Etholen, Texas is an abandoned ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 in Hudspeth County

Hudspeth County, Texas

Hudspeth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. As of 2000, the population was 3,344. By 2010, the population had increased to 3,476. Its county seat is Sierra Blanca. The largest city is Fort Hancock...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, allegedly four miles west of Sierra Blanca

Sierra Blanca, Texas

Sierra Blanca is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Hudspeth County, Texas, United States. The population was 533 at the 2000 census, and had decreased to 510 according to a July 2007 estimate....

. Different sources claim different things about when the town was founded, but particularly it was during the 1880's. Etholen never grew to more than a small railroad station on the Southern Pacific Railroad

Southern Pacific Railroad

The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

as the population was fewer than 25 by the mid-20th century. Etholen was removed from maps in the '60s.