Wikipedia:WikiProject Ghost towns



Welcome to the Ghost towns WikiProject. We are a group dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of listings on ghost towns throughout the world.

Goals

 * Improve Wikipedia's coverage of listings on ghost towns.
 * Create guidelines for ghost town articles.
 * Determine guidelines for article creation and notability of individuals and companies affiliated with ghost towns.

Scope
The project covers all articles about ghost towns and defunct settlements. This is to include any towns or municipalities which were absorbed by another entity. Though the popular image (and the images to the right) are of ghost towns in the Western United States there are myriad defunct settlements and ghost towns in the eastern half of the U.S. as well. Ghost towns exist worldwide, in the classical "old west" sense as well as in the non-traditional sense, e.g. cities abandoned because of wars. This project will strive to be all-inclusive. This page should be revamped, be bold, and the U.S. stuff put into its own division. Other division should be created as interest merits. The division pages should be like so: WikiProject Ghost towns/United States, WikiProject Ghost towns/Canada, WikiProject Ghost towns/Australia etc. The pages should be structured after this main page, ah yes, copy and paste, for the sake of consistency.

Categories and subpages
Our main categories for this project are:
 * Category:Ghost towns
 * Category:WikiProject Ghost towns articles
 * See also, a list of.

Members
Please feel free to add yourself here, and to indicate any areas of particular interest, state, territory, country.
 * Audi1merc2: Ghost towns in Europe
 * Wstock70: Central Illinois
 * Dan Tromedlov: Mississippi, Florida
 * User:Transity: Arizona.
 * Crazyjae: Arizona.
 * ronbo76: California.
 * Plazak: Colorado
 * Ebyabe: Florida.
 * Deelzbub: Georgia, USA
 * Drewfountain: Georgia, USA
 * fiwar:Western Pennsylvania
 * Huwmanbeing: Indiana and Illinois.
 * Chupper: Illinois.
 * Elle: Kansas, Oklahoma
 * Tiebelex: Minnesota
 * Geologyguy: Montana.
 * MauraWen: California, Nevada
 * mrmcdonnell: Centralia, PA
 * IvoShandor: Texas, Illinois.
 * Gnangarra : Western Australia
 * Pete Tillman: AZ, NM, NV
 * Tamás Kádár: Hungary, Budapest (I'm interested in Lake Aral's Ghost towns)
 * Ntsimp: Utah.
 * Saint Jimmy: Western USA, esp. Arizona, New Mexico, and Montana.
 * Pitamakan: the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains areas, mostly
 * Hurfledurfle: Montana, esp. Western MT.
 * Doncram: Freelance, for hire, including to Azerbaijan.
 * Wpwatchdog: Upper Peninsula of Michigan
 * Narthring: Oklahoma, Texas
 * User:Flashflash;: UK
 * User:Coldplay Expert: Western USA
 * User:The Utahraptor: Utah and Colorado
 * WA, OR, ID, BC
 * West Virginia Coal Towns
 * Greg Galliazzo: British Columbia, Canada
 * clariosophic (talk) 00:59, 6 May 2011 (UTC): FL, CA, AK, NV, CO
 * TCMemoire (talk): Anywhere in US; mainly SD, ND, WY, MT, NE, CO, TX
 * Queen of the land of humans: NOIDA, India
 * User:Cassini127 Florida.
 * User:Jmehlhaus Iowa, Minnesota
 * User: otr500, Louisiana and possibly surrounding states, USA.
 * Cxbrx, Nevada, California, Canada
 * Pbritti: CF&I, Victor-American, and other Colorado and Wyoming mining towns
 * Magnolia677: Ghost towns in Canada and the United States (particularly along Mississippi River)
 * Srich32977: Southwest US
 * AquilaFasciata: Based in Ohio, love ghost towns nationwide :)
 * Busmargali Spain, World.
 * Paulie 27 Washington
 * TheDoctorWho: Oklahoma
 * : Midwest! :)
 * : Midwest! :)

Articles
This section is meant to provide a brief outline and starting point. A more detailed discussion will be taking place here, for ideas on improving any of the following.

Articles should include: Map and external link, as well as coordinate information at the top right of the page. information as any other settlement on Wikipedia would.

This code may help for US cities. I have included an arbitrary example, fill in the coordinates of the settlement your article is about:

Basically, I like to follow conventions that seem to have become the norm on Wikipedia regarding cities, villages, towns and other municipalities.

Like so:

Intro

The intro should have basic information. Place name, county, state, founding if known and any other important info that needs to be top loaded.

 ==History== 

Any history section should be more than mere speculation if possible. Cite reliable sources, see Reliable sources

 ==Geography== 

This section should always contain the coordinates, as accurately as possible. Use the following:

Esmond is located at  °N, °W (42.0336383, -88.9356512) .

 ==Demographics== 

This section is often the hardest to know to any real degree of accuracy when dealing with ghost towns. Sometimes places will be near ghost towns or ghost towns and still have some available U.S. Census data, it's good to just check anyway. Any information must also be sourced and referenced in this section.

 ==See also== 

Any pertinent internal links that weren't (preferably) linked in the article.

 

Use this code:  

Article names
Articles should be named as any other settlement would be, e.g. (Place name, State/Territory name). In cases where there is more than one place in the same state/territory/province etc. with the same name, include the county, country, township or other higher identifying incorporaion, e.g. (Place name, State name (County name)).

Resources
For free-license historic photographs to illustrate your USA ghost town article, the best place to start is the Historic American Buildings Survey and Historic American Engineering Record:
 * HABS/HAER

Other photo resources:
 * UNR, Nevada photos, not all free, most OK for fair use.
 * Western Nevada Historic Photo Collection

Open tasks
The most important open task you can participate in is what is happening at the Article guidelines talk page, make sure you check the open questions first, then chime in. We need consensus and quickly if we are going to get the initial tasks and organization completed.

Assessment
See also: /Assessment

Featured articles

 * Elcor, Minnesota (TFA for March 18, 2018)
 * Manganese, Minnesota (TFA for October 16, 2021)
 * Monte Ne (TFA for July 24, 2017)
 * Pithole, Pennsylvania (TFA for April 9, 2011)
 * Rhyolite, Nevada (TFA for September 28, 2012)
 * Rosewood massacre (TFA for August 4, 2009}
 * Thistle, Utah (TFA for April 17, 2013)
 * Thistle, Utah (TFA for April 17, 2013)

Good articles

 * Silver Reef, Utah

Did you know...

 * ...that Providence, Ohio became a ghost town in the mid-nineteenth century after suffering both a catastrophic fire and a cholera epidemic? (October 31, 2006)
 * ...that a wooden grain elevator is the only building still operational in Boyd, Oregon? (December 16, 2006)
 * ...that Mogollon, New Mexico had a reputation as one of the wildest mining towns in the American West? (June 17, 2007)
 * ...that the Friends Meeting House is the only remaining structure in the ghost town of Benjaminville, Illinois? (June 26, 2007)
 * ...that DeWitty, the largest African American village ever founded in Nebraska, existed for only 29 years? (August 21, 2007)
 * ...that the stagecoach line running between Kelton, Utah and several gold mines in Idaho and Montana was robbed more often than any other stage line in the Old West? (December 10, 2007)
 * ...that the ghost town of Melmont, Washington was only populated for twenty years? (February 23, 2008)
 * ...that the ghost town of Ajax, Utah was centered on an 11,000 square foot (1,000 m²) department store lying entirely underground? (February 25, 2008)
 * ...that much of Glencoe, Oregon, was relocated to the new town of North Plains after the railroad bypassed the old town? (March 2, 2008)
 * ...that Mosida, Utah was a failed planned community whose developers tried to irrigate the desert with water pumped from Utah Lake? (March 7, 2008)
 * ...that Kiz, Utah, now a ghost town, was named for the first woman to settle in the area? (March 17, 2008)
 * ...that Home of Truth, Utah was a religious utopian community in the 1930s whose leader claimed to receive divine revelations through her typewriter? (March 25, 2008)
 * ...that Woodside, Utah is a ghost town with a roadside cold water geyser? (April 2, 2008)
 * ...that the name of Mohrland, Utah was formed as an acronym from the surnames of the principal investors in its coal mining company? (April 9, 2008)
 * ...that the ghost town of Buffalo City, North Carolina was once the largest community in Dare County? (May 13, 2008)
 * ...that the colonial ghost town of Brunswick, North Carolina was named after Braunschweig, Germany, the birthplace of Great Britain's King George I? (May 21, 2008)
 * ...that a movie set built for the 1962 Rat Pack film Sergeants 3 is often mistaken for the ghost town of Paria, Utah? (June 2, 2008)
 * ...that the American Fork Railroad stopped 4 miles (6.4 km) short of the Forest City, Utah smelter it was built to serve? (June 12, 2008)
 * ...that Widtsoe, Utah was made a ghost town in 1936 by the federal Resettlement Administration, a New Deal program that bought out indebted landowners? (June 15, 2008)
 * ...that miners living in Sego, Utah bought out the coal mine they worked for? (July 17, 2008)
 * ...that Samuel Newhouse offered a US$50 prize to the first couple to have a baby in the silver mining town of Newhouse, Utah? (July 18, 2008)
 * ... that Mount Silverheels was named after a popular dance-hall girl in the now-deserted ghost town Buckskin Joe, Colorado (Park County)? (December 1, 2008)
 * ... that Wahsatch, Utah, established in 1868, was the first of many camps set up in Utah by the Union Pacific Railroad in the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad? (December 3, 2008)
 * ... that in the town of Santa Claus, Arizona, visitors could once purchase Dasher and Dancer omelettes and Santa burgers? (December 25, 2008)
 * ... that Shelldrake, Michigan is a ghost town whose name was translated from the Ojibwa word for a kind of duck? (January 13, 2009)
 * ... that the Kay Moor coal mine near Fayetteville, West Virginia, was first worked with mule-drawn railcars? (January 30, 2009)
 * ... that Knightsville, Utah, a company town owned and operated by Mormon entrepreneur Jesse Knight, was known as "the only mining camp in the United States without a saloon"? (February 11, 2009)
 * ... that Hebron, now a ghost town in Utah, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1902? (February 27, 2009)
 * ... that the city of East Layton, Utah, now a part of Layton, was incorporated in 1936 to qualify for funding from the Works Progress Administration for a municipal water system? (March 9, 2009)
 * ... that in the 1700s and 1800s, Tocowa, Mississippi, was home to a natural spring that Native Americans visited for its reputed healing powers? (April 24, 2009)
 * ... that in April 1920, Texas Rangers expelled some 125 prostitutes from the oil boomtown of Desdemona in Eastland County east of Abilene, Texas? (April 29, 2009)
 * ... that children in the high-altitude gold mining town of Kimberly, Utah, attended school from April through November to avoid the deep snows of winter? (May 1, 2009)
 * ... that the South Carolina town which Biggin Church's chapel of ease, Strawberry Chapel, was built to serve, no longer exists? (May 22, 2009)
 * ... that Anthracite, Alberta, now a ghost town, was once a hotspot for illegal activities? (June 6, 2009)
 * ... that water from the Little Applegate River was used in the mine in Sterlingville, the largest hydraulic mine in Oregon and possibly the entire western United States? (August 6, 2009)
 * ... that a group of Russian Molokans left California to start a settlement in Utah in 1914 after a judge annulled a traditional marriage between two teenagers? (November 6, 2009)
 * ... that Thistle, Utah, was destroyed by the most costly landslide in the United States and was the first federal disaster area declared by the U.S. President in the state of Utah? (March 23, 2010)
 * ... that in 1910, the public library in Dragon, Utah, arranged for the Uintah Railway to deliver borrowed books for free? (June 14, 2010)
 * ... that Harrisburg, now a ghost town in Utah, was named after an early resident named Moses, and most of its residents left by 1895 due to grasshopper plagues and floods? (September 28, 2010)
 * ... that Spring Canyon, Utah, the largest coal mining town in Carbon County, Utah, was abandoned in 1969 and nothing remains of the town except a railroad trestle? (October 9, 2010)
 * ... that although Sulphurdale was established due to nearby sulfur deposits, it was abandoned and the area is now exploited for its geothermal power? (January 1, 2011)
 * ... that when Cape Cod's village of Long Point, Massachusetts (pictured) became a ghost town, its residents took their houses with them – by floating them across the harbor? (June 10, 2012)
 * ... that the opening of a new church in Guston, Colorado, was said to have brought fire and "divine intervention" on a rival neighboring community? (March 15, 2021)

Collaboration

 * Ghost town: This article needs sources and inline citations at the very least. It should be a goal to bring this, probably our main article up to FA status.

New articles
Please feel free to list your new Ghost town-related article! To add your article:
 * 1) Click the link above – don't edit this page.
 * 2) Add your new article to the top of the list.
 * 3) Any new articles that have an interesting or unusual fact in them should be suggested for the Did you know? box of the Main Page.



New pictures
Please feel free to list Ghost town-related articles with new pictures added to them here (newer pictures at the top, please). Consider nominating any particularly striking ones as featured pictures, either here or on WikiCommons, wherever they're stored.



Article requests by state
Colorado:
 * Pearl - a Ghost Town in Jackson County, cite of Uranium mine, abandoned mid 1900s
 * Coalmont - a Ghost Town in Jackson County, abandoned in 1970s or 80s
 * Teller City - a Ghost Town in Jackson County abandoned in 1870s or 1880s
 * Kings Canyon - a Ghost Town in Jackson County abandoned in early 1970s
 * Gillette, Colorado ghost town and the site of the only bullfight ever in the United States

Photo requests by state
Texas
 * Phillips, Texas: former company town of Phillips Petroleum near Borger in the panhandle.

Awards
''This award is not "officially" approved. But if you have a better one feel free to substitute or add it here''.

Tools

 * Main tool page: toolserver.org


 * Reflinks - Edits bare references - adds title/dates etc. to bare references
 * Checklinks - Edit and repair external links
 * Dab solver - Quickly resolve ambiguous links.
 * Peer reviewer - Provides hints and suggestion to improving articles.