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
Monroe County, Mississippi
Monroe County is a county on the northeast border of the U.S. state of Mississippi next to Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 34,180. Its county seat is Aberdeen.
History
The county is named in honor of James Monroe, the fi ...
, United States. Once a thriving river port, Camargo declined following the completion of a nearby railway.
History
Camargo was laid out in 1847, and was named by a veteran of the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
, after a war camp near
Camargo, Tamaulipas
Camargo is a Municipalities of Tamaulipas, municipality in the Mexico, Mexican Mexican state, state of Tamaulipas. It is located on the US-Mexico border, US border, across from Rio Grande City, Texas. It has an official population of 14,933 inhab ...
, Mexico. Located on Old Town Creek, it was described as a "flourishing port", with schools, stores, a steamboat landing, a church, post office, cemetery, and Masonic Lodge. The
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...
won a skirmish at Camargo on July 14, 1864.
The
Mobile and Ohio Railroad
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ...
opened about west of Camargo in the late 1840s. A plan to build a railway line from Camargo to the Mobile and Ohio mainline was prepared, and in 1854, the Camargo Branch Railroad Company was established, though the line was never constructed. With the success of the nearby railway, Old Town Creek was neglected and became filled with trees and debris, making it impractical as a transport route. "Under the new conditions of competition the little river ports suffered heavily and tended to dry up", and Camargo was abandoned by the 1870s.