Acme 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
Hardeman County, Texas
Hardeman County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 3,549. The county seat and largest city is Quanah, Texas, Quanah. The county was cr ...
, United States.
It is located five miles west of the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
,
Quanah.
History
A large deposit of
gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...
was discovered by businessman James Sickler in 1890, who moved his Kansas operation to the area to exploit the deposit, and renamed it the Lone Star Cement Plaster Company, which began the city of Acme. During the initial mining of gypsum, a number of mastodon fossils were found.
Ten years later, Acme had a store, school, hotel and railroad depot. The population grew to 400 residents by 1945 as the plant become the largest of its type in the United States. The plant closed in the 1960s, causing a decline in population, such that by 1975, only 14 permanent residents remained.
Beginning the 1980s, the
Georgia Pacific Corporation began manufacturing gypsum board in the town, although no permanent residents live there.
While a few of the original buildings are still standing, including the railroad depot, many were bulldozed in the late 20th century.
See also
*
List of ghost towns in Texas
This is an incomplete list of Ghost town, ghost towns in Texas.
Classification
;Barren site
* Sites no longer in existence
* Sites that have been destroyed
* Submerged
* Reverted to pasture
* May have a few difficult-to-find foundations/foo ...
References
External links
Acmeat GhostTowns.com
Ghost towns in North Texas
Populated places in Hardeman County, Texas
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