For 170 years, Van Horn has been little more than a way-stop. Nearby water wells made it popular with mail carriers in the mid 1800s. A town sprang up around the railroad several decades later. Eventually, Interstate 10 plowed through Van Horn, and a few hotels popped up to serve weary cross-state drivers.

Like many tiny towns in Texas, Van Horn has suffered economically. Its median household income is just $37,000. Two gas stations that double as convenience stores have put local grocers out of business. And the town’s population — which is 80 percent Hispanic — has nearly halved in the last 30 years as its young have sought careers elsewhere. A dozen roadside hotels and a handful of Mexican restaurants are all that remain in Van Horn, where the quiet is only interrupted by the occasional locomotive’s whistle.