Rath City, Texas Explained

Rath City, Texas
Settlement Type:Ghost Town
Image Alt:Image of Rath City Texas
Pushpin Map:Texas#USA
Pushpin Relief:yes
Pushpin Label:Rath City
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Map Alt:Map of Texas
Coordinates:33.0097°N -100.1817°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Stonewall County, Texas
Subdivision Type3:River
Subdivision Name3:Double Mountain Fork
Established Title:Established
Established Date:1876
Founder:Charles Rath
Unit Pref:US
Elevation Ft:1660
Timezone1:CST
Utc Offset1:-6

Rath City was a frontier town that existed for fewer than five years, and is now a ghost town.[1] The town was located on the Double Mountain Fork Brazos River, 14 miles northwest of Hamlin in southern Stonewall County, Texas, United States.

History

The town was founded in 1876. Its original establishment was meant to capitalize on the buffalo trade, and it was Stonewall County's first settlement. In 1877, the town housed a store, two saloons, a dance hall, and a few tents and dugouts. The town's namesake was Charles Rath, whose store, built in 1875, was the structure around which the village grew. A declining buffalo population ended the settlement, and it was abandoned in 1880.[2] [3]

Rath City and Native Americans

In February 1877, after buffalo hunter Marshall Sewell was killed by Native Americans, Rath City became a rallying point for over 500 frontiersmen. A group of 46 men left Rath City in pursuit of a Comanche war party led by Black Horse, in a campaign known as the Buffalo Hunters' War or Staked Plains War. The men pursued the Comanche to a site in present-day Lubbock. A battle ensued on March 18, 1877, at Yellow House Canyon; its results were inconclusive. The hunters returned to Rath City, thus ending one of the last Indian campaigns on the southern plains.[2] [3]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. 2033902. Rath City (historical).
  2. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvr89 Rath City, Texas
  3. Book: Holden . W.C. . Graves . Lawrence . Indians, Spaniards, and Anglos, in A History of Lubbock . 1962 . West Texas Museum Association . Lubbock . 32–33.