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STILES,
TEXASTexas Ghost
Town
Reagan County, West Texas |
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Hwy 137 North from Big Lake,
at 12 1/2 miles, 137 makes a hard left turn. Follow 137 approximately 6 additional
miles to Stiles. The former Reagan County Courthouse is on the south side of the
highway. |
| | The
former Reagan County Courthouse at Stiles, Texas
TE photo, September
2000 |
| | The
Courthouse at Stiles before the fire
Photo Courtesy Big Lake Chamber
of Commerce, Tammy Blakely, Manager |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Stiles dates from 1903 when Reagan County was cut
from Tom Green County. John H. Reagan held a number of positions, including Treasurer
of the Confederacy. He was also a Congressman and Senator and the First Railroad
Commissioner when that post was created in 1891. John H. Reagan died in 1905.
The town was named after a local rancher, William G. Stiles and became
the county seat when Reagan County was born. It was the only town. It had a central
location and a courthouse was built in 1911 from the abundant limestone
near the townsite. Big things were in store. But the railroad came to Big Lake
and you can guess what happened shortly thereafter. Big
Lake became the county seat in 1925. |
The
people weren't as ambitious as the townsfolk of Callahan
City in Callahan County. There they moved the still-new stone jail to the
new county seat in Baird, but here the building
was bigger and the distance greater. So here the former courthouse stands, like
it's handsome cousin in Sherwood
next door in Irion County.
Stiles retained its post office until
1939. The town is listed in T. Lindsay Baker's Ghost Towns of Texas.
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| On
Christmas Eve, 1999, someone set fire to the courthouse at Stiles. He was arrested
since he had attempted the act twice before and the police knew who he was. He
is also accused of starting fires in several other counties bordering Reagan.
A building in the ghost town of Girvin
(Pecos County) has also been burned.
The
building now stands gutted, with only the cut stone in place and some of that
loose. The ruin can be viewed from the highway (137) or even closer, through a
chain link security fence. |
| | Another
view of the former Reagan County Courthouse at Stiles
TE photo, September
2000 |
Nearby
Destinations
In
addition to Stiles, the county's second ghost town, Texon
is 14 miles west of Big Lake
on Highway 67 where it intersects with FM 1675.
If you visit Reagan County,
there was also a stagecoach station and U.S. Army camp at Grierson Spring,
just west of Big Lake near
Best.
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© John Troesser |
Stiles
Texas Forum In
addition to your statements on Stiles this town stated as a Well Fargo stage stop
between San
Angelo and Ft.
Stocton Texas. This stop served a need in western history . Not only as law
and order with it's courthouse, but also had a boothill, indian village, a six
room school house made of brick a quarter mile east of the courthouse.
As I was told a pig farmer was ordered to sell off his pigs or the county officals
would kill off his herd. The night before this was to happen he turned his herd
of hamsurd hogs loose. Today the native havalena are a crossbreed of this domestic
herd.
After they moved the county seat to Big Lake the old courthouse
became a meeting place for the long time rancher, county employees, and Mexican
Nationals working state side. I can remember a birthday party that was held in
the top of that grand old courthouse. There is a lot of history tied up in that
old GRAND COURTHOUSE and surrounding area. - Moore. November 20, 2001
On
the addendum for Stiles Texas there is a statement that the local population of
Javelina has been augmented by a cross with loosed domestic hogs. This is not
possible. Javelina have no relation to pigs or hogs of any kind, they are actually
a pecary, and the two will not, and can not cross. Just wanted to let you know.
- Reader, December 23, 2003
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