Haunted Belton: Central Avenue

Belton’s Central Avenue is considered to be one of the most haunted blocks in all of the state of Texas.

The street is home to Texas’ oldest operating department store, Cochran, Blair, and Potts and buildings dating back to the early 1900s.

The Ghost Wagon Tour, led by Rick Bell travels along the street, stop-by-stop, allowing the spirits of the past to let themselves be known.

1 Little Girl Named Mary

With the first stop of the tour, we learn about a young girl by the name of Mary. Mary used to walk from the tall window building, formally the merchant firm of Sam S. Walker, to the Beltonian building when she was hit by a car and died. The folklore says Mary haunts the passage from the buildings nightly and the voice of the girl can be heard to the ones who dare to listen.

2 Prohibition

This stop introduces us to the prevention by law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol between the years of 1920 to 1933; well-known as Prohibition. Prohibition sparked illegal night clubs called Speakeasy. Downtown Belton had its own Speakeasy located on Central Avenue. This image displays the location of the underground passage from the Speakeasy to the courthouse where the folklore says many men died.

3 Electroshock Therapy

In the 1940s, the folklore says electroshock therapy was performed on very young children in the upstairs portion of the building originally named W.S. Horton Drugs. These children’s voices are said to be heard among the courthouse square.

4 Belton’s Opera House

The First Christian Church located on the corner of Main Street and Water Street was originally Belton’s Grand Opera House in 1908. The USO approached the opera house to ask for them to host dances during the war. Soldiers would have dates with the girls from the Baylor Girls College, now the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. For some of them, this would be their last time dancing. Since this was the last place visited by most of the soldiers who were from this area who died in WW2, the folklore says the spirits of these men haunt the area surrounding the courthouse.

Who is Yettie Polk Park named for? Stay tuned next week as the ghost tour continues.