Argyle 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 ...

located in Rich County,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, United States. Lying some southwest of Randolph on Big Creek, it was inhabited from approximately 1875–1915.

History

''Circa'' 1875, John Kennedy, Sr. (the great-grandfather of David M. Kennedy) settled the area with his three sons (one of whom, John Kennedy, Jr. later served in the Utah State legislature), who built homes and ranches along the various branches of Big Creek. Within a few years several other

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

families moved in and established a local church group. The town became known as ''Kennedyville''. In 1885 the community organized a school system, and the mostly

Scottish American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans (; ) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and ce ...

residents voted to rename the town ''Argyle'' in honor of

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. School was originally held in Kennedy's home until a one-room brick schoolhouse was built in 1895. The cold climate made farming difficult, and the population grew slowly. There were 111 inhabitants in 1900, and just over 125 in 1910 when a second room was built onto the schoolhouse. Argyle declined as transportation improved and farmers no longer had to live as close to their fields. The school was considered inferior to the education available in nearby Randolph, and Argyle had no stores or other services of its own. In 1913 the local church organization was discontinued, and in 1915 the school itself closed and merged with the one in Randolph. Most of the residents moved to Randolph and kept their farms in the Argyle area. Although the town is deserted, numerous buildings and walls still stand at Argyle. It is surrounded by

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

fields and closed to the public, but the ruins can easily be seen from the road.

References

External links

Argyle
at GhostTowns.com {{Rich County, Utah Ghost towns in Rich County, Utah Ghost towns in Utah Populated places established in 1875 1875 establishments in Utah Territory