Mentone, Texas
| Mentone | |
|---|---|
| Census-designated place (CDP) | |
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 Mentone
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| Coordinates: 31°42′23″N 103°35′54″W / 31.70639°N 103.59833°WCoordinates: 31°42′23″N 103°35′54″W / 31.70639°N 103.59833°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Loving |
| Founded | 1931 |
| Elevation | 2,684 ft (818 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 19 |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP codes | 79754 |
| Area code(s) | 432 |
Mentone is a small town in Loving County, Texas. As the county's only community, it serves as the county seat and has a 2010 population of 19, almost a quarter of the county's 82 people. Mentone was until recently the least-populated unincorporated county seat in the United States, but lost that distinction with the 2010 census to Gann Valley, South Dakota, which has a population of 14. It was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1967 as the "Smallest County Seat in Texas".
Mentone is located at an elevation of 2,684 feet (818 m). It is situated on State Highway 302, seventy-five miles west of Odessa.
Mentone experiences an arid desert climate with hot summers and cool winters. Due to Mentone's aridity, the Diurnal temperature variation is substantial, and helps lower nighttime temperatures. Most precipitation falls in the summer and early fall.
Named after Menton, France by a French surveyor, present-day Mentone is actually the second such named community in Loving County; an earlier Mentone was founded south of the current town in 1893, but was abandoned in 1905. A second town on that site was called Juanita and then Porterville, but was deserted anew when Mentone was reestablished in 1931, with most residents moving to the new town. The town on the current site was named Ramsey before being renamed. During its heyday, Mentone boasted five cafes, five gas stations, two hotels, two drugstores, two recreation halls, two barbershops, a dance hall, a machine shop and a dry cleaner. It also had its own newspaper, the Mentone Monitor, which published from 1932 to 1935. After reaching a high population mark of approximately 600 residents in the 1930s, the population has declined ever since, and in 2000 there were only 15 people, "more or less", according to National Geographic magazine (the total population of Loving County itself (as of 2010) is 82.)
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