A Forgotten Town in the Middle of Nowhere Texas
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ธ.ค. 2022
- A Forgotten Town in the Middle of Nowhere Texas - Driving the backroads of Texas we discover a forgotten town in the middle of nowhere. With its empty streets & abandoned buildings this place is almost a ghost town. Curious, we stop to explore it. While there we uncover its unusual history. Find out what makes this small Texas town a rarity among other dying towns in America in this episode of SightseeingSally.
About me: I grew up in a small town the Midwest. Now I drive America's backroads exploring small towns, forgotten places, local history and more!
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Thing is, that 30k group of buildings could be made into something cool with another $30k. For $60k you could be in historical paradise. And being on the highway could be profitable as a haunted town or something. Otherwise they are just going to tear it down and paint it white with beige accents. Lol, I just LOVE old stuff so much. Adore you at first sight. Subscribed!
Definitely needs a good old fashioned cleaning and a dumpster to start.
@@SightseeingSallythe middle of nowhere in Texas needs a mansion house with living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, movie theater room, game room, music room, musical room, church room, library room, office, sports room, pool room, laundry room, and the garage.
Lived and went to school in Valentine. The ruins at 16:58 is where I lived (back in the 70s). About 200 folks lived there in those days (town and surrounding ranches). The "other" cemetery is the "Mexican" cemetery (Catholic). That side of Valentine is where residents of Mexican heritage lived (back in the day). There's a couple of scenes in "Giant" that were filmed in Valentine. The train scene with Sal Mineo's characters coffin, and the scene where Elizabeth Taylor visits a mother and her sick child (both actual residents of Valentine). The "Highway Cafe" had the best burger in town (to the left was Papa Sanchez's bar and barbershop). To the right of the Highway Cafe (now deteriorated) was "Tino's" cafe. There were two stores, two cafe's, three gas stations, and a railroad depot when I was kid. I can say that most any thing on the south side of the highway (for sale), was bought for the taxes owed...a pittance to what is being asked for today. We have a high school reunion every year (now in February). Valentine HS has a 99% graduation rate and I believe around 80+% go onto college. We had 4 graduating seniors in 1976. Great presentation for a really hidden treasure (I'm biased).
Thank you for you're video on our beloved Valentine Texas..yes there is not much here..but if you have been living here for the past 30 years..you get used to it..I grew up along with 4 sisters and 3 brothers and we all graduated from VISD which we are all proud of..I still live here and I'm a FireFighter/First Responder/medic along with my brother who's a city commisioner..my mom passed away 7 months ago and she is resting in her resting place cemetary south of town..me and my dad live north east of town by that tower you mentioned..thank you kindly!!
I love your town .I wish my town of Leander would have stayed small.know it's chaotic
Nice report on Valentine. I lived there for 20 years and I can tell you many of the buildings fell down in the past 15 years or so. That West Texas sun and wind will destroy everything that is not being maintained. FYI Valentine had an engine shop and roundhouse that did repairs on the engines. The event of the diesel engines made the shop unessary to the railroad so they shut the whole operation down. They removed the last remains of the old shop and roundhouse while I was living there. Valentine in it's heyday had a population of around 1000 people and when the railroad left not only did they take the people with them they also took a lot of the houses they lived in. That wild increase in land and housing that started in Marfa spread to Valentine, and as you can see, nobody is buying it. All in all, a good report, thank you.
I have been through Valentine, Tx many times over the last 60 years. I have worked on 2 Geological research projects when I was a student at the U of Texas and have hiked most of the trails in Big Bend NP over the many years. There was never a time that much was ever there. I also taught at Presidio High School for a year. Be sure to spend some time in Big Bend NP while you are in the area. I'm now 80 years old and live in my paradise in the Jungles of the Philippines.
I drove through Texas numerous times, when I was stationed at Ft Hood I drove the 190 to the I-10, the I-40 to the 287 to get to McKinney and the 380west and I saw a lot of small towns that looked like they were barely hanging on, but Texas is a huge state and a lot of small towns.
My home town is not named Valentine, but out post office does a Land Office business for Feb. 14 too. On another note, that's my Dancer, Texas! I love that film! That library was probably a Carnegie library.
that town reminds me of route 66, love vintage!!
Yes, it kinda has that feel!
One of my favorite summers growing up was spent in Valentine.
Hi there. Enjoying the adventures of Sightseeing Sally and Marty. ✌🏻from Maryland.
Rosedale says Hello! 🤠👍
Hi Kelly, awesome, thank you 😁
I love TEXAS
Marfa is a good example of a town that pulled together and lifted themselves out of a death spiral. I wish many of the dying towns in my W TX would rise up and do it too
Greetings from Australia. Just found your channel and have subscribed. I enjoy watching these "Smalltown USA" locations and videos.
Greetings & happy to hear, thank you 😁
Sally and Marty, the awesome comedy team of abandoned places. I was going to just say S and M but thought I better not. Did you ask at the library for a rest room? That is a nice looking little town. Wonder how much border traffic they get. Very nice video on the little town. That house looked like it may be to close to a highway, you may loose the entire lot in right of way. Hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.
Love ❤️ your videos love your history Sally you all stay safe 👍 ok
Sally love the way Marty barks in a grumpy way!
Lol
@@SightseeingSally Love to you Sally!
Their population was 108 in the 2021 census
HI Sally & Marty. I just came across your channel. Watching from Australia, i just loved this video. I really enjoy seeing small towns in your country, just as i like exploring small country towns in mine. I'ts just that feeling of history that once was. Time to check out more of your videos i think. G'day from Australia.
I love when Marty participates. You should check out Valentine, Nebraska.
Way out west you are! 👍
You make some really cool videos. I have been to Valentine Texas
Thanks!
Another gem! Thanks, Sally and Marty!
Another amazing video. You should check out Valentine, Arizona along old route 66. There is really nothing there. Maybe I'll see you guys out in Arizona one day.
Loved this!! 🙂👍🌹🌹
Love the back roads or small towns..thanks
Love these videos of s w texas! You should head to Dryden and then head north (349) it is very interesting terrain.
Charmingly interesting and fun to watch (as always, I’m finding out). 😀
This is awesome find
We almost didn’t film here. Except when we were there the first time we saw a Miniature Dachshund (it had a collar on) running around and I wanted to go back to make sure it was ok.
@@SightseeingSally I had friends that lived in Alpine and FortDavis..... did y'all make it down there?? .....I wonder if Alpine still exists
@@DeeMoback yes, I did a video on Alpine
@@SightseeingSally 10-4
Marty. The One Man Party.
Miss you guys. Sting.
hahaha yes, Marty is always having is own party in his head. Great to see you Sting!
50x50 lot lord that’s small
Barely enough room to put out a patio set and a barbecue grill, much less store all the junk Marty collects 😂
At 6:35, there's that emblem on the gate: The Stewart Iron Works & Co, Cincinnati, OH. I looked it up. They are still in business but moved to Kentucky. They seems to be doing the same kind of work with historical renovation, fabrication, design, site amenities (such as gates and benches.
When I checked out the companies history: In 1862 Richard Clayborne Stewart Sr. opened the Stewart Iron Fence Company in Covington, Kentucky. (no mention of Cincinnati, although Covington is right across the river.
As their reputation grew, Stewart Iron created all of the benches and site amenities for New York City’s Central Park, the light fixtures in the U.S. Capitol Building, the fencing and gates surrounding the Panama Canal, and the jail cells for such notorious prison as Alcatraz, Sing-Sing, and Leavenworth.
There used to be a business around Valentine that would drop ship cards, letter, and parcels for you so they'd be postmarked "Valentine, Texas" on St. Valentine's Day. I still have a card with that postmark in my memory box, more than 30 years after it was sent.
i miss the 80s tons of them mom and pop places on a hot day go down and get a i sickle they had 2 sticks and colored ice for like 2 cents so refreshing
Thanks for the reminder you guys--------I happen to (by luck) stop in valentine a few years ago on Valentines day. The town used to do a big celebration and had severa; Big Texas bands play--------hundreds showed up and I had the best time. Lots of dancing.
I've been there since and I don't think they do it anymore----------it was a very big deal.
Thanks
BigDog
What a nice main Street another great video always great videos I was hoping to see Marty with a skateboard in the skateboard park always love your videos Sally you and Marty take care stay happy healthy and safe 🏆🌺👍✌️🏆
Thanks Duane! I bet that would be hilarious to watch 😂 Marty doesn’t strike me as the skateboarding type. 🛹
@@SightseeingSally I would have never thought he was a skateboard type either but I bet he could have done it before he fell LOL just playing ✌️
@@duanelogan9633 hahaha he claims he's ridden a skateboard before but I have my doubts
Happy New Year You two. Looking forward to your your new adventures in the new year. Peace
There's a town in Nebraska named Valentine. I enjoy your channel you go to some interesting places.
But I didnt see any tornado sirens for Marty
No, not in this town
30 grand is basically for the lot. you would be surprised who would buy it, tear it down and put up a trailer.
Happy Valentine's early from Hillsboro NM! It's 420 twice a day!
😅😂 Hands down, Sally and Marty is 1000 percent better then the History channel any time. Poor you Sally😕
You went valentine and didn’t stop in San Angelo to see me? 🥺
I used to love Angelo back in the early 90s when my daughter was going to that little college down there. Haven't been back in 30 yrs. I probably wouldn't recognize it.
Glad I found this site! I regularly travel to the Big Bend area.
Very enjoyable. Thank you
That's the Chevy truck 5:06 (vintage 1968 - 1972) you want to restore! 😎
I got stuck in Valentine, Nebraska one year coming from Sturgis. No motels would rent to us. A church helped us out, we were able to dry off and get sleep!
I live in a smaller West Texas town (pop 5,800 and declining). The owner of the $30k property likely owns a number of such properties that they bought for pennies - all they are wanting is for one of them to be sold so they can laugh and dream about selling all of them for that kind of money. In reality most of their properties like that will end up abandoned after they pass on and their family doesn’t want to claim them. There are about 280 run down houses like that in my town, and maybe 6 to 8 of them get flattened each year by the city as funding allows.
What town you in
That's exactly the story there. Many of the old properties were abandoned, claimed by the county, and sold for the back taxes. The property taxes in Valentine were rarely more than $20-$40 a year. They're hoping for a "Marfa" atmosphere (since that station on the east of town was Boyd Elder's residence and studio). Not happening though.
True and ghost towns now in W TX at one time also had residents hoping for that pot of gold too. Better effort could have been put into rescuing the town for future generations.
This is the old hwy 90 for: Marfa, Alpine, Marathon, Sanderson, Uvalde, San Antonio, Houston, etc. And more to the east.
🤔
We know if Sally used that pot there'd be a traffic jam. Wanna bet?
Thanks for the tour you two and scratch Mocha on the head for me!
👍👍👍👍
Happy new year all! 🎉
Hahaha Will do 🐶 🎆 Happy New Year John!
Hello my dear Friends.🙄
Motorola record players were first produced in 1937.
How old do you think the one sitting in the window is?
@@SightseeingSally Good question. I have no idea !
@@SightseeingSally
I'll guess early 70s.
Whilst your in 90W hope you check out Marathon. We camped there for a week while visiting Big Bend.
Loved your video, but a quick shot of a map showing Valentine's general location within the state would've been helpful. Or did I miss it?
Anyway, just a minor quibble. Keep exploring and thanks for sharing!
Come back to Wisconsin and enjoy the cold u missed
Love your videos Sally I grew up outside of Rowena, Texas home of Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde.
Ive used my old toilet in the garden ,its turned upside down to try and entice a robin to nest in it….if it works im going to paint it green….the u bend i think is a great entrance..
What a unique way to reuse something that would otherwise end up in a landfill. I like your idea!
Thanks!
Thank you and You're welcome! Happy New Year 🎊
The middle of the nowhere is the best place to be
OMG that truck just sitting there 0:20
Oh Marty........... ;-)
Doug and Pam
Belen, New Mexico U.S.A.
Happy New Year!
Belen also has a VRF camera!
Ryan Bingham filmed part of his Southside of Heaven video at the Hi-way Cafe. Just some Texas music trivia...
The library is built in the, “giraffe” style, where the veneer was made with large, flat stones.
I just learned something new, thanks! I’ve seen quite a few buildings done that way here in Texas, I wonder why 🤔
I see that pattern every now and then, not my favorite. Now I know what to call it, many thanks
@@SightseeingSally Back in the 70s a ranch hand named "Cherry" lived there (female).
Hahaha hahaha 😆 love ❤️ your humor too you both are good 👍 people thanks
Valentine... oh my... I'll see if Coyanosa is next. It was badly damaged in ?? 1987 or 1988 by a tornado.
Or...in the words of Gertrude Stein: "there is no There there."
I like this one!
@@SightseeingSally if you want to visit a vibrant city don't miss Quanah Texas.
Go to Quanah to 👋👋 wave at the VRF rail fan camera! 🚂🚃
I used to think ‘Morcambe and Wise’were good
Sometimes Even a town dies like a person, one day after your death you will not be thought of again and your name will be said for the last time ever again , you are born once and die twice 🙏😇❤
I was in the top 20 of my High School. I know I was in the top 20 because there were only 17 students in my graduating class!!! Lol
those first two towers at 3:44 minutes in to the video are MicroWave towers not cellphone I did later see a cell tower later in the video
Wow the delict house for sale is as much as the cost of all that earthquake damage.
Abandoned means just that. That 30K is likely the back taxes on that property. Hence, it was stolen by the govt, greed knows no limits in 2022.
Nope. The back taxes were not even a 1/10th of that. Back in the 70/80s you could buy a large house on a large lot in Valentine for $600. Taxes were between $20-$40 dollars a year well into the 90s (when most of thes properties were bought).
Didn't know I had a town named after me!
I think I would have called up the Librarian to get some history.
If there isn’t a historical society, the next best place is the library!
thanks for the new video ... btw, i was unable to read the sign on the large 1907 building. it looks like it says valentine something, but these old eyes couldn't make out the rest of it ... can anyone help out?
I need help too Joe because I wasn’t able to make it out either.
That store was called "Keesie's Mercantile". There was a stable next to it. The store had been there from the 1890s, but was rebuilt in 1907 in its current place. It was fully stocked when I was a kid. Place was locked up and left as it was.
That service station used to belong to my dads uncle.I remember i would walk in there and i would put a quarter in the coke machine and get me a nice cold coke
Ray Barragan?
MARTY!!!!!
Lol
If Amazon delivers in Valentine TX, I am there! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I would like to "camp" there for a few months.
You forgot to mention the movie Giant was filmed there also. The mansion from the movie is still there.
Giant was filmed near Marfa and is associated with the Hotel Paisano. I talked about it in the video we did on Marfa.
Like! Lol.
Hey Sally I Found Love Shack on Google Maps
Awesome! Did you look on Airbnb or Vrbo?
@@SightseeingSally Not Really
Now where describes a lot of Texas.
Gosh. What was the song at the beginning of this video?
What was the song and girl singing at beginning?
Im surprised nobody has protested the Jefferson Davis name. Hello from Lubbock Texas.
I wonder when was the last time a dog was ran over on that highway ? ;0) With respect to that one dwelling you mentioned they wanted 30 Grand, it would cost you 30 grand to raze the place and clean it up.
My Uncle was the sherriff there years ago
♥
I hate to be the one to point this out, but the love shakes looks like it might be a Friday night bordello! Methinks I'd want a blacklight on hand!
Well that’s something I definitely hadn’t considered before this comment but now…😳😂
How much is rent out there
With a graduating class of 1 or 2 it must be hard to field a HS football team. :)
I checked airbnb - It is listed
The town doctor lived there until the 70s. Doc Deifendorf ( I beliueve that's the spelling).
There's a lot of time for meditation in a place like that. Doesn't appear to be any industry out there except maybe raising livestock.
Could have given you a Tumbleweed for V Day
We used to call them jerkwater towns
Why do you not say where thisown is? By Dallas Houston ?
It’s located in far southwest Texas near the Mexican border.
How about none of the above?
South of Van horn Texas
About an hour west of Marfa
In Jeff Davis County--
is this fr what mitski wrote about
Seems like everyone who lives in that town are out of town 🤷♂️
They're not.
Hi beautiful girl. This men your father?
😂😂😂
Funny that the words match nothing !
And yet, everyone thinks AI is such a wonderful tool