by Jim Hinckley
The forest slowly reclaims businesses and homes alike, transforming the landscape into one not seen in Avilla since the Civil War.
Avilla is located on State Highway 96 several miles west of Plew.
Hints of better times abound in the weathered façades and overgrown vacant lots of Avilla’s business district.
The quaint little post office in Avilla, housed in a former bank that opened in 1915, epitomizes the solid nature of those who established the town and stood against the Confederacy.
KANSAS
Kansas may lay claim to less than fourteen miles of Route 66, but there is pride in every mile of that association.
Built in 1923, the Marsh Arch Rainbow Bridge is the lone survivor of three such bridges that once carried traffic on Route 66 in Kansas.
IT MIGHT SEEM ODD to include Kansas in a book about ghost towns found along Route 66. After all, less than fourteen miles of Route 66 run through this state. Though the three towns along this section of highway are quite historic, only two have sizable populations. Still, Galena (population 3,168), Baxter Springs (population 4,344), and Riverton (population 600) are key components in the story of Route 66. They are also shadows of the boomtowns that they once were.
JUST ONE MILE FROM the Missouri state line lies the site of the Eagle-Picher Smelter, once a leading producer of lead and the location of yet another bloody chapter in the history of U.S. 66. It was here in 1935 that a strike was led by John L. Lewis, the union boss of the United Mine Workers.
For a short period, striking miners blocked the highway. Cars that failed to heed their demand to stop were pelted with stones, rock salt, and even bullets. Targets of even more violent attacks were the carloads of “scabs” from Missouri who dared to run the gauntlet for employment during the hard times of the Great Depression.
A colorful banner proclaiming Galena’s rich heritage adds contrast to a weathered brick façade that predates the highway by decades.
Under order from Alf Landon, governor and presidential candidate in 1936, the National Guard arrived in Galena to quell the violence. The murder of nine men at the headquarters of the International Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers Union office in Galena marked the culmination of this violent chapter on April 11, 1937.
At its peak, the estimated population of Galena was more than fifteen thousand. Remnants from its mining boomtown days—and the era when Route 66 served as the town’s main street—abound.
Even a vintage Chevy truck seems oddly modern when viewed against the backdrop of century-old buildings with towering façades in downtown Galena.
From Galena, drive west on State Highway 66. At the junction with U.S. 69A, continue west on Beasley Road. Follow the well-marked route of U.S. 66, with a slight detour across the scenic and historic 1923 Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge, south to Baxter Springs.
For Route 66 enthusiasts, one of the crown jewels is 4 Women on the Route. This former Kan-O-Tex gas station has been lovingly restored and transformed into a snack bar and gift shop, where the essence of travel on Route 66 circa 1960 is preserved for future generations.
In his 1946 work, Jack Rittenhouse notes that Riverton, to the west of Galena, consisted of a gas station, “limited facilities, and Jayhawk Court.” Today, it is the circa-1925 Eisler Brothers Grocery and Deli that ensures Riverton remains on the map. However, this store closed in 2010, and it is uncertain when and if it will reopen.
Baxter Springs contains numerous historic sites. Two of the gems found here are the Route 66 Visitor Center, housed in a restored 1930s-era Phillips 66 station, and Café on the Route and the Little Brick Inn, occupying a former bank robbed by Jesse James in 1876.
The history of Baxter Springs is a lengthy and colorful one. The modern era begins with the arrival of John Baxter and his family from Missouri, who established an inn and general store on the Military Road at a spring on Spring River in 1849.
The springs figured prominently in a heinous massacre in 1863. The Confederate Quantrill’s Raiders, led by guerilla fighter William Quantrill, attacked a garrison of Union troops defending a small fortification at Baxter Springs. The raiders then turned their attention to a military convoy led by Major General Thomas Blunt. After a brief skirmish, Quantrill called for the surrender of Blunt and his men. Upon compliance, the raiders fired upon and killed may of the unarmed men.
Ghost signs and future ghost signs add a timeless touch to the weathered brick walls in Galena.
By 1868, the year Baxter’s Place incorporated as Baxter Springs, the town was on the fast track to becoming a metropolis on the Western frontier. Growth was fueled by Texas cattlemen who drove their herds north along the Shawnee Trail to fulfill the demand for beef in northern markets. The completion of the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad also made Baxter Springs a key shipping point.
Spared the decline that afflicted many cattle towns when beef prices collapsed, Baxter Springs morphed into a resort community built upon the reported curative powers of its namesake springs. The next transformation came with the discovery of rich deposits of lead and zinc in the immediate area as well as in nearby Oklahoma and Missouri.
A carefully restored Kan-O-Tex service station in Galena is now home to 4 Women on the Route, a delightful combination gift shop and snack bar.
The final boom came with the establishment of Route 66 and the transformation of Baxter Springs into a major service and transportation center. At one point during the late 1950s, five national trucking companies had yards here, and one major freight company established its eight-state maintenance yard and shipping point here.
Today, Baxter Springs is a large and busy ghost town, where the past haunts the present with dusty remnants of better times. It is also a faded snapshot of small-town America from the era when Mickey Mantle was the pride of the local team, the Baxter Springs Whiz Kids.
Can there be any doubt about which legendary highway this café fronts in historic Baxter Springs?
In Baxter Springs, re-created neon signage encapsulates the colorful era of the soda fountain, Route 66, the tail fin, and the Edsel.
The lovely Rainbow Bridge over Brush Creek, between Galena and Baxter Springs, is the last of three Marsh Arch bridges that once spanned creeks on Route 66 in Kansas.
DON’T MISS
The scope of exhibits at the Galena Museum, housed in the old depot at 319 West 7th Street, is nothing short of extraordinary. A stop can easily consume an afternoon. In addition to massive displays that include a military tank, a switchyard engine, and a caboose, there is also an excellent display of ore samples as well as an extensive series of displays chronicling the town’s rich history.
In Erick, towering buildings that predate legendary Route 66 cast long shadows over one of the most famous highways in the world.
OKLAHOMA
Vestiges of better times attest to the slow-motion slide toward abandonment that has been the story of Afton since Route 66 retired from its role as Main Street of America.
FROM THE KANSAS STATE LINE to Texola, Oklahoma, a cornucopia of dusty little towns line Route 66. All have surprising and colorful histories. A few hover at a point between being the busy centers of commerce they once were and becoming ghost towns, but only a few have withered to near complete emptiness.
In each of these towns, there is a common theme: With the arrival of Route 66, coffee shops and truck stops replaced the saloons and cattle yards of boisterous cow towns, and motels and service stations replaced the hotels and blacksmith shops of territorial-era farm towns. With the never-ceasing flow of traffic diverted from the main street to the super slab, businesses closed, and people moved on in search of opportunity. The elements, as well as vandals, then transformed homes and once-prosperous businesses into picturesque ruins that predate neon or the liberating contribution of Henry Ford and his Tin Lizzie.
AFTON AND NARCISSA
NARCISSA, A FORMER FARMING community named after Narcissa Walker in 1902, was the proverbial wide spot in the road when J
ack Rittenhouse rolled through in 1946. He notes, “Only one establishment on US 66: a gas station with a grocery and small garage.”
Even though Afton had a population of more 1,200, Rittenhouse does not have much more to say about this town than he does Narcissa: “Baker’s Café, Northeast Garage, and Eagle Service Station garage; Acme Court.” Afton is another one of those places on Route 66 that do not fit the general ideal of what a ghost town should be unless viewed in the context of what once was there—or with a slow drive through town on Route 66. It teeters on the brink of revival and continued decline.
Bassett’s Grocery, after serving the community for more than half a century, closed in 2009. The 1911 Palmer Hotel, its café, the old Pierce & Harvey Buggy Company, and the Avon Court and Rest Haven motels are now all empty.
Farming played an important role in the economy of Afton, but it was the railroad, and later Route 66, that gave it vitality. According to George Shirk, an Oklahoma historian, it was also the railroad that indirectly gave the town its name.
Shirk asserts the name was bestowed by Anton Aires, a Scottish railroad surveyor, as a monument to his daughter, Afton Aires. Moreover, the Afton River in Scotland was the inspiration for the naming of his daughter.
Growth in Afton was slow but steady. The post office opened in 1886, and by 1900, the population had surpassed six hundred. A decade later, the population had doubled; the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad had constructed a second line through town; and Afton was on the fast track to a very promising future. This trend continued through the teens. By that time, the town supported a large waterworks, a brick and tile plant, a creamery, several mills and grain elevators, two banks, two hotels, and a newspaper.
For a town heavily dependent on the railroad and agriculture, the post–World War I collapse of wheat, corn, and beef prices was devastating. Between 1920 and 1930, the population dropped by almost 20 percent.
Association with Route 66 did not ensure prosperity for a community, as evidenced by Narcissa, a town that in 1946 consisted of a combination gas station/grocery store/garage, a school, a grain elevator, and a few dozen homes.
In 1926, a ray of hope, signed with a shield and two sixes, shone on Afton. Service-related industries—from motels and gas stations to garages and attractions, such as the once legendary Buffalo Ranch—infused the economy with a vitality that lasted for decades. Adding to this new era of prosperity was the completion of the Pensacola Dam in 1940, which created the Lake O’ Cherokees.
With the suspension of railroad repair in Afton in the late 1930s and the completion of Interstate 44, which left the town isolated on a forgotten stretch of highway, hard times returned to the town. Demolition of the roundhouse and turntable, closure of motels and cafés—all were symptomatic of a town in decline. But it was closure of the iconic Buffalo Ranch in 1997 that provided the clearest indication that Route 66 had been the lifeblood of this historic community.
Route 66 seems infused with a power to transform those who drive its broken asphalt and truncated alignments. In Afton, this transformation led Laurel and David Kane to purchase a defunct DX service station and give it new life as Afton Station, a time capsule that houses a vast collection of memorabilia and a collection of vintage Packards.
Afton Station epitomizes the new era of Route 66. As testimony to the passion and hard work of the Kanes, the business was recognized in 2009 as the Route 66 business of the year.
The empty cabins of the Avon Court Motel in Afton, Oklahoma, stand as silent monuments to the dream of John Foley, who established the facility in 1936. Jim Hinckley
From Miami, drive south sixteen miles on U.S. Highway 69. For a one-of-a-kind Route 66 experience, inquire locally about the “Sidewalk Highway,” an original section of Route 66 that was only nine feet wide! Narcissa has the distinction of being the only community on this unique alignment.
The faded glory of the Rest Haven Motel on the east end of Afton is reflected in its weathered sign stripped of its colorful neon tubing.
An empty rocking chair and an equally empty street stand in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of Afton a century ago.
WARWICK
THE WELL-WATERED LANDS along Deep Fork River were what led David and Norah Hugh to homestead a farm, in 1891, on the site that would become Warwick. A collective of similar-minded farmers provided ample reason for the establishment of a post office in 1892.
In the early fall of 1896, the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad purchased a right of way from Hugh. A second right of way was deeded, in 1903, to the Fort Smith & Western Railway Company, and in the same year a town site was platted and lots sold.
Indicative of the nature of the people who settled here, a solid, modern stone building, built in 1909, replaced the little log schoolhouse that had also served as a church. Reflecting the town’s agricultural underpinnings, the business district during rthis period consisted of a blacksmith shop, a veterinarian, a general merchandise store, a sawmill, and a saloon.
From the late teens through the 1930s, meeting the needs of motorists enabled the small town to diversify its economic base. It can be said with a degree of certainty that the year 1940 was the best of times and the worst of times in Warwick. A new schoolhouse reflecting the town’s optimism was built, the railroads that gave rise to the community went bust, and the Burlington Northern Railroad picked up the pieces but discontinued passenger service. Postwar, nearby Wellston began siphoning an increasing share of Route 66–related business. By 1968, the Warwick school was consolidated with the Wellston school.
In December 1972, the post office closed, and little Warwick was on the fast track to becoming a ghost town. Surprisingly, a few remnants survived into the modern era and, with the resurgent interest in Route 66, are now treasured souvenirs.
Topping the list is the historic Seaba Station, a former machine shop built in 1924 that expanded into providing other services, such as gasoline and automotive repair, after the certification of Route 66 in 1926. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in the summer of 2010, refurbishment to house an antique motorcycle museum was completed.
Built in 1921, the Seaba Station in Warwick now appears on the National Register of Historic Places and is being refurbished as a motorcycle museum.
As evidenced by this stately old home, the historic Seaba Station is not the only hint that Warwick was once a prosperous community with a promising future.
Warwick is accessed from exit 157 on Interstate 44.
END OF THE ROAD
A BRIDGE GAVE RISE TO BRIDGEPORT, and a bridge led to its demise and abandonment. The town was born on the South Canadian River at the site of a stage crossing. The Rock Island Railroad established a work camp and built a bridge in 1891, and the site quickly morphed into a respectable little town.
On February 20, 1895, a post office established at Bridgeport gave the residents a sense of solidity and a promising future. The first decades of the new century did little to dampen that enthusiasm.
The postal road through Bridgeport became a primary roadway for early motorists traversing Oklahoma, and in 1917, this route was absorbed into the Ozark Trails network. Spearheading this important development were business owners in nearby Geary, who assembled their own road crew, improved the road to the river, and negotiated with George Key of the Postal Bridge Company in Oklahoma City for the construction of a permanent bridge at Bridgeport.
The resultant suspension bridge built a mile north of Bridgeport in 1921 furthered Bridgeport’s prominence. The tolls charged were steep: one dollar for automobiles, a quarter for horse and rider, ten cents per head of livestock. Because this was the only dependable crossing in the area, the fees were paid, but not without complaint.
In 1926, the Key Bridge was incorporated into the U.S. highway system and became the Route 66 crossing of the South Canadian River. With the purchase of the bridge by the state of Oklahoma in 1930, tolls were suspended.
The good ti
mes in Bridgeport ended in 1934 with the completion of a bridge on a realignment of the highway that eliminated the loop through Calumet, Geary, and Bridgeport. In an instant, Bridgeport became an isolated community severed from its primary source of revenue, traffic on Route 66.
The Key Bridge successfully met the needs of local traffic and survived for another dozen years before a 1946 fire rendered it unusable. A salvage firm from Kansas City purchased the bridge and dismantled it in 1952.
Today, the last remnants from this often-overlooked chapter in the history of Route 66 are a scattering of abandoned homes and businesses and the rusty supports for the Key Bridge. However, Bridgeport is not a true ghost, since the town is still home to a handful of residents who value their privacy at the end of a lost highway.
The fast-vanishing links to Bridgeport’s gilded age that dot the fields provide few hints it was once a town of importance.
From Interstate 40, turn north on U.S. Highway 281 at exit 101 and turn west on old U.S. 66; the road is well marked. Continue west for a couple of miles, turn north on Market Street, and then turn right on Broadway to Main Street, where you turn left.