Yearning for Zion Ranch, Texas

This intentionally-built community, south of San Angelo, was constructed over just a few years, starting in 2003, and became home to a few hundred members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who moved there from their state line community at Hilldale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona. The 1,700-acre site is a self-contained village, with an amphitheater, meeting houses, school, power plant, sewage lagoons, houses, farm, and a temple. The polygamous sect soon attracted attention of child welfare agencies, and the site was first raided by law-enforcement in 2008. After legal battles, the State of Texas took possession of the property in 2014, and its remaining residents were evicted. The site remains empty, awaiting its future.