John Poindexter is directing private wealth toward a place the market largely left behind. The 81-year-old billionaire has no heirs, and his Tidewater and Big Bend Foundation has taken in nearly $67 million in contributions since late 2020, according to IRS filings compiled by ProPublica.
The foundation's signature project is Shafter, Texas, a former silver-mining town where about 25 people live, according to the Big Bend Sentinel. The plans, according to the Times, call for a resort and living history museum anchored by a rebuilt saloon, general store, and post office, with about a dozen adobe homes available for overnight rentals.
Presidio County had an estimated 5,433 residents in 2025, down 11.4% since 2020 and down from 7,818 in 2010, Census Bureau data shows. The median household income is $43,802, nearly one in five residents lives in poverty, and only about 1.6 people live per square mile. For now, the closest place to buy groceries is Presidio, 19 miles away.
By early 2025, Poindexter had bought several Shafter properties and offered to restore the historic church at the town's entrance, the Big Bend Sentinel reported. Not every resident is sold on the plan, but Shafter resident and water board president David Long told the Sentinel that a dependable water system could change the town's future.
'Once we get a dependable, good water system in here, the place is going to boom,' Long told the Sentinel.
Poindexter said, 'I've never been married, I have no children.' The Times reported that his foundation will eventually own all of his properties, including the 30,000-acre Cibolo Creek Ranch.
His broader business record is not small. Poindexter served in Vietnam, received two Silver Stars and two Purple Hearts, and founded J.B. Poindexter & Co. in 1985 after 14 years in finance. The company grew from $40 million in revenue in 1994 to more than $2.7 billion in annualized revenue through more than 40 acquisitions, according to a 2024 EY announcement. It also says it produces 66% of the step vans in the U.S. class five delivery market.
The market has already voted on Shafter with decades of neglect. Poindexter is trying to reverse that verdict with private capital, not taxpayer money. If the plan works, it could turn a ghost town into a functioning asset again. If it fails, the cost is borne by the foundation, not the public.
