The article-generating loop continues with the recent Creative Marketing article leading directly into this one. It’s not quite a geo-oddity perpetual motion machine although that would certainly be an interesting thought. It’s hard enough to find meaningful topics without having to stitch them together end-to-end. So I think the coincidental associations will end here at a sample size of three.
I will however expand upon the topic suggested by the situation of Bikinis, Texas. In that case the most recent owner sold the town on Craigslist.
A century ago, the town founder retained all of the unsold lots. Then he repurchased previously sold lots as residents moved away. Finally he sold the complete package to a third-party in the 1920’s. That family controlled the land for decades. All fine, right? Then they transferred assets to the proprietor of a jiggly-themed restaurant chain in 2012 via the aforementioned Internet sale.
I’ve often wondered how one could own an entire town. That’s probably because I’ve spent a lifetime in towns of considerably larger size. Nonetheless, the Texas case does explain a plausible way it could happen.
Kim Basinger
Arguably one of the better-known instances involved the actress Kim Basinger, undoubtedly because it involved Kim Basinger. It probably would have gone unnoticed except by geo-geeks had the sale been handled between unknown private citizens. The Intertubes are filled with accounts of the transaction. Essentially the story goes that she bought Braselton, Georgia in 1989 for $20 million. Then she sold it at a great loss five years later for $1 million.
Most accounts tend to gloss over one significant detail. Apparently she didn’t take control of the town all by herself. Therefore it’s not really accurate to say that she bought the town, not that facts would ever get in the way of a good story. She held a minority interest in a partnership and sold her portion when she ran into unrelated financial difficulties. The whole story seems to be a bit of an exaggeration.
Also Ms. Basinger may have been in better shape if she’d been able to hold onto her share. Braselton is an exurb of Atlanta that has grown wildly since then. It had 418 residents in 1990 (when she held her share), 1,206 residents in 2000 and 7,511 residents in 2010!
Quadripoint
That demographic explosion fascinates me although another feature of Braselton interested me even more. The town boundaries extend across four Georgia counties: Jackson, Barrow, Gwinnett, and Hall. Don’t bother trying to click on the map, below. Google Maps by itself will display only a single county at a time so it’s not effective for this purpose.
Instead I turned to Mob Rule’s county lines imposed on Google Maps utility. Then I took a screen print and embedded the resulting image. Braselton appears as a slightly darker tan than the surrounding area. Clearly it does cross into all four counties. However, the quadripoint itself seems to fall in the middle of a creek along the town limits.
On the other hand, Google Maps is very effective for demonstrating that one would need to drive only 0.9 miles (1.5 kilometres) through a quiet suburban neighborhood to hit all four counties. I imagine this would have to be a strange situation for the residents living in this little corner of Braselton depending upon functions the town provided versus those performed by the respective counties.
Other Towns
Braselton isn’t the only town that has been bought or sold though. It’s actually a lot more common than I imagined.
Buford
Buford, Wyoming is one of those towns of “Population 1” although it fills a useful purpose and function (map). It sits directly astride a major highway and operates as the Buford Trading Post with a gas station and a convenience store. Buford started as an 1866 construction point for the Transcontinental Railroad with a couple of thousand residents. Then it dwindled from there until it had only a single inhabitant by 2007.
The town sold in 2012 for $900,000 to a Vietnamese businessman. I wish him well in his venture although I am not so sure how much business exists in rural Wyoming. [UPDATE: I visited Buford in 2018 and the store seemed to be closed].
Shaniko
On the other hand, some towns refuse to be bought.
Shaniko, Oregon falls into that category (map). According to the New York Times, a wealthy outsider settled in Shaniko and began to spruce-up the town. Water was scarce so he dug a well and hit an aqueous jackpot gushing at 250 gallons (950 liters) per minute, much to the surprise of all. The town needed to approve easements for him to pipe water from the well to his various properties. He struck an agreement to supply the town with water but threw-in a condition. He wanted permission to open the town to development. Residents responded that the town “was not for sale.”
So he capped the well, closed his hotel, shuttered his two-thirds stake in the town and put his property on the market. Now the 26 remaining residents are up a dry creek without a paddle.
Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Shaniko is that I drove through it last summer.
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