park and the home to thousands of

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s. The Old Tunnel State Park provides a large parking area for would-be visitors, and it is at the intersection of Old San Antonio Road and Alamo Road. Meanwhile, the southern end of the tunnel is at 30°6'2"N and 98°49'15"W.

Historical population

Major highways

* Old No 9 Hwy

Plans for Bikinis, Texas

In 2012, restaurateur Doug Guller purchased parts of the town on

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is a privately held American company operating a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussi ...

, and renamed the town to "Bikinis, Texas" after

Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill was a chain of sports bars and restaurants located in Texas. The restaurant chain was known for its scantily-clad waitresses, called "Bikini Babes", whose uniforms consist of its eponymous bikini tops, cowboy boots, and ...

, his restaurant chain. The purchase price is not known, also some have questioned Guller's ability to rename a town that no longer officially exists. Guller declared his intentions to turn the town into a tourist destination by creating a

hall of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

for the bikini swimsuit, presenting its history beginning with its invention in 1946. Guller has said he had no plans to open a Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill restaurant at the location, but might start a

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

inside an abandoned bus there. The bus resides at 30°8'24"N and 98°49'8"W. In 2015, Guller reverted to the name Bankersmith, wanting to mend fences with Fredericksburg. As of 2021, Bankersmith, Texas is a fully functioning bar, restaurant, and tourist attraction that proudly claims its history as a ghost town. However, its official address is given as 7905 Old San Antonio Road, Fredericksburg, TX 78624—substantiating the claim that the town no longer exists.

References

{{Kendall County, Texas Populated places in Kendall County, Texas Ghost towns in Central Texas