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Forgotten Small Towns in South Texas

November 25, 2017 by Jillian 10 Comments

forgotten small towns in south texas

old chevy truck

A year ago today I moved from Beaumont, Texas to the southernmost tip of the Lone Star state in a region called the Lower Rio Grande Valley. About a couple weeks into the new move, my friend asked me to tag-along with him when he went location scouting to some of the nearby small towns. He was trying to get a film produced in the area, and found a local retired teacher to give him a tour. Since I had my Nikon, my friend asked if I would take photos of the locations on the tour.

I remember I had to wake up super early, which made me really grumpy. Plus, it was cloudy and humid outside. But I love small towns, so I was excited to see what the day had in store for us. The teacher giving us the tour knew the history of each town we visited, and since he grew up in the area, he knew most of the local families that had lived there for generations.

We met up with the teacher, climbed into his pick up truck, and set off on a maze of small towns in the Rio Grande Valley. We mainly focused on the towns of Delmita, McCook, and San Isidro, but saw a lot of cool places in between. Many of these towns were so tiny that you’d miss them if you blinked. Some felt like ghost towns. Others were a mixture of historic and modern. But all the towns contained beautiful, old, abandoned buildings. Here are my favorite photos from our tour!

Delmita, TX

delmita, texas

There are tons of churches in South Texas ⛪️ The region is essentially an extension of Mexico, so there’s definitely a Catholic tone down here. But I love the really old churches!

old grocery store

pay phone

abandoned house

abandoned house

bathroom

Near Delmita we came across an abandoned old timey store called El Ranchito. Right next to it was an abandoned house. In town we stopped at an abandoned gas station with a barn behind it. The lot next to it is now empty, but it’s where the old movie theater used to be.

delmita, texas

delmita, texas

old barn

McCook, Texas

mccook, texas

The Red & White Food Store is fully functioning and we stopped there for snacks. Aside from regular gas station fare, they had homemade breakfast tacos, and the back of the store has a huge hardware section. This is one of those if you blink you miss it kinda towns. And the surrounding countryside is full of wind turbines!

country road

historic church

wind turbine

San Isidro, Texas

san isidro, texas

If it wasn’t for the cross, I wouldn’t have known this was a church! Although it’s very old, I believe it is still used by locals for special services and events. The inside is very clean and tidy; just a simple white room with religious relics at the front to signify the altar.

Just a couple of minutes down from the church is an old stone well. We climbed on top of it to see how far down it went. The picture doesn’t do it justice because it was really deep! Now people just throw garbage and other unwanted items down there. I try to imagine what it must have looked like fifty or a hundred years ago.

old well

old well

Our last stop of the tour was the outskirts of San Isidro, to the old movie theater, now abandoned. We went inside and I braved a very decrepit staircase so I could look at the theater from the projection room, which was basically just a loft. It’s such a beautiful building and a shame to see it sit there in ruins. Hopefully someone will buy it and fix it up to it’s former glory.

old movie theater

abandoned building

And that was our tour of small town South Texas. I didn’t capture everything on camera, but I live close enough that I can go back and visit anytime I want! The Rio Grande Valley has a history that goes back hundreds and hundreds of years, and it’s nice to appreciate many of it’s overlooked historic towns with families that have been there for several generations.

Jillian

Related posts on Compassionate Women:

  1. The Colorful History of Downtown Harlingen
  2. La Sal del Rey & Raymondville, Texas
  3. Making a Movie in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas

Filed Under: Bits & Pieces, Travel Tagged With: abandoned buildings, abandoned churches, abandoned houses, compassionate women, day trip, delmita texas, forgotten small towns in south texas, lower rio grande valley, mccook texas, old churches, old movie theater, old well, rio grande valley, san isidro texas, small towns, south texas, Texas, travel, vegan, vegan travel, wind turbines

Comments

  1. Jim Marshall says

    March 15, 2018 at 11:18 pm

    The old well located on the old San Isidro Rd., one mile north of the small Texas, Starr County community of San Isidro. The well was built during the late 1500’s by the early Spanish settlers…. It was the first fresh water source available for rest & refreshment by Mexican General Santana’s forces after crossing the Rio Grande River to fight the ‘Texians’ at the Alamo …it is an interesting old & very historic well, now dry.

    Reply
    • Jillian says

      March 15, 2018 at 11:47 pm

      Hi Jim, that’s so interesting! I absolutely love the history in this region. Thank you for sharing!

      Reply
  2. Casey says

    July 22, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    Howdy, neat post, I love exploring old towns like these as well. Curious, what town was the church at the top in?

    Reply
    • Jillian says

      July 23, 2018 at 7:53 pm

      Hi Casey, thanks! The church at the top of my post was located between actual towns, which I believe were McCook and Delmita, Texas.

      Reply
      • Michael Robb says

        May 20, 2019 at 9:32 pm

        Is that church gone now (at the top of your post)? What about the other ‘white’ church? Thank You!

        Reply
        • Jillian says

          May 20, 2019 at 10:52 pm

          Hi Michael! I assume they are still there, but I have not been back since I first photographed them. I hope they are still there!

          Reply
          • Michael Robb says

            May 30, 2019 at 11:06 pm

            Thanks Jillian, I found it (Puerto, Rico, TX actually) & got some decent photos of that little beauty!

            Many Thanks for your help!

          • Jillian says

            June 1, 2019 at 5:58 pm

            Awesome!

  3. Amanda Reyes says

    September 3, 2018 at 11:05 am

    Wow! Love these photos! I’m actually from Delmita myself. I’m currently away for school in College Station. If you wanted to learn more information you can just ask anyone who has lived there their entire lives. I believe some of the land that the old Catholic Church down Old San Isidro sits on is still belongs to my family (the north and East sides.) My family lives near the old gas station in Delmita that sits nexts to the ruins of the theater. It’s a interesting little community with rich history! Just takes some digging to get the information.

    Reply
    • Jillian says

      September 3, 2018 at 1:55 pm

      Hi Amanda! That’s super awesome! I would love to go back sometime and dig up more history by talking to the locals. I’m sure they have some fascinating stories! Thanks 🙂

      Reply

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HEY THERE! I’M JILLIAN.

I live near Houston, Texas with my rescue dog Stella! I create cruelty-free recipes that are delicious, to demonstrate that it's easy to follow a plant-based lifestyle. Not only are the health and beauty benefits noticeable, but it creates a more sustainable planet and keeps our animal friends safe & happy. In our spare time, Stella and I also love watching movies, reading, snuggling, and taking long walks! LEARN MORE…

Check out the documentary I directed!

remember my soul

Feature-length documentary that uncovers the Jewish history of the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and the customs & traditions the Jewish people there have contributed to.

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