Goforth
Buda, Hays County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Once the center of cotton-producing activity in Hays County. Goforth became a ghost town during the 1920s. The community was established in the 1870s by James Taylor Goforth (1849-1915), who operated a general store at this site. Goforth's store served as a social center and as a banking facility for many of the farm families in the area. Business activity in Goforth was at its height between 1880 and 1906. The town boasted 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 purchased Goforth's store, but closed it three years later when the Goforth Supply Company was organized. The town's founder later formed a gin and milling company that operated one of the largest cotton gins in the area. Despite the fact that rail lines had bypassed Goforth, the community flourished until soil erosion and worn out farmland combined to bring extensive crop failure in 1925. A worm infestation in 1926 caused total abandonment of area farms. The supply company closed that year with stock still on the shelves. Although little evidence remains of the townsite, Goforth is an important part of Hays County history.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Established in the 1870s by James Taylor Goforth, who ran a general store that served as social hub and informal bank, Goforth became a center of Hays County's cotton economy. At its height between 1880 and 1906 it boasted a drugstore, doctor's office, meat market, stable, and blacksmith, and Goforth later ran one of the area's largest cotton gins. But rail lines bypassed the town, and soil erosion, crop failure, and a 1926 worm infestation emptied it into a ghost town.
Why it matters
Goforth is a case study in how cotton, railroads, and worn-out soil together determined which Texas farm towns lived and which vanished.
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Related people
- · James Taylor Goforth
Themes & tags
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