Lively Little Ghost Town: Thurber, Texas

Restaurant Reviews: Smokestack Restaurant, Thurber, Texas; New York Hill Restaurant, Thurber, Texas.

THURBER, TEXAS – There’s more here than meets the eye. If you count memories, anyway.

Today we serve up a two-fer. Two restaurant reviews in one blog post. Both restaurants lie in the same town. Now, will we strain belief when we say that the town is a ghost town?

Thurber, Texas: Where the Echoes Remain

According to most sources, Thurber, Texas, does carry the rep of being a for-real ghost town. Yes, there’s a little bit of human activity here, as the two restaurants attest. And then there’s the museum, known as the “W.K. Gordon Center for the Industrial History of Texas.” It occupies a structure that looks like a former schoolhouse.

But that’s pretty much it. The ghost-town label is deserved. All three of these landmark facilities in Thurber are visible to anyone passing through the locale lying just to the left and right of Interstate 20, at the 367 exit.

Population… 5?

The employees who staff these three facilities live in Mingus, which is about a mile north of Thurber. Or they live somewhere farther away and commute here. The population of Thurber, Texas, itself gets cited variously as 5, 8, or 10, depending on the source. Thurber amounts to hardly more than a strip of windy two-lane road that straddles the interstate.

While dining here at the Smokestack on one visit, I had the liver and onions. Not usual fare for me, nor usual fare in most eateries, for that matter. But this being Thurber, I opted for it, thinking it would have been a popular dish back in the town’s heyday.

A Savory Repast

The main dish came with brown gravy and was topped with sauteed onions. Mine came also with sides of sliced peaches, cottage cheese, and a yeast roll. My dining companion had the wood-smoked pork chop with white cheddar mac-and-cheese, broccoli-and-cauliflower, and a yeast roll as well.

The entrées were excellent. All the food here was especially good. Fresh, flavorful, and served with courtesy and alacrity, the dining here stands as some of the best we’ve encountered.

Thurber, Texas, Backstory

Here’s a squib printed in the Smokestack’s menu, under the heading “A Little History”:

“Welcome to beautiful downtown Thurber, Texas, pop. 5 and home to the Smokestack Restaurant since 1971. Thurber, once populated by more than 10,000, is known for its coal mining and brick production. This building was the company mercantile building and is one of the only remaining buildings original to Thurber. They sold everything from cribs to coffins and the three biggest sellers were beer, macaroni, and oysters. We hope you enjoy the food, atmosphere, and especially the history.”

Find them online at Facebook.com/ThurberSmokestack.

Then to New York Hill

On another visit, we took in the New York Hill Restaurant, which is situated on the south side of I-20 (the Smokestack lies on the north side), about halfway up New York Hill. Here, we had the special of the house, aka the New York Strip Steak, which came with baked potato and a roll. For the steak, we were given a nice cut—savory and satisfying.

Read about this one at ThurberNewYorkHill.com.

I liked New York Hill better for its atmosphere (although that is a close competition) and I liked the Smokestack better for its food.

Overlooked Museum with an Overlook

Thurber’s W.K. Gordon Museum, which, like the nearby restaurant, perches on New York Hill overlooking I-20, is an under appreciated attraction. Maybe that’s what you get when you put your museum in a ghost town. At any rate, we share these words from a webpage maintained by Tarleton State University (based in Stephenville, Texas), which manages the W.K. Gordon Museum: “The mission of the W.K. Gordon Museum and Research Center is to provide educational resources on the industrial history of Thurber and greater Texas, and to preserve, document and interpret that history and its impact on the people of Texas. “Thurber was one of the most important mine sites in Texas, a major manufacturer of paving bricks, and located near the oil field that helped make Texas a worldwide giant in petroleum production.”

Thurber, Texas: a True “Company” Town

And we close with this, also from Tarleton’s website: “The entire town of Thurber—every nail, shingle, and doorknob—was owned by the Texas and Pacific Coal Company. Residents lived in company houses, shopped at company stores, drank at company saloons, attended company schools, and worshipped in company-owned church buildings. “Many people traveled from around the world—including Italy, Poland, Ireland, and Russia—to live and work in Thurber. This immigrant influence helped create the unique environment of the community.”