Goforth

Goforth, once the center of cotton-producing activity in Hays County, was established in the 1870s by James Taylor Goforth, who operated a general store that served as a social center and banking facility for many local farm families. Business activity reached its height between 1880 and 1906, and the town included a drugstore, doctor's office, meat market, stable, and blacksmith shop. A U.S. Post Office opened in 1890 with J.T. Goforth as postmaster. In 1894, J.M. Butterworth bought Goforth's store but closed it three years later when the Goforth Supply Company was organized. The founder later formed a gin and milling company that operated one of the largest cotton gins in the area. Although rail lines bypassed Goforth, the community flourished until soil erosion and worn-out farmland led to extensive crop failure in 1925, and a worm infestation in 1926 caused the total abandonment of area farms. The supply company closed that year with stock still on the shelves, and Goforth became a ghost town during the 1920s.

Texas · United States