Little Alice Landergin Brings Solace to a Ghost Town

Little Alice Landergin Brings Solace to a Ghost Town

- The Tragedy of Landergin, Texas -  

Today, Landergin, Texas, is a ghost town located half way between Adrian and Vega, in Oldham County on the western side of the Texas Panhandle. The brothers Pat and John Landergin founded the town in 1908, as a shipping point for cattle and grain from their large ranch, when the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway built through the region. Near the railroad switch, a small community developed, which included a grain “elevator” or silo, a service station and a roadside café. Later, Route 66 passed through the town. Its population peaked in 1930s at 36. The ghost town is situated on the north side of Interstate 40, Exit 28, on County Road 29.

When Pat Landergin died in 1929, at age seventy-five, he was the last of his family and left no direct descendants. The community of Landergin, Texas, disappeared within a decade and a half after his death. It became a ghost town as a result of the unfathomable string of tragedies that had befallen the Landergins, including Pat, sending them into obscurity.

But what if in 1947, an unknown niece appeared out of New Mexico, by virtue of an automobile accident, and then that child’s unusual ability to bring solace, comfort and love saved the Landergin clan from extinction and rescued the town from becoming a ghost town? This is that girl’s story—Little Alice Langergin.