This weekend, my wife travelled with her family to an old Texas ghost town called Gunsight where a family plot exists in the historic cemetary. In honor of their trip, I packed an ammo can and had them place a cache there called Gunsight Ghost Town.
GUNSIGHT, TEXAS. Gunsight, in southern Stephens County, was named for the nearby Gunsight Mountains. It was settled in the late 1800's and gained a post office in 1880 at J. W. Shepard's store. The community's population was fifty in 1890 and grew to 150 in 1920 because of the oil boom and the town's location near the Wichita Falls and Southern Railway. During the 1920s Gunsight lost its railroad station and post office. Its population was reported as six in 1980 and 1990.
As early as 1858, Gunsight was on a wagon road from Fort Griffin in Shackelford County to Stephenville in Erath County. The road continued through the Gunsight mountains across Colony Creek in Eastland County toward Ranger. Settlers started coming after the Civil War in 1865. The loan Methodist church building was relocated to its present site across the road, north of the cemetery in 1978. Here now are the three remaining vestiges of a once thriving community; the well kept cemetery, the old school building, and the vacant church. The Gunsight Cemetery marks the final resting place for over 450 people. Many graves are unmarked and there are at least 40 graves of war veterans. To date, there are three known Civil War veterans of the Confederate States, two Spanish American War veterans, twelve of World War I, twenty-one veterans of World War II, and two Korean veterans.
GUNSIGHT, TEXAS. Gunsight, in southern Stephens County, was named for the nearby Gunsight Mountains. It was settled in the late 1800's and gained a post office in 1880 at J. W. Shepard's store. The community's population was fifty in 1890 and grew to 150 in 1920 because of the oil boom and the town's location near the Wichita Falls and Southern Railway. During the 1920s Gunsight lost its railroad station and post office. Its population was reported as six in 1980 and 1990.
As early as 1858, Gunsight was on a wagon road from Fort Griffin in Shackelford County to Stephenville in Erath County. The road continued through the Gunsight mountains across Colony Creek in Eastland County toward Ranger. Settlers started coming after the Civil War in 1865. The loan Methodist church building was relocated to its present site across the road, north of the cemetery in 1978. Here now are the three remaining vestiges of a once thriving community; the well kept cemetery, the old school building, and the vacant church. The Gunsight Cemetery marks the final resting place for over 450 people. Many graves are unmarked and there are at least 40 graves of war veterans. To date, there are three known Civil War veterans of the Confederate States, two Spanish American War veterans, twelve of World War I, twenty-one veterans of World War II, and two Korean veterans.
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