I visited these rural Texas towns: Smiley, Yorktown, Nordheim & Runge. For a hint at what the next video will be, follow me on Instagram: / joeysroadtrip Travel Vlog 296 #Yorktown Community Hospital
Watching from the west of Ireland, I'll tell you one thing, if a gang of us Irish landed over to that town for a weekend, we would soon bring it back to life
I’m in Texas by Dallas. I’ve always loved Texas but I’m a bit obsessed with Ireland. I’ve never been but I’m pretty sure if I ever do it’ll be my favorite place on earth.
If the government made things more affordable for our people we wouldn’t have a problem back in the day you could work as a grocery clerk and still afford a house and support a huge family..
@@marcmona1864 The government overspending is why we have inflation. Then corporations with influence over elected and unelected officials makes it worse.
Now that you mention it, that is a real good quality of this Channel, I like it. I am however.... beginning to worry about our country, I never knew there were so many junky places.
The two story house you looked at (19:15 mark) with the big porch in Yorktown was where I grew up between 1960 and 1980. Back then, it was surrounded by no less than 13 pecan trees that formed a beautiful canopy around the yard. There were also two beautiful magnolias in the front yard. There's a legend that the actress/stripper/burlesque show dancer Candy Barr (real name Juanita Slusher) stayed there at one time. I can neither confirm nor deny that, but I do know that her uncle and aunt owned it at one time. Thanks for the video!
That house is lovely! It must’ve been gorgeous back then. I grew up in Texas with magnolia and pecan trees too ☺️ that porch you had is amazing. Would love to see the inside.
Harlon Block was born in Yorktown, Texas. He is one of the soldiers depicted raising the American flag at Iwo Jima! Oscar Eckhardt was born in Yorktown, Texas. He was a two way Star for The MLB Boston, Braves & Brooklyn Dodgers, and The NFL New York Giants! He was a star athlete for the Texas Longhorns! Santiago J Erevia a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his service in The Vietnam War, was born in Nordhiem Texas. Claude Davenport. MLB Player And Mike Gisler, NFL Player were both born in Runge Texas!
Hey!! Harlon Block was my grandfather's cousin. My grandpa grew up here and they were close. My grandpa almost died at Pearl Harbor and was sunk on 3 ships throughout the war. My mom's maiden name is Block, we have a lot of heritage there.
Welcome to one of my favorite parts of Texas. My wife is from Yorktown, and that is where we were married. We left there back in 2015. Married in Yorktown in 2016, and moved back to my home state of Florida is 2017. We also lived in Runge for a while, my mother in law still lives there. We come back every year to visit. My father in law lives in Yorktown. My wife’s grandfather lived in Nordheim and we still have our family reunion there every year. And I used to eat lunch in Smiley multiple times a week! You ever want some history, let me know. Lol!
Settled down to watch tonight........I live in a town called York in Western Australia!! Our York is the oldest inland town in our State. Settled in 1831.
In 1982 I moved to Westhoff, TX, rented a house from a old lady there and went to work in Yorktown, Texas. Met and married my wife who was from Cuero, Texas in 1985. Since then, we have moved to about every corner of Texas. Now my wife and I live west of Victoria. That bar & Grill in Norheim is supposed to have some of the best food from miles around. Also, if you had driven to the north end of Norheim, you would have run into the Shooting Club, a big dance hall in its time. Keep up the magnificent work, I enjoy all the ones of Texas and the mid-west. Thanks for sharing, Ken
No residential sidewalks except for little spots in Runge. These towns were supported by automobiles starting in the 20’s, and then over time hollowed out by them. When the Dollar Store shows up in your town, watch out: it means you don’t have enough community strength to meet your retail needs.
Yup. Dollar Stores exist in so called "food deserts" where people are poor, local businesses are gone and the big chain stores don't make enough profit to consider staying. And no, theft doesn't cause big chains like Walmart to close. In fact, they are usually oversaturated and close one store to turn another into a supercenter while laying off the old store's employees. It satisfies their shareholders and makes more money than keeping both old stores open as they were. When the Dollar Store opens in your area, that's a red flag.
Thank you, Joe! My father was born and raised in Yorktown, my mother in Nordheim. I was last inside of the Yorktown Memorial Hospital visiting my grandfather in 1968. Still have a few cousins living in both towns. My mother's father was from Runge. I haven't been to the area since 2018, though one side of the family still have our annual family reunion in Yorktown. An interesting note about Nordheim - it was the small-town backdrop in Wim Wender's film "Paris, Texas". My uncle's pickup truck was one of the "props". Too bad that you missed the "shooting club hall" further down from the Lutheran church...it is quite a nice structure, a large 1920s wooden dance hall which was still in nice condition and in use 5 years ago.
Oh wow, My dad & I were both born in Runge and my mom was born in Yorktown. My brother was born in Karnes City. Still have cousins there, also in Kenedy. Both my grandparents died in that old Yorktown hospital. We still visit, life is so different there. Love it!
I was born in the Yorktown Memorial Hospital. Spent much of my youth in Yorktown and Nordheim. Still have a lot of family in the area. Still have family reunions in Yorktown. Nordheim Shooting Club is a great old dancehall. And the Broadway Bar has been a favorite of mine for years.
I live here in Oklahoma and we have a lot of communities like this especially here in the places near the Red River alongside Texas where I live always enjoy seeing these small places they may not be fancy but it's home to a lot of great people though.🇺🇲🤠🐴🇺🇲
Those cattle were really happy to see you, Joe ! They probably don't get to see many people in rural places like these. They actually were really pretty & soft-faced animals. A lot of times when they approach you like that, it means "feeding time" by the farmer. I love your videos ! You make excellent videos that some people have never seen that way of life & living before. Blessings to you & Nic 😊
Smiley is on a state highway. It's a long way from a ghosttown. Just another small town. I had a friend whose grandfather owned the two story white building on the highway.
As a Texan that grew up on a cattle ranch...those cows weren't looking to be petted. Ranch owners will pull up to the fence at various points on their property and throw hay bales over it. Some owners have feed troughs scattered around and they cross over the fence to dump feed into them. The cows associate vehicles with feeding time. We had multiple properties along a network of backroads and my brother and I sat on the tailgate and threw hay over the fence while daddy drove from spot to spot.
Those are Brahma cattle .. they aren't the petting zoo type... but can be gentle enough to approach.... They were just looking to be fed. That's all. Anybody stopping on the road is a potential "feed bringer" and gathers their curiosity
JOE I LIKE YOUR VIDEOS, YOU TALK VERY CALM, EXPLAIN EVERY DETAIL OF THE CITY'S YOU VISITED, AND TALK WITH RESPECT ABOUT THE POOR ABANDONED HOMES, WATCHING YOUR VIDEOS FROM MY BEAUTIFUL STATE OF ARIZONA 🇺🇸
JOE you inspired me to jot a poem about the “gnarly tree” in your video~ hope you enjoy: The Gnarly Tree The gnarly tree tells a story Of gain and loss ~ Of joy and pain ~ It reveals the story Of life it cannot regain ~ It tells of tragedy And patterns of regret ~ It shares memories It simply cannot forget ~ The gnarly tree knows It has reasons For every crooked limb You see Yet it never Makes excuses For what it has come to be. Shadow
I watch this channel for the architecture. As a contractor, I am rebuilding in my mind all the old houses.. For the most part in California all the old stuff is not only gone, it has been replaced by other buildings already torn down as well. Also watch for, “Wow, that’s a lot of stuff.”
I can remember playing football against Yorktown High School in the mid 1960s. Most of those towns like Yorktown and Runge lived off providing services to people that worked in agriculture and oil and gas field services. Most of that is long gone and with that went tax revenues for roads, municipal offices, water/sewer systems, police, and fire departments. Take a look at all the old indigenous people ruins in the four corners area of the USA those had numbers of people living there but things like the weather and climate changed and the people moved somewhere else. Us humans no longer think of ourselves as nomadic but we move just to stay alive that is the way we have always been. And by the way the cows came to you thinking since you where human there was food involved.
I gotta tell you, I love Texas. Been a long time since I've been there in the 80's. Most of the time was spent in Dallas/Fort Worth. I love these old towns. They're full of character and untold human history. Fantastic video as always. Thanks for another great adventure 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤠👍🏻
@@larsedik Everyone I've ever talked to concerning where they grew up is the same. They dislike or hate it. I've been fortunate in that I've been to about 40 states. I've seen the good and bad everywhere. I still believe wholeheartedly that Texas is a great state filled with natural and diverse beauty. The people are friendly and wonderful. In the end there's good and bad everywhere. Make the best of everything and God bless the great state of Texas.
Guys, Here is our True Savior HalleluYAH “Praise ye YaH” YaH is The Heavenly Father YaH arrives via the TENT OF MEETING YaH was Who they Crucified for our sins YaH was Crucified on an Almond TREE - Ancient Semitic Cuneiform of Moshe (Moses) - Isa Scroll (The Original Isaiah) Isaiah 42:8 "I am YaH; that is my Name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. Isaiah 43:11 I, I am YAH, and there is no other Savior but Me. Isaiah 45:5 I am YaH, and there is none else.
Actually they pronounce it Nordime. We had our family reunions there at times. When you were first driving in Runge, one of those buildings was a dry goods store. They had one of those lines that the owners used to took the money up to the office. My mom worked in one of those stores, I think the grocery? My sister would remember. Across the street was a meat market. They had sawdust on the store. Used to be a lot of German families living there. My mom's parents were from Germany. Mom's family were Methodist. I even remember going to that church.
I used to work ina Hospital,one time I was passing through a section of post op rooms and I was sure I saw. someone sitting on one of the beds. The area was closed and I was going to ask what they were doing there and l looked back and they were gone.! Totally convinced me that there ghosts or spirits around. 😬
I used to work ina Hospital,one time I was passing through a section of post op rooms and I was sure I saw. someone sitting on one of the beds. The area was closed and I was going to ask what they were doing there and l looked back and they were gone.! Totally convinced me that there ghosts or spirits around. 😬
This Iowan was in Smiley Texas in 1990 just passin' through. As I recall it was a DRY county location with no alcohol sales. I had stopped to buy beer and remember the name Smiley.
Hey Joey- always enjoy your videos. You were wondering about those Brahma cows… they’re just naturally curious and always hungry. My Dad had a small ranch here in Florida for over 30 yrs. He had that same breed of cows. Even his bull was very gentle and never got riled up. Keep up the good work.
I was commenting another person on the cows.... And probably I don't think I would have went up to him either because there might have been a bull around and they usually will come after you if you go around their females.....
4:50 The people doing work and remodeling this house are incredible! This is the right attitude and mindset. I like their optimistic and positive decision to improve their own house and make it look nice and pretty regardless of the appearance of their impoverished and isolated small town. This is the way of how communities, towns and cities change positively it all starts with how we keep our house in good shape and looking good then it goes on.. 🏡
I enjoy your videos, with giving information on places you take us to. Also you are respectful and you do not say rude things about these towns. Thank you.
My ancestors were down here in York Town , Texas where most of my ancestors were born. They are well known as the Villa family. It's the most friendly people I've ever known. My husband and my children whom they already grown ups , used to visit our family every summer and holidays. It was awsome. But now the family have all descendent or younger ones move out to next cities. Those were the good old times. Brings me good memories. Thanks. 😊 awsome , those small homes were for rent , my husband and I would rent one for us one for the kids , s there young cousins would come and stay all night. And in the morning my husband would start breakfast. Good old times. Thanks for the video.
In Smiley that ancient gnarly tree exudes personality! I 'd like to see it with its leaves. LOL The cows were ready to eat. Hey Stranger, "Where's our chow?" Out of sheer curiosity I would have gone in one of those old bars. No telling what some locals would have told you. LOL Keep on traveling and entertaining us. 🦚😺😺
Hi there! A friend of mine sent this video to me because as a child back in 1970 my dad was the football coach for Texas. We lived in a very small house one block from the high school Nixon, which is 10 miles to the north of Smiley is where he moved to the next year, and you would consider it to be a bustling city in comparison :-) lol! If it worked for the Chicken Plant in Nixon, no one would have a job in that area. It was only about six years ago. They even got a Dollar General there… when we lived there, absolutely all of those closed down buildings, or shops and stores were open and busy. It’s sad but all most all of the kids who were raised there fled for bigger towns and now ppl are racing to get small town life for their families. It’s crazy…New to your channel so I’m not sure if you went to the haunted hospital in Yorktown it spooky for sure. 😊 guess I should’ve finished the video before I made a comment lol! You’re in Yorktown now.haha
I was just sitting here in Wisconsin looking out the window after a foot of snowfall and wishing for one of your videos❤. Thank you! Smiley is a great name for a town. Interesting library. I love the cow welcoming committee ! Yorktown Memorial Hospital sounds like a cool place to tour. Nice peacocks! Glad a cat appeared in Runge! Love the old bank. I don’t think I’ll ever lose my fascination with the small rural towns. Looking forward to CC!
The wicked trees shown at the beginning of Smiley video look like they are California black pepper trees! Also the city hall in this town made me laugh! Yorktown has a very nice Chevy building! Looks very Deco! The haunted hospital building in Yorktown looks older than 1950! Thanks for the RU-vid tips about that place!! This was fun!
I appreciate someone cruising through towns like this. I really do. Thanks so much, this big city native (Los Angeles, CA), likes to know what other places must be like. I've visited a few. Definitely passed through or passed by. What struck me, is they won't have much of anything. Not even a supermarket, or gas station. But there will be a bunch of churches everywhere.
Greetings Joe and Nic ! Always happy to see a new video about small towns to large cities and learn things I'd never learn otherwise. Keep up the great work Joe 😊🇺🇸💜
That Chevrolet building is absolutely beautiful I did a little research supposedly it's now a liquor store which is sad that building needs to be restored to what it was back in its time put the neon light back on the Chevrolet put a couple of cars inside so people can walk by and see it through the windows
Wonderful video as usual. When I started following your channel you were on the verge of giving up and suddenly you had 200 K followers. Now you have almost doubled that and you are so worth it. My congratulations to you, but even more to us who have the pleasure of watching your travels.
Looks like the ancient Witch tree , at the start , kind of set the stage for what was to follow . Legend has it not to blame the trees but what walked past them .
Lived in Houston for awhile. Never left the city limits because there was sadness in every direction. Seem like the only things to do was eat bbq (gets old quick), walk the dog and escape the heat. No parks, no malls, no decent restaurants, no movie theaters except in unwelcoming places. I went stock raving mad. Ran home to mama, lol!
Joe, thank you for another great video. ❤ At 9:18 the gray building that had siding on the bottom, the symbol at top of building, it sure looks like a Masonic Lodge symbol. Maybe at one time it was their lodge. Before that it looks like an old general store. Love to you and Nicole from B.C. Canada 🇨🇦
2 story white building with faded emblem is a mason lodge. cows running to you stopping and looking, they are waiting to see if you are the owner to feed them.
Love these rural state videos. If I was ever to visit the usa I'd definitely choose these kind of places . I'm in the uk and can relate to these places. ..times change and not for the better
One way that a tiny, rural community way back when, could have gotten by, was due to a chain of very small stores, called A & P. Back when they first started out, WW1ish, they leased stores away from the face of downtown, inside quieter alley ways, to save on rent. They stocked canned foods mostly, in order to avoid perishable inventory loss. By the 1940's, A & P morphed into becoming a small grocery chain selling frozen and refrigerated foods as well as canned. Rural communities often had a nearby source of fresh milk, eggs and bakeries. In this day and age, it is difficult to imagine how rural and isolated some small towns were. Access to groceries I imagine, could make or break a small town population. Now the situation is completely different, with different emphasis to consider.
Happy cows coming to see Joe. Out in no mans land these cows are lonely. Your doing a great jobs touring these small towns. Relaxing videos while sipping my coffee.
fascinating. I live in South Africa, took a drive around my childhood town earlier this week. I'm 46 now, terrible to see the decay which sets in after 30 odd years of neglect...
Yes it is sad to hear that it's happening all over the world. I used to follow a guy from Bungoma County, Kenya. And the villages were so poor. The folks eaten up with jiggers and barely able to survive. It was wonderful to see him build an elderly hospital, and now a hospital just for jigger victims. I celebrate his work and ministry. Many called him crooked and other nasty things for his successes. Jim Nduruchi earned my respect by all the help he gave and did for the poor and suffering. He went all over through the brush into villages and houses well off the beaten path just to bring them food, clean water, and to dig the jigger parasites out of them. I bet you've heard of him, and I hope it is a good respect you have for him too. Nobody is perfect, we all have a thorn in our side to remind us of our humanity. He suffered the deaths of 7 or more siblings and all of his elders to sickle cell anemia. Which he himself has. I see his wealth, I'm not blind...he has earned enough through youtube to have a nice house and clothes for himself and family. Don't hate what he has, but look at who he gives thanks to for those blessings! I'm sorry for the neglect in your home town. I can relate so much. My home towns are trashed now too. Bless you~
The best thing that these towns could do would be to start removing the abandoned buildings - they will never attract new residents with blight at every corner. The problem is that with such small populations there isn't even enough money to provide water and sewer services - let alone do a little building demolition every year. If it wasn't for state and federal grants, then they would be in even worse condition.
You're right, but instead I'd try to save as many of the abandoned buildings as you can, y'know the ones that CAN be saved. A lot of those homes and businesses could be renovated to house new people.
@@ThunderTheBlackShadowKitty Usually after several to many years of being vacant there has been a lot of accumulated water and termite damage (lots of subterranean ground termites in Texas). Usually when a house has been abandoned for years it is cheaper and faster just to flatten it and build new. That is also what leads to so many vacant properties not getting sold: the seller prices it as if the building adds value to the land - when in fact it has negative value because of demolition costs. Sorry. I know it sounds like the good thing to do is to rebuild dilapidated structures, but most are too far gone.
@@ThunderTheBlackShadowKitty I live in the slowly declining city of Slaton Texas, founded in 1911 as a railroad division point. According to our city website peak population was in 1970 at 7,250, currently is is just over 5,800 actual population. Its been a few years since I checked, but when I did check we had approximately 280 unoccupied houses. My city demolishes around six to eight dilapidated or abandoned houses per year as the city budget allows. At this pace we will be doing this for maybe the next 200 years unless private buyers come forward. Its expensive to do the demolitions because virtually 100% of these vacant homes have lead paint or worse. You might even think that some of the demolished houses could have been saved - but for the cost of environmental mitigation. The city does not want to save old homes only to get sued when new owners file claims that they were harmed by lead or mold etc. Just the way the world works these days. We have saved our Harvey House by the railroad and a couple of old buildings in the town square.
Once drove through Waxahachie, TX. The houses were nice, but there were absolutely no people living there. The whole town was owned by the oil industry there, and the houses were for the employees of the company. The company maintained the houses.
As a huge aficionado of gnarly trees, I really liked the way you kicked off this episode. It's always nice to encounter friendly "wildlife" when you're on the road, isn't it?🙂 It's always interesting when places claim to be the "most haunted"-- I live in San Jose, home of the Winchester Mystery House, and over the years the stories associated with the place have mostly turned out to be made up. If you still happen to be in central Texas, stay warm!
I grew up in La Vernia, TX. My brother played football in high school and I remember them playing Nixon-Smiley. I do not recall having been there. I do recall reading the La Vernia population sign from about 1987 to 1993 and it was 632 people for just about the whole time. It has begun to blossom into a city now and not a town. Still a cool little place. Anyway, thank you for sharing your adventures and knowledge.
It is always fascinating to have the vicarious experience of visiting these small towns, and you do an excellent job of narrative consistency (statistics, cat sightings, architecture) with plenty of pithy observations and an abundance of empathy. There must be a gazillion stories from each of these towns. For me, I always wonder why such a town was created and what were the circumstances that caused it to lose population. It is a bit like an Edward Hopper portrait in a live presentation, all the empty streets and derelict buildings. (I am forever wondering why you seldom encounter any of the inhabitants out and about in their yards or about their chores or errands.) Always look forward to your videos! Thank you!
The sheep herder was always smiling, right? I know it was the guy;s name but how cool would it be to tell people it is a happy town that makes you smile.
@MetalVentor I live in a small town and I love it. People are very friendly and welcoming but I guess it depends on what part of the country you are in. You should try it, get out of your comfort zone and I'll do the same, cuz big cities scare me! We can try something different this year! 💛
@@Dragonflylane77 what a pleasure to exchange pleasantries with you. I appreciate your insight and respect you have for a anonymous commenter. Have a wonderful day.
You're kidding I live in the UK and no way are the roads in that state of deterioration. And I drive on them everyday. Another person happy to talk down the U.K it seems !!!
A bit of a tongue in cheek comment, however, over 80 cars a day are taken off the road because of pot hole damage as reported in the Telegraph and Daily Express@@carolprice9473
Love the show Joe, I’m going to guess the I .O.O. F or the Masons inSmiley ?!. Also really interesting home designs in Smiley ,yes lots of mother nature returns but still homes that really would have been something in their day and all the Kool porches! Thank you again and stay safe!
I'm actually surprised at how many of these dying towns have a post office. Can't imagine there is no Internet or cell phone service and very few people send mail so why have a post office.
By law the Post office has deliver mail to all addresses in the country so most of these post offices are probably more for sorting mail and for the carriers to pick up mail for delivery. If someone comes with a package or to buy stamps probably one of the sorters helps them. And each post office probably serves a fairly large area.
Could you please start going into some of those gin joints or dive bars and check them out? we're really curious. you know, we don't need so many tourist traps and Applebee's. we understand what they're about. it's the dive bars that have all the personality. if you just stop in for a beer once in a while. it might really enhance some of the videos. But we do appreciate watching your videos!
Have you visited the tiny, tiny, tiny town of Maxwell, Tx? Down the road 2-3 miles is Reedville, a tiny bit bigger and better. Then next to it is Martindale. It’s also tiny, but a tiny bit bigger and better than the other two.
Another wonderful video ! Endless interesting old buildings ! The old Memorial Hospital and the abandoned Motel are so creepy and awesome ! I'm always so fascinated with old abandoned motels, especially. Imagine being there at night ! I love these old towns ! Thanks so much for showing us around, Joe !🥰
Love your videos. Interesting you made no mention of Runge School Building which shows up in your video. Runge has a new High School, Middle School and Elementary campus that is really nice. The Runge spent $17 million on their school campus. Yorktown about 10 years also had major school renovations.
Yikes! Not sure how folks live in those depressing, dead towns. It's always erie seeing those deserted and empty "down towns". Like a scene from the walking dead.
