Wikipedia:WikiProject Ghost towns

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WP:GTS

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

Project information

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: Wikipedia:WikiProject Ghost towns/United States, Wikipedia:WikiProject Ghost towns/Canada, Wikipedia: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 all subpages of this page.

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.
Gnan garra : 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
Infamouse (talk · contribs): WA, OR, ID, BC
Coal town guy (talk · contribs): West Virginia Coal Towns
Greg Galliazzo: British Columbia, Canada
clariosophic (talk) 00:59, 6 May 2011 (UTC): FL, CA, AK, NV, CO[reply]
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
No Lives Left (talk · contribs)
AquilaFasciata: Based in Ohio, love ghost towns nationwide :)
Busmargali Spain, World.
Paulie 27 Washington
TheDoctorWho: Oklahoma
Thisisnotcam (talk · contribs): Midwest! :)
Roasted: Texas

Guidelines

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 Wikipedia:Reliable sources

==Geography==

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

Esmond is located at {{coor dms|42|02|01|N|88|56|08|W|city}} (42.0336383, -88.9356512){{GR|3}}.

==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: {{Geolinks-US-cityscale|42.0336383|-88.9356512}}

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:

Search HABS/HAER

Other photo resources:

UNR, Nevada photos, not all free, most OK for fair use.
Western Nevada Historic Photo Collection

Open tasks

Open tasks for WikiProject Ghost towns.

Edit or discuss these tasks.

Disambiguation - , , more...
- Verifying locations - Check wrong locale, county etc., more…
- Pre-existing entries - Places may be known by another name more…
Article guidelines - Article guidelines, open questions discussion, more…
Assessment - Insert template, assess, more…
Categories - Clean-up, population, etc., more…
Incoming links - After creating a stub or article, more…
Stub addition - When a Ghost town article is small & new, more…
Talk pages - Template insertion must begin, more…

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

Recognized content

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)

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)

Featured candidates

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 contributions

New articles

Please feel free to list your new Ghost town-related article! To add your article:

Click the link above – don't edit this page.
Add your new article to the top of the list.
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.

Minnesela, South Dakota, added two historical photos: an overview of the town and the hotel from c. 1890 and 1889, respectively. Both uploaded to commons.
Wahsatch, Utah
Harshaw, Arizona, added USGS topographical map
Helvetia, Arizona, added 1910 USGS map
Fairbank, Arizona, added 1910 USGS map
Harshaw, Arizona, added historical map, geological map, and one historical photo.
Charleston, Arizona, added historical map.
Castle Dome Landing, Arizona, added historical map.
Mohave City, Arizona, added one historical picture.
Sego, Utah, added one historical image.
Tip Top, Arizona, added two historical photos to a new commons gallery (one to the article), linked the commons gallery, and migrated two modern photos from enwiki to commons to be part of the gallery.
Total Wreck, Arizona, added one more historical photo into the article, and into the commons gallery.
Pinal City, Arizona, added three historical images to a commons gallery linked from the article, and one of them to the article itself.
Oatman, Arizona, added five historical photos to a new commons gallery, and one of the images to the article itself.
Total Wreck, Arizona, added three historical photos to a new commons gallery, and one of the images to the article itself.
Helvetia, Arizona, added three historical photos to a new commons gallery, and one of the images to the article itself.
Contention City, Arizona, added two historical photos to the article, and one more in Commons.
Harshaw, Arizona, added two recent pictures that I took, and one 1879 photo that I scanned
Fairbank, Arizona, added two pictures from 2004
Grant County, New Mexico, the "famous" Pinos Altos Opera House
Mogollon, New Mexico, File:Old car, pump, Mogollon NM.jpg
Home of Truth, Utah
Mentone, Texas
Sego, Utah
Fruita, Utah
Mill Fork, Utah
Woodside, Utah
Aurora, Nevada, nice 1934 photo
McPhee, Colorado, logging locomotive
Castle Gate, Utah
Tucker, Utah
Hiawatha, Utah
Soldier Summit, Utah
Clairemont, Texas

Requests

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.

Templates

Talk page banner

Code

Result

{{WikiProject Ghost towns}}

Placed on article talk page of any Ghost town-related articles.

Ghost towns Unassessed

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ghost towns, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Ghost towns on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Ghost townsWikipedia:WikiProject Ghost townsTemplate:WikiProject Ghost townsGhost town articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

Userboxes

Code

Result

{{User WikiProject Ghost towns}}

Placed on the user page of any WikiProject Ghost towns member

This user is a participant in WikiProject Ghost towns.

{{User WikiProject Ghost towns2}}

Placed on the user page of any WikiProject Ghost towns member

This user is a participant in WikiProject Ghost towns.

{{User Ghost towns}}

Placed on user page of any user who loves ghost towns as much as us.

This user is interested in
ghost towns.

Stubs

Code

Result

{{Australia-ghost-town-stub}}

Placed on any stub related to Australian ghost towns.

This Australian ghost town-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Code	Result
{{Canada-ghost-town-stub}} Placed on any stub related to Canadian ghost towns.

Code	Result
{{US-ghost-town-stub}} Placed on any stub related to US ghost towns (except California, which has its own template).

Code	Result
{{California-ghost-town-stub}} Placed on any stub related to California ghost towns.

Code	Result
{{ghost-town-stub}} Placed on any stub related to other countries' ghost towns.

Awards

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

Image	What to type	Description
	{{subst:WikiProject Ghost towns Barnstar\|message ~~~~}}	WikiProject Ghost towns Barnstar This barnstar is given to recognize particularly fine contributions to WikiProject Ghost towns articles, to let people know that their hard work is seen and appreciated.

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.

Article alerts

No Article alerts at this time.

Ghost town articles by quality and importance
Quality	Importance
Quality	Top	High	Mid	Low	NA	???	Total
FA	1		5	1			7
GA		1		3			4
B	2	3	5	20		2	32
C	2	4	23	88		1	118
Start	3	16	87	672		5	783
Stub		3	51	1,119		5	1,178
List		5	34	39			78
Category				1	154		155
File					4		4
NA			3	14	98		115
Assessed	8	32	208	1,957	256	13	2,474
Unassessed				1		9	10
Total	8	32	208	1,958	256	22	2,484
WikiWork factors (?)		ω = 11,559			Ω = 5.45

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