19 American Towns Purchased by a Single Owner

Water had made Lobo possible, and the disappearance of reliable water nearly finished it. The West Texas settlement once supplied steam locomotives and supported irrigated farming, but declining wells and changing railroad needs hollowed out the community. In 1969, according to accounts of the town’s history, Bill Crist bought the entire place and attempted to keep it alive. He reopened the store and service station, hoping a community that had already lost much of its population might still have another chapter. A fire later destroyed the store, and Lobo slipped farther toward abandonment.