At 81, billionaire John Poindexter has no plans to leave his enormous fortune to relatives. In fact, he has no heirs to inherit it. Instead, the businessman has decided to do something highly unusual with his wealth: he wants to use it to transform a tiny, nearly abandoned town in Texas.
Poindexter has chosen the historic town of Shafter, a former mining community where only around 25 people live today. If the billionaire’s plans eventually become reality, Shafter could be transformed into a unique historical destination, bringing new life to a place that has been slowly fading away for decades.
“I have never been married. I have no children,” Poindexter told The New York Times, explaining why he has no traditional family line to inherit his fortune.
Born in Houston, Poindexter has developed an ambitious vision for Shafter. His plans include creating a tourism complex and an outdoor museum that would preserve and restore some of the town’s historic buildings. Among the structures that could be brought back to life are an old saloon, a post office and a grocery store.
Rather than simply donating money to the community, Poindexter appears to be taking a long-term approach. His latest acquisition adds to an already impressive real estate portfolio in the area. One of his most notable properties is Cibolo Creek Ranch, located roughly 10 miles from Shafter.
The ranch’s manager, Tom Davis, described the process as gradual and deliberate.
“We’re moving forward step by step,” Davis told The Big Bend Sentinel. “The idea is to restore the properties first, and then determine what uses they are best suited for.”
For a town that once had a very different future, the proposed transformation would mark a remarkable change.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Shafter was far from the quiet and almost deserted community it is today. During the height of its silver-mining boom, the town was home to as many as 1,500 people. The mine was the center of local life, attracting workers and supporting businesses and families.
But the town’s fortunes eventually changed. The mine permanently closed in 1942, and without the industry that had supported the community, Shafter gradually lost its population. Over the following decades, more and more residents left, businesses disappeared and the once-busy mining town became a quiet reminder of another era.
Today, only a small number of people remain.
Those residents are now watching closely as the billionaire’s plans could potentially give their forgotten town a new future.
David Long, a Shafter resident, told The Big Bend Sentinel that Poindexter’s involvement has already forced people to think differently about what could happen to the community.
“This is certainly a wake-up call that gets people thinking about what is going to happen to the town,” Long said.
He also pointed to one of the community’s most important challenges: its water supply. According to Long, if Shafter can obtain a reliable water system, the town could begin to grow again.
“If the community gets a reliable water supply system, it will start to flourish,” he said.
Still, not everyone who lives in Shafter is enthusiastic about the changes that could be coming.
For some residents, the town’s greatest appeal has always been its isolation and peaceful atmosphere. Randall Keiter, another Shafter resident, reflected on how unusual the community has been for many years.
“We lived in one of the most beautiful places in the Big Bend, only 300 yards from a good highway, and yet we had everything to ourselves. We knew it wasn’t always going to be that way,” Keiter told The Big Bend Sentinel.
That sense of solitude could become one of the things that changes most dramatically if Poindexter’s vision succeeds.
Shafter now finds itself at an unusual crossroads. A place that once depended on mining, then gradually slipped into near-abandonment, could potentially become a destination for tourists interested in Texas history, historic architecture and the story of the American West.
Poindexter’s decision is also unusual because his fortune could have been directed toward almost anything. Instead of passing his wealth down to children or grandchildren, he has chosen to invest in a place with a population of only a few dozen people.
Whether Shafter ultimately becomes the historic resort Poindexter envisions remains to be seen. The restoration process is still unfolding, and the project faces practical challenges, including infrastructure and water access.
For now, however, the tiny Texas town has something it has not had in a very long time: a reason to imagine a different future.
A nearly forgotten mining town could soon find itself on the map again, not because of the silver that once made it famous, but because an 81-year-old billionaire without children decided that his fortune might have another destination: an entire town.
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