KIMBALL, TEXAS

Texas Ghost Town
Bosque County, Central Texas North

State Highway 174
About 20 miles S of Cleburne
20 miles NE of Meridian the county seat
46 miles N of Waco

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Editor's Note - Our thanks to Jeff Boutwell, Recreation Specialist, Mid-Brazos Project/ Waco Lake, for his photos and information on Kimball. We have included his letter as text for this town page.

Kimball, Texas

I would like to make an addition to your Ghost town list. It is the old town of Kimball, Texas located in Bosque County about 20 miles south of Cleburne and 15 miles north of Meridian on State Highway 174.

It is located on the Brazos River and is the location of one of the major crossings of the river by the Chisholm Trail.

The town was established in 1853 by Judge John Kimball from New York. He bought the property from Jacob DeCordova. The town was plated by McLennan and Erath. It was a thriving town and a center of commerce during the cattle drive years. It had a gin, numerous stores, several churches, two schools and more saloons than could be counted. The town's cemetery had over 600 burials. It slowly died after the Santa Fe Railroad chose to miss the town by three miles for a narrower crossing of the river. The town existed until about 1910 and had several residences left when the federal government bought out the remaining people in 1947 for the construction of Lake Whitney by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The town is now located within Kimball Bend Park. Several old concrete foundations dating back to the 1870s remain along with the Academy. This was the school building and town meeting center. It is constructed out of cut limestone with arched windows fitted with keystones. There are even old town streets still discernable .

The park is immediately off State Highway 174 where it crosses the Brazos River.

- Jeff Boutwell, Recreation Specialist, Mid-Brazos Project/ Waco Lake
February 08, 2001

Kimball in the 1940s
"You can stand at the exact spot that this photo was taken and you will be looking down Lubbock street ( which is now a park road) and see the three large oaks and the first building to the right which is still standing."
Photo Courtesy Mr. Ron Carlisle

Kimball ruins
What's left of "the first building to the right"
Photo Courtesy Jeff Boutwell

Vintage photo of Kimball School
Photo Courtesy Mr. Ron Carlisle

Kimball School today
Photo Courtesy Jeff Boutwell
More Texas Schoolhouses

Kimball, Texas Forum/Update

Subject: Kimball Bend Ghost Town
I agree with Mr. Steve Watkins letter, written July 4, 2009. Kimball Bend Ghost Town is not open to the public, they don't even want you to see it, that is the Army Corps Of Engineers. I live just up 174 a half a mile to the left at Chisholm Trail. My Great Grandfather lived in this town in the 1890's and relocated to the town of Blum when the Railroad came through. At the turn of the century he relocated to Denton Texas where my father was born, as a result I was born there also. I moved here 19 years ago and did not find out my family history until 2005. Find out I didn't move into the area, I just came home. - Ernie A. Copeland USMC - Decorated Vietnam Veteran, Blum, Texas, May 02, 2013

After reading your article on Kimball ghost town, in Kimball bend park I decided to take a trip out there. It is not open to the public, as such. It is in a camp ground that requires a $20 dollar admission fee. Overnight camping only, no day use. The man at the gate let us drive through only if we promised to go right in and back out (he seemed perterbed we would even ask). The wall in the photo on your site is now surrounded by a chain link fence ruining any photographs or close examination. I was not able to get close enough to see the rest of the ruins. I just thought I would let you know to warn people� I burned a lot of gas getting out there only to have to turn right around and come back. - Steve Watkins, Ft. Worth, July 4, 2009

Chisholm Trail: Fording the Brazos at Kimball Bend by Angela Blair

1907 postal map showing Kimball in NE Bosque County
near Hill and Johnson County lines
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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Kimball, Texas Nearby Towns:
Meridian the county seat
Cleburne
Waco
See Bosque County | Hill County | Johnson County

Central Texas North

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