Thurber: Liveliest ghost town in Texas. Page: 3 of 6
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TEXAS HIGHWAYS-THURBER-COPY-MALLORY
European immigrants. An interactive CD-ROM display lets you hear their stories and see more
photos. Push a button on a scale-model of the McCleskey No. 1 well (where W.K. Gordon hit
paydirt) and launch a column of "black gold" through the wooden oil derrick.
As soon as Thurber closed, former residents began holding annual reunions near the few
remaining structures. Descendents continue the tradition during the annual Thurber Reunion
(June 11, 2005) at the Thurber Historical Association Park, located next to the Gordon Center.
The park boasts relocated and restored Thurber originals--a miner's residence,
bandstand, and St. Barbara's Catholic Church, named for the patroness saint of miners. Period-
dressed docents guide visitors through the buildings during the reunion (also every Saturday, 11
a.m. to 1 p.m., or by appointment). To honor Thurber's Italian heritage, the association set up
two lighted bocce ball courts used during the reunion and annual tourneys in March and
October.
During the reunion, docents also lead tours of Thurber's cemetery, where 1,000 markers
(many ornate and unusual) lie in separate Catholic, Protestant, and African-American quarters.
(Another historic graveyard, the Davidson Cemetery, is three miles from Thurber and features a
handsome wall and arched entry built of Thurber bricks in 1922.)
Thurber Cemetery is owned by the Bennetts-mother Andrea and son Rusty. They also
own what's left of old Thurber-including the towering smokestack, an ice house, filter plant, fire
station, doctor's home (where Andrea lives), and superintendent W.K. Gordon's home (where
Rusty lives). The Bennetts turned Thurber's mercantile store into the Smokestack Restaurant,
an 1-20 favorite since 1971. The eatery dishes up home-cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner
daily (it also houses Thurber memorabilia and the key to the cemetery, which you can "check
out" for a do-it-yourself tour).3
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Mallory, Randy. Thurber: Liveliest ghost town in Texas., text, 2005-06~; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1924308/m1/3/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.