by Jim Hinckley
GHOST TOWNS
of
ROUTE
Text by Jim Hinckley
Photography by Kerrick James
Sun lights the front of a stone building in Afton, Oklahoma.
Page 1: Route 66 in Ludlow, California.
Page 2: Ruins in Jericho, Texas.
Page 3: Windswept clouds over a vintage Packard in Endee, New Mexico.
Page 4: A gas pump in Funks Grove, Illinois.
Opposite: A vintage car parked at Hackberry General Store in Arizona.
Page 11: Faded memories and faded signs are the silent monuments in Newkirk, New Mexico.
To the one who has been my source of encouragement and inspiration for more than two decades, my dearest friend, my wife.
—J. H.
To Julie Ann Quarry, who made the miles less lonely and the route traveled never far from her heart and smile.
—K. J.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: ILLINOIS
The Towns that Coal Built
Into the Land of Lincoln
CHAPTER 2: MISSOURI
Ghost of the Modern Era: Times Beach
The Ghost Town Trail of Missouri
Avilla
CHAPTER 3: KANSAS
CHAPTER 4: OKLAHOMA
Afton and Narcissa
Warwick
End of the Road
Foss
Texola
CHAPTER 5: TEXAS
To Amarillo
The Staked Plains
CHAPTER 6: NEW MEXICO
Introduction to the Land of Enchantment
Montoya, Newkirk, Cuervo
Ghosts of the Santa Fe Trail
The Timeless Land
CHAPTER 7: ARIZONA
Ghosts of the Painted Desert
In the Footsteps of the Camel Corps
Chasing Louis Chevrolet
Route 66, the Forgotten Chapter
CHAPTER 8: CALIFORNIA
Goffs
Ghosts of the Desert Cauldron
Daggett
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
SUGGESTED READING
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND PHOTOGRAPHER
A roadside ghost in Plano, Missouri.
INTRODUCTION
ICONIC ROUTE 66 is more than a mere highway that connects a metropolis on the shore of Lake Michigan with a metropolis on the Pacific coast. It is the stuff of dreams. It is an icon of epic proportions that lures travelers from throughout the world to come experience American life as it once was and to seek the roadside ghosts from an era when Studebakers still rolled from the factory in South Bend.
The old highway is more than a 2,291-mile (according to a 1936 map) ribbon of asphalt lined with dusty remnants, ghostly vestiges, and polished gems manifesting more than eighty years of American societal evolution. Along Route 66, from Chicago to the shores of the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica in California, whispering breezes carry the voices of ghosts from the Civil War that blend with those of French explorers, Native Americans, Spanish conquistadors, and pioneers fulfilling a young nation’s Manifest Destiny.
To drive Route 66 is to follow the path of a new nation on its journey of westward expansion. The signs bearing the double six mark the path of an American highway that is but a modern incarnation of the Pontiac Trail, the Osage Trail, and the old Federal Wire Road; the Beale Wagon Road and the El Camino Real; the National Old Trails Highway; and the Santa Fe Trail.
This long and colorful history makes the ghost towns along Route 66 unique because they are ghosts of the modern era with roots that reach to the nation’s earliest history.
There are territorial-era mining towns where men who came West on horseback cheered Barney Oldfield and Louis Chevrolet as they roared through town. There are quiet farming villages that once played center stage in the bloody conflict of the Civil War and dusty, wide spots in the road where centuries-old churches cast shadows over the ruts of the Santa Fe Trail as well as the broken asphalt of Route 66.
In the ghost towns of Route 66, the old road will forever be America’s Main Street. In the empty places along America’s most famous highway, the ghosts whisper on every breeze, and the swirling sands of time blur the line between past and present.
ILLINOIS
At Shea’s in Springfield, Bill Shea has created a shrine to the gas station, the oil company, and the American love affair with the road trip.
In Funks Grove, the bucolic world of the nineteenth century blends seamlessly with the world of the Model T, with Route 66, and with the modern era of the mini van.
ROADSIDE GHOSTS and roadside time capsules abound in Illinois, but ghost towns are a rarity and are of a different nature than those found farther west on the plains and desert sands. The rising tide of urban sprawl that spawned the interstate highway and that swept Route 66 from center stage during the last half of the twentieth century began here with the transformation of the venerable two-lane into a four-lane super slab.
As a result, the ghost towns that survive along Route 66 in Illinois do so as dots on a map, made manifest in a service station, transformed into a home or a quiet café, shadowed by centuries-old trees. In most of those that remain, the darkened neon and façades that seemed modern and chic during the era of the Edsel and tail fin often obscure vestiges from the town’s long history that predates the automobile by decades.
THE TOWNS THAT COAL BUILT
MINING GAVE RISE to a small cluster of towns between Dwight and Wilmington. Of these, only Braidwood and Gardner have survived into the modern era with relative prosperity. The others—Godley, Braceville, and Mazonia—are a string of tarnished gems along old Route 66 with but the faintest of hints that they were once more than dusty, wide spots in the road.
Jack Rittenhouse, in his 1946 classic, A Guide Book to Highway 66, writes that Godley was “Once a booming mining community. Now only a few homes remain. South of the town are more slag heaps.” Of Braceville, he says, “Like Godley, this town is but a remnant of a once thriving coal town. As you leave town, the typical slag heaps still blot the countryside.” Mazonia did not warrant mention, and even less remains today.
Kaveneys drugstore, now an antique shop, is just one of the many jewels found in the heart of historic Wilmington.
Wilmington, with a population of more than 5,600, may not be a ghost town per se, but ghostly remnants from an earlier time abound.
In Wilmington, the Dé-Ja-Vu store sign encapsulates the essence of a drive on the iconic highway.
From Wilmington, drive west on State Highway 53 approximately eight miles. Braidwood is north of the tracks on Highway 113. Godley, Braceville, and the site of Mazonia are on Highway 53.
The resurgent interest in Route 66 has spawned time capsule re-creations and restorations, such as this circa-1933 service station in Dwight.
The Java Stop in Dwight exemplifies life as it once was along America’s highways before the dawn of the generic age.
A colorful but forlorn old eatery in Dwight reflects the transformation the interstate wrought in the small towns along Route 66.
Jack Rittenhouse and His Classic Route 66 Guidebook
The 1946 Route 66 guidebook that author Jack Rittenhouse envisioned as the modern-day equivalent to The Great West (written by Edward H. Hall in 1866 and instrumental in fueling westward immigration) only sold a dismal three thousand copies. However, with the resurgent interest in Route 66 that began in the 1980s, Rittenhouse’s A Guide Book to Highway 66 was reprinted, is now sold at gift shops all along the highway, and provides an invaluable snapshot of Route 66 as it was in the immediate postwar period.
An interesting footnote to the guide and the expedition that led to
its creation is the vehicle Rittenhouse selected for the roundtrip journey: a 1939 American Bantam coupe. These diminutive cars with seventy-five-inch wheelbases and twenty-two-horsepower engines were very fuel efficient, but they were also quite spartan and anemic, especially for a trip that included climbs to elevations exceeding seven thousand feet.
In his preface to the 1989 edition, Rittenhouse notes that his car had “no trunk, no trip odometer, no radio.” He also notes the car had a 1,200-pound curb weight and would often deliver almost fifty miles to a gallon of gasoline.
Braceville, originally Braysville, was large enough to warrant a post office by 1855, but it was the discovery of coal in the early 1860s that transformed this community and its bucolic neighbors into rough-and-tumble boomtowns.
A flood of immigrant Scotch, Irish, and Welch miners numbering in the thousands poured into the area. They settled in Godley, Braceville, and Mazonia, giving these communities a boisterous, vibrant atmosphere. By the late 1880s, twenty-one coal mines were operating in the area. The population of Braceville soared to 3,500, and in Braidwood it surpassed 8,000. In Braceville alone, there were six general stores, two banks, a hotel, restaurants, and more than a dozen other businesses.
Whimsy, a large part of the Route 66 experience, manifests itself at the Polk-a-Dot Drive In as a delightful vintage timepiece.
Dating to 1956, the Polk-a-Dot Drive In started as a bus in Braidwood painted with rainbow-colored polka dots and has morphed into a pre-franchise-era time capsule.
A haunting ghost sign in Braceville is an appropriate monument for a town that is but a mere shadow of what it once was.
A series of problems at the mines—a cave-in, a fire, a flooding, a string of labor disputes, and ultimately the exhaustion of profitable ore seams—resulted in a near complete closure of the mines by 1910. The dismantling of many of the buildings in Godley, Braceville, and Mazonia quickly followed. It was an inglorious end to towns that had once been at the center of an investment frenzy attracting syndicates from as far away as Boston, New York, and London.
Most, but not all, of the vestiges of past glory date to the era of Route 66. These include Braidwood’s Polk-a-Dot Drive In, dating to 1956.
In Wilmington, as in almost every community along legendary Route 66, windows to the past are found in abundance.
The unimposing Riviera, south of Braceville, had a long and colorful association with Route 66 before a fire destroyed the structure in 2010.
INTO THE LAND OF LINCOLN
FROM GARDNER TO SPRINGFIELD, villages and towns amply sprinkled with refurbished pearls of roadside Americana nestle along shade-dappled Route 66, but only a few qualify as ghost towns. Still, many are mere shadows of what once was. These time capsules have a history that predates the highway by decades and illustrates why Illinois is known as the “Land of Lincoln.”
Now vanished from the map is the little village of Cayuga, located south of Odell. Rittenhouse tells us that, in 1946, Cayuga consisted of “a grain elevator, a small school, one store, and a dozen homes.”
This village was surveyed and platted April 10, 1855, and in The History of Livingstone County Illinois (1878), it is noted:
As a general thing, while towns established at a distance of ten or twelve miles apart have flourished, those lying between have been almost invariably less successful. Certainly, no other reason can be given why Cayuga should not have developed equally with other towns along the road. There is no more pleasant situation for a prosperous village on the road. Though the village compares but poorly with many other towns of the county, the business done here is, by no means, inconsiderable as will be seen by the following items, as given by the obliging agent of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, Edwin Chapman.
Apparently many were puzzled by the town’s stagnation, a situation that neither the railroad nor Route 66 could alleviate. Route 66 enthusiasts today know this “town” for its Meramec Caverns barn. Once as common as the painted barns that proclaimed “See Rock City,” this recently refurbished barn sign is one of two that remain in the state of Illinois.
Another village now vanished from modern maps is Ocoya, which a 1929 Rand McNally atlas shows six miles southwest of Pontiac. Rittenhouse describes Ocoya as “another dwindling community with the ever present grain elevator, a score of homes, two small stores, and a gas station, [lying] just off U.S. 66.”
The post office opened here in 1860. Over the next forty years, it would open and close numerous times, depending on the ebb and flow of the population.
Shirley, just south of Bloomington, was a railroad town, but its proximity to Bloomington hindered its growth. In The History of McLean County Illinois (1879), it is noted that Shirley was “situated on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, six miles southwest of Bloomington. . . . The surrounding country is fertile and the farming community seems in easy circumstances, but the little village of Shirley does not grow rapidly.”
Funks Grove, fifteen miles south of Bloomington, was never really a town. Yet it is more than hallowed ground for fans of the old double six; it is an institution with roots as a family business that reach back to Issac Funk’s homesteading on the site in 1824. Amazingly, the maple sirup (a spelling that designates purity) sold by the Funk family has never been sold anywhere but here. For more than eighty years, they have relied on Route 66 for customers.
From Gardner, continue west on State Highway 53 (Route 66).
A streetcar diner in Gardner has received a new lease on life; plans are underway for its restoration.
COTTON HILL
ONE OF THE MORE INTRIGUING and enigmatic ghost towns found along Route 66 is Cotton Hill, located near Springfield.
The quaint little farming village was large enough to warrant a post office by 1862, but its proximity to Springfield seems to have stunted its growth. By the turn of the century, the town was in decline, and in 1907, the post office closed.
Still, Cotton Hill clung to life by serving as a stop on the Illinois Central Railroad and, after the establishment of Route 66, by offering services to motorists scurrying between Chicago and St. Louis. With the creation of Lake Springfield and realignment of Route 66, Cotton Hill was razed.
Today, the site—and the second alignment of Route 66, Cotton Hill Road—is under the lake. Adventuresome explorers can still follow the old highway through the brush to the water’s edge and, when water levels are low, get their kicks by splashing along old Route 66.
Old U.S. 66 leads to the shore of Lake Springfield, under which lies the site of Cotton Hill.
The church at Funks Grove dates to 1845. The general store and depot, relocated from another site, are faithful recreations that enhance the sense of timelessness. The gas station and café that Rittenhouse mentions in his guidebook are now closed and provide favorite photo opportunities for travelers on Route 66.
DON’T MISS
The Route 66 walking tour in Towanda provides a great opportunity to stretch the legs. Titled “Historic Route 66: A Geographic Journey,” the trail utilizes an abandoned section of the highway and features interpretive displays from all eight states as well as Burma Shave signs.
When Rittenhouse drove through Lawndale in 1946, he described it as “not really a town at all, since it consists of a couple of red railroad shacks, a few homes, and a pair of grain elevators.” This was not always the case. In The History of Logan County Illinois (1911), the entry for Lawndale indicates that, in June 1857, it was platted and surveyed “the next year after the Alton & Sangamon (now Chicago & Alton) railroad was completed to that point.” The town originally contained twelve blocks, but “Ewing’s addition in 1864 added seventeen blocks more. . . . The village has never been incorporated. It is located in East Lincoln Township and has a population of about 200.”
Little has changed in Lawndale since the days of the Rittenhouse expedition. Even in the most popular modern travel guides, such as EZ 66 Guide for Travelers by Jerry McClanahan, the community warrants little
more than a dot on a map.
From the inception of Route 66, a sign like this has pointed the way to Funks Grove.
In 1946, Jack Rittenhouse found a gas station and a café in Funks Grove, but these businesses survive today only as photo ops.
For more than a century, the Funks Grove sign has been synonymous with maple sirup.
An old brick wall serves as the backdrop for a sign proudly proclaiming Gardner’s place on historic Route 66.
As this sign near Funks Grove indicates, the state of Illinois has done an excellent job of identifying the various alignments of historic Route 66.
Years before Abraham Lincoln became the sixteenth U.S. president, Sunday services were held at the quaint little church in Funks Grove.
Shea’s Gas Station Museum in Springfield presents a three-dimensional history of the American service station encapsulated in a former fuel center and vintage station relocated to the site.
The Realignment of Route 66
FROM SPRINGFIELD SOUTH TO GRANITE CITY, there are two distinct versions of Route 66. There is the 1926–1930 alignment that was originally Illinois State 4 and the 1930–1977 alignment that is now generally Interstate 55 with Route 66 serving as a frontage road.
As with the section of Route 66 that lies east of Springfield, the alignments to the west are dotted with small, picturesque communities that have lengthy, colorful histories and an abundance of refurbished ghosts. Counted among the must-see ghosts are Art’s Motel in Farmersville. In Litchfield, there is the SkyView Drive-In Theatre and the Ariston Café, the oldest continuously operated, one-family-owned café on Route 66, dating to 1931. Other stops of note include Soulsby Station in Mt. Olive, which dates to 1926, and the Luna Café, circa 1924, in Mitchell.
