RUNNELS CITY, TX
RUNNELS CITY, TEXAS. Runnels City, or Old Runnels, is a ghost town five miles north of Ballinger in Runnels County. It was designated the county seat when the county was organized in 1880. Its population was 250 in 1882, but the Santa Fe Railroad bypassed the town in 1886. When the railroad offered residents building sites and a general relocation of buildings in Ballinger, people in Runnels City accepted, and in 1887 Ballinger became the county seat. By 1947 a rock hut and ruined two-story rock building were the only remnants of Runnels City.
Ed Ellsworth Bartholomew, 800 Texas Ghost Towns (Fort Davis, Texas: Frontier, 1971). Leonard Glenn Smith, A History of Runnels County (M.A. thesis, Trinity University, 1963).
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.W. A. Flachmeier, "RUNNELS CITY, TX," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvr75), accessed January 25, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.