Elizabethtown, Texas

Elizabethtown, once known as Bugtown, is a former ghost town located about fifteen miles southwest of Denton in Denton County, Texas, United States. The town derived its original name from the adjacent Elizabeth Creek.

Elizabethtown, Texas
Ghost town
Elizabethtown
Location within the state of Texas
Coordinates: 33°01′18″N 97°16′36″W
CountryUnited States
StateTexas
CountyDenton
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
FIPS code48121
GNIS feature ID1378252

History

The town site was located in the southwest corner of Shamblen Survey. Its first residents, members of the Peters Colony arrived c. 1850. Elizabethtown served a supply station in 1852, mostly for cowboys driving their herds to Kansas. The town founders, the Harmonsons, constructed a church, homes, a business, and a school. At its height the school had 25 students. In 1859 the town had six saloons, a hotel and a post office, a staple of all true towns. According to residents of nearby Justin, Texas, Elizabethtown was once known as Bugtown after so many bugs swarmed in on a camp meeting one night that the preaching had to be stopped.

During the American Civil War the frontier in and west of Denton County remained undefended against Indian resistance, many families moved east during this time period. Later, though, many did return. As the town grew it gained four general stores, another hotel and a livery stable, along with Baptist and Methodist churches, and a Masonic lodge that operated from 1873 to 1876.[1]

Prominent residents
  • George Harper: doctor and postmaster
  • M.H. Smith: blacksmith
  • Newton Chance: blacksmith
  • Amos Bullard: blacksmith
  • Sewell Brown: merchant
  • James Snyder: wagonmaker
  • Robert Wright: carpenter[1]
  • Barry Allen: courier

Decline

Elizabethtown last appeared on the Denton County tax roll in 1880. The Texas and Pacific Railway, which was built in 1881 from Fort Worth through Denton County, bypassed Elizabethtown by just two miles. Many residents subsequently moved two miles east to the newly established town of Roanoke, along with their businesses, churches and the Masonic lodge. The only remnant of Elizabethtown is the Elizabeth Cemetery, which is still in use today.[1]

Geography

The site of the former town is by the Elizabeth Creek, near Interstate 35 at State Highway 114.

Notes
  1. Sellmeyer, Jeannine. "Elizabethtown, Tx". TSHA Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
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