Texas Ghost Town

CASA PIEDRA, TEXAS

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History in a Pecan Shell

Spanish for Rock House, this ghost town is a bit of an anomaly. It appears prominently on the Official State Highway Map for 2000, but yet there is no road leading to it. The 1998 County Maps of Texas by the same Department of Transportation do not show Casa Piedras, even though the county maps are traditionally more detailed.

According to the Handbook of Texas Online, "a winding unpaved road leads there from Plata, ten miles to the North." Plata doesn't show on either the state or county map of Presidio County. Assuming that such a place exists, we'll tell you roughly what the Handbook of Texas Online says about Casa Piedra.

A man by the name of Domenicio Mata built a rock house there in 1883. Something must've been happening there for by the year 1900 there were about 50 families in residence. A school was started in 1906 and a woman by the name of Lucia Hernandez Russell is given credit for its founding. The Russell and the Vasquez families made up nearly the entire population.

The town throve until the early 30s when they got hit with a double whammy of drought AND depression. The railroad (Santa Fe) came in 1930 which was just in time to make it easier for the town folk to leave. By 1933 there were only 10 residents left and most of them were probably seriously considering leaving.

They closed the post office in 1953 and the only store closed in 1957. In 1968 there was a reported population of 21 people who all found something better to do than sit around and play dominos in Casa Piedra.

© John Troesser

Casa Piedra in the 1940s

We went to school where one very sweet teacher taught all the grades. I don’t recall her name. The children were supplied cans of peanut butter to spread on tortillas they brought from home. Evaporated can milk was mixed and passed around to all, at lunchtime.

My sister and I carried sack lunches and traded our sandwiches and fresh fruit for some of their peanut butter and milk.

We played school yard games, “Tag” and “Red Rover Come Over” during recess. We learned some Spanish and they learned some English. They were the best mannered children and made us welcomed there. We were sad to leave.

I can’t recall any buildings but the school. We rode in a pickup truck with two little girls from Plata. Their father, named Gus, was a section hand for the Santa Fe Railroad. Our father knew him and his family. We, four girls, were the only children there and so glad to be friends. All told, Gus and his wife were the parents of nineteen children, some already grown.

We spent a good Christmas there. We shared Mother baked cake to trade for squash and vegetables from Gus and his family. Daddy was a hunter and fisherman. He always shared his bounty with his neighbors. We were monetarily poor, but so rich in the things that count.

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