The once-abandoned town of Lobo has been given a new lease on life by a group of German artists.
Lobo has undergone many transformations since it was the site of the famed Van Horn Wells, the only reliable local water source in the vast West Texas region between Van Horn and Valentine, per Texas Monthly.
The little desert town slowly began to emerge as a hub for the cotton-farming community when it became a stop on the San Antonio-San Diego mail route in the 1860s and a watering spot for steam locomotives in the 1880s.
Yet when the aquifer dried up in 1991, so did Lobo.
As luck would have it, a group of artists from Frankfurt, Germany, stumbled upon the town off U.S. Highway 90 in 1999 and decided to purchase it.
It is currently private property and only open to visits approved by the owners, per its website.
Yet a change of ownership is underway.
The Frankfurters spent the last two decades revitalizing the town, which required no small amount of upkeep.
“You come back after a year and things have been destroyed, and then you have to start over again,” Alexander Bardorff, one of Lobo’s owners, told Texas Monthly.
While the group used it as a venue for hosting film festivals and brief stays to get away from city life, no one stayed year-round.
Now, the time has come to hand over the reins to someone else.
“I’ll be seventy years old in a month, and all my other friends are in Germany, so we’re just running out of energy,” Bardorff explained to Texas Monthly.
They have decided to sell Lobo to someone looking for an opportunity to create something special.
The listing doesn’t give a price, but it includes several videos from which interested parties can glean the potential held by these 10 acres of land.
Surrounded by a five-foot fence, the town has wells, water tanks, a septic system, a swimming pool, and a shower house. Scattered throughout are a former gas station, motel, saloon, grocery store, post office, as well as some houses.
While Lobo needs some work, it still holds promise as a hub for the arts, a unique retreat into the natural world, or a stopover for UFO enthusiasts on their way to Area 51.
What’s important to the current owners is that the buyer shares their vision for the town’s future, which goes beyond just making a profit, per Texas Monthly.
They are hosting an “open-town” event during Memorial Day weekend that will provide an excellent opportunity for potential buyers to experience the town’s unique character firsthand. Visitors can camp for free while they envision their plans for the town’s future.
Interested parties can visit Lobo’s informational website and contact Bardorff at [email protected] for more information.
