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Texas Ghost
Town
BELLE PLAIN, TEXAS
Callahan County,
Panhandle
/ West
Texas
AKA Phantom U
6 miles SE of Baird
27 miles SE of Abilene
31 miles SW of Eastland
On Private Property
On county roads off of Highway 283
Population: 0
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| The
deteriorating home of the dean of Belle Plain college, the ruins of
which still stand some 200 yards behind this structure. - Photo courtesy
Noel Kerns, September 2007
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History
in a Pecan Shell
Named after the first first child born here (Katie Belle Magee) the
town was established on state school land in 1876. A man named Nelson
Smith platted the town carefully, even designating a commercial district.
Smith and others had great hopes for Belle Plain's future - which
probably doomed it from the start.
After Callahan County was organized in 1877, Belle Plain won the election
for county seat - essentially dooming its rival - Callahan
City.
Belle Plain was on a roll. New arrivals as well as deserting Callahan
City swelled the population. The towns hopes were underlined with
numerous permanent stone structures - including the Belle Plain College
- the ruins of which still stand. |
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Belle
Plain College
Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, 2001 |
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The
former Dean's residence at Belle Plain College
Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, 2001 |
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Belle
Plain College as viewed from the road
Photo courtesy
Erik Whetstone, 2001 |
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Belle
Plain College, 1881-1888
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
In
1879 the town got it's own newspaper and success was all but assured.
The population reached a respectable 400 people by 1884, according
to the Handbook of Texas.
Along came the Texas and Pacific railroad. It built through Baird
- essentially doing the same to Belle Plain as Belle Plain did to
Callahan City.
Baird became the county
seat in1883. |
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The
old Callahan County Jails originally in Belle Plain, now in Baird
Photo courtesy Charlene Beatty Beauchamp |
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The newspaper moved to Baird
and even the stone jail was dismantled (to be remantled in Baird
where it eventually became a Boy Scout meeting place.
The region then
went through a hard winter in 1884-85 immediately followed by a drought.
Somehow the college managed to hold on until 1892.
By 1897 only a store and a few diehards were left to keep the post
office open until 1909 when it too closed.
The detailed county map of Callahan County shows a cemetery marked
Belle Plain.
© John Troesser |
Ruins
of the First (1877) Callahan County Courthouse in Belle Plain.
1930s photo courtesy TXDoT |
Belle Plain
Texas Forum
Ancestors
Graves in Belle Plain
Dear TE, I ran across [your magazine] as I was googling Belle Plain,
Texas and thought I would share a story about that ghost town.
My great grandfather was born in Belle Plain in September of 1887
at the height of BP's success. His name was Burney Lafayette (Bun)
Gist.
Burney's grandfather/mother - my ggg-grandparents are buried in
the Belle Plain cemetery. Both of their headstones are still standing
to this day. Their names as engraved on the stones are: D.H. Gist
(David Hamilton Gist d. 1894) and Pamela Gist d. 1893. They came
to Belle Plain from Kentucky between 1870-1880. DH was a saddler
and a farmer in Belle Plain and the kids and grandkids worked on
farms there too as I understand it. DH and Pam Gist had many children
that they also brought to BP including my gg-grandfather and Burney's
father Nathaniel Lafayette Gist.
After Belle Plain died, Nathaniel took his family including Burney
(Belle Plain native) and moved to the Red River area mainly Vernon
and Quanah. Burney's
son, my grandfather was born in Vernon. His name was Burney Lafayette
Gist Jr. or B.L. as he known by. Anyway, their are still many Gist's
in the Abilene,
Texas area that are descendants of DH Gist from Belle Plain
(who are no doubt all kin to me).
Anyway, the reason I wrote y'all was that I have direct ties to
Belle Plain and appreciate the photos you all have placed on the
web. They are a glimpse of my family history and I wanted to say
thank you! I have been trying to get a free weekend so I can drive
out there and see my ggg grandparents graves and clean their headstones,
etc. Just thought y'all would appreciate my little story about Belle
Plain, Texas. - Benton Gist, Kennedale, Texas, January 11, 2008
Subject:
Baird & Belle Plain, New Jail
I recently reviewed your site and was very interested in the information
about the New Jail in Baird.
My mother (Nora A. Reed Bridges) was born in that jail in 1897.
Also, two brothers were born there. My maternal grandfather, J.M.
Reed was the jailer and my grandmother cooked for the inmates. They
moved from there to the Haskell
area where my grandfather was a blacksmith and deputy sheriff. -
James R Bridges, June 04, 2005
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| Belle
Plain is one of the major ghost towns included in T. Lindsay Baker's
first ghost town book Ghost Towns of Texas (1986). The second volume
was published in 2003. Both are from University of Oklahoma Press. |
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