Quick visits to small towns

Many small towns I have been through are sometimes just a single block of old, vacant, crumbling buildings; some may just be one building and a water tower. Needless to say, such towns don't offer much in the way of photo-worthy subjects, so I'm lucky in some to get one good picture. For some reason, I'd rather do really long posts with several pictures rather than do little ones with just a couple of pictures. This post is a clearinghouse of some of those one, two, or three picture towns.

Neon signs like this one in Longview, Texas, are an unexpected treasure. I will most likely die rubbernecking a sign like this one.

Old ghost signs such as the remarkably preserved Firestone Fabric and Cord Tires sign in Lyons, Texas, fill me with giddiness and joy. They really speak to me, at some level, for some reason.

Little Midway, Texas, had a population of forty in 1940, and has since exploded, with a population of 280 as of it most recent census....

I can make out the words "Star" and "Coca-Cola" on this ghost in Midway.
The Kay Theater in Rockdale, Texas. This is the only picture I have at Flickr to make it into the Explore/INTERESTINGNESS group pool. Go figure.

A sketch of it in its heyday:
Everything is bigger in Texas. At least in Rockdale, Texas.

Previous two pictures are of Elkhart, Texas. I was there the day after Gerald Ford passed away.
I love the crescent moon on this City Cafe neon sign in Hawkins.
"You make a difference in Hawkins"
The old Davis Theater in Overton, Texas.
This mannequin was posed in such a way that its "body language" suggested it might be thinking "Damnit. What the heck am I doing in Overton, Texas?" Maybe I was simply projecting.

The Chamber of Commerce in Grapeland, Texas.
Main Street, Grapeland, Texas
Not much has changed in 60 years (picture from the Chamber website:
Evidence of the past in Grapeland, Texas.
Grapeland had at one time been forced to confront a heinous crime.