Middlewell, Texas, Moore County, Texas Panhandle Ghost Town. (original) (raw)

Not on the map
Not in The Handbook of Texas

The white stucco old teacher-house was torn down in 2005
Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, April 2004

Middlewell, Texas Forum

Subject: Middlewell, Texas
I was interested to see your inclusion of Middlewell, TX on your website. I am currently in the process of restoring the Middlewell School. In fact, the white stucco building shown on your website, the old teacher-house, was recently torn down.

Middlewell Community was named by it's proximity to the middle of three water wells located on the LIT Ranch in the 1870s. The wells were named East Well, Middle Well and West Well.

The original Middlewell School was established as a half-dugout in 1902. In 1908 the school was moved to a frame structure 3/4 mile North of the Middlewell. From 1908 to 1927 school was held in the frame building, and in 1927 classes were moved into the new brick building (which cost $5,000 to build). On November 14, 1930 the brick building burned to the ground, and within two years the Middlewell Community had put the building back together using materials that could be salvaged from the burned structure. Classes continued to be held until 1963 when the school was consolidated with the Bivins School. The School building was used as the Community Center from 1963-1976 when the water well went dry.

In addition to the school, the Middlewell Methodist Church is active, and was also established in 1902. An interesting note about the Middlewell Church is that the first ordained woman Methodist preacher, Faye Brown, held the pulpit for 20+ years.
- Sincerely, Scott Higginbotham, April 08, 2005

Subject: Middlewell texas
My family and I lived in the teacher house in 1977 for a short time . Our neighbors were immigrants from Guatemala I think a preteen boy and a teenage girl? The house had a standpipe for the water supply,and every night one of us six kids would have to walk out to the pump house and shut the pump off and in the morning someone had to go turn the pump on, otherwise there was no water pressure. There were still some playground equipment, a merry-go-round, and a teeter totter swing set. We went to school in Masterson TX. The bivens Broncos. There were only about 25 to 30 kids in the whole school! I looked for nuclear on the map a few years ago, and couldn't find it, this was nice to find thank you. - David Moots, April 07, 2017

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