Acme, Texas facts for kids

Acme is a ghost town located in Hardeman County, Texas, United States. It sits about five miles west of Quanah, which is the main town in the county. A ghost town is a place where most people have left, often because the main reason for the town's existence disappeared.

History of Acme

Acme's story began in 1890 when a businessman named James Sickler found a huge amount of gypsum there. Gypsum is a soft mineral used to make things like plaster and drywall for buildings. Sickler moved his company from Kansas to this spot to use the gypsum. He renamed his company the Lone Star Cement Plaster Company, and that's how the town of Acme started.

Early Discoveries and Growth

When workers first started mining the gypsum, they made an exciting discovery: they found several mastodon fossils! Mastodons were ancient, elephant-like animals that lived thousands of years ago.

Just ten years after it began, Acme was a busy little town. It had its own store, a school for children, a hotel, and even a railroad depot (a train station). By 1945, the town's population had grown to 400 people. The gypsum plant became the biggest of its kind in the entire United States, bringing jobs and life to Acme.

Decline and New Life

However, things changed in the 1960s when the large gypsum plant closed down. This caused many people to leave Acme in search of new jobs. By 1975, only 14 people still lived there permanently.

Even though most people had left, the town wasn't completely abandoned. In the 1980s, a company called the Georgia-Pacific Corporation started making gypsum board (a type of drywall) in Acme. Today, the plant is still active, but no permanent residents live in the town itself.

While many of the old buildings were torn down in the late 1900s, a few original structures still stand, including the old railroad depot. These buildings are a reminder of Acme's past as a busy industrial town.