Here’s The Truly Grim Reality Of An Abanonded Elementary School In Texas

Many ghost towns are the result of adversity; once productive mines exhaust their profitable resources, droughts destroy crops and force farmers to move on to greener pastures, or natural disasters create unlivable conditions. Other ghost towns simply pass into hazy memory as time forgets their stories. Gilliland, Texas is one of them.

Photographers Shad and Heather explored the abandoned school in Gilliland and documented their adventure with both video recordings and still photos. There is something hauntingly beautiful about this decaying structure as it is slowly reclaimed by nature.

Gilliland, which is located in Knox County, was first settled in 1871. A school district was created in 1892, a post office added in 1907, and a relatively successful cotton gin was built in 1910. The population topped out at 120 residents in 1947, and in 1948, the high school was moved to the nearby town of Munday, leaving a dwindling student body attending the elementary school shown here. As time moved forward, the people here moved on, and in 2000, only 25 inhabitants remained in Gilliland.

You can see more of Shad and Heather’s work (both photography and custom rustic woodworking) on their Pair of Spades website.