Etholen

Etholen is a ghost town in Hudspeth County, Texas, sitting roughly four miles west of Sierra Blanca. Its origins trace to the 1880s, though sources disagree on a precise founding date. The settlement never amounted to much more than a small station along the Southern Pacific Railroad, and by the mid-20th century fewer than 25 people called it home. By the 1960s it had disappeared from maps entirely.

Visitors today will find little to mark the spot. Etholen's story is one of a modest railroad stop that quietly faded rather than a booming town that collapsed — making it a sparse but historically honest stop for those curious about the railroad era in far west Texas.