Mourning the Loss of the Dairy Queen in Rural Texas

The Houston Chronicle’s Emily Foxhall recently traveled to small towns across the state where the same thing has happened: the Dairy Queen, once a gathering place in a community without many of them, has closed.

As Foxhall writes, this is less a reflection on the popularity of Dairy Queen and more a reflection of the changing demographics of the state.

Dairy Queens, as it happens, are not disappearing from Texas — they're just moving. They're expanding in major metropolitan areas like Houston and Dallas, reflecting the ongoing urbanization of the state. Rural Texas is shrinking, the Dairy Queens boarding up, the small towns becoming smaller. Back in 1971, about 2,500 people in San Augustine welcomed the new Dairy Queen; about 1,900 remained to see it go.

The piece includes recent and historic photos that are also worth seeing.