Ghost Towns of Route 66 (8 page)
Read Ghost Towns of Route 66 Online
Authors: Jim Hinckley
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.
F
ROM THE
K
ANSAS 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.