Ibex, TX - Ghost Towns on Waymarking.com

The old refinery's three chimneys are still standing tall but showing signs of serious wear and tear. Please limit visits to the safe side of the fence: Not only could you be the lucky one underneath when one of these finally comes down, but wandering around in that brush may yield an encounter with something unpleasant.

A 2013 Texas Historical Marker provides some history:

Oil drilling in the 1920s transformed this area from cattle ranches to a boomtown. In 1919, the Ibex Oil Co. drilled a successful well into the Caddo Lime formation. Soon other drilling companies came and wooden derricks spread for miles. In 1921, Ibex sold their leases to the Landreth Co. Ed Landreth built a gasoline refinery, water-powered by a dam on Hubbard Creek. Lone Star Gas, Humble Oil and other companies built facilities and dozens of employee homes. Other families slept in tents or open pastures. In the 1920s, the Ibex community had a school, grocery, dry goods, hotels, cafes, and a central phone office. The post office operated from 1923-53 before the population fell. Today, foundations and smokestacks remain from the industrial past of Ibex.

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The Handbook of Texas Online (see Related Web Page) gives "sometime after 1930" as the closure of the post office, which suggests that Ibex was even shorter-lived. Additionally, there was a four room schoolhouse here which also served as a community center, but it was ultimately the decline of oil production and a 1925 fire that hastened the town's demise.

Reason for Abandonment: Human Disaster Date Abandoned: 01/01/1953 Related Web Page: [Web Link]

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