Here Are 6 More Ghost Towns In Missouri That Are Nothing Like They Used To Be
By Stephanie Butler|Published January 20, 2016
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Stephanie Butler
Author
A native Midwesterner with a love for family, friends, and learning new things. In second-stage of career life, this former college instructor enjoys contributing to OIYS, blogging, reading, and spending time with her kids.
According to Wikipedia, a ghost town is “an abandoned village, town, or city, usually one which contains substantial visible remains.” There are many reasons a town becomes a ghost town. It can be caused by changes or failures in economic activity it once supported, or due to natural or human-caused disasters. Floods, government policy repercussions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or pollution and nuclear disasters can all be to blame. Sometimes the term can refer to cities, towns, and neighborhoods which are still populated, but that have lost significant population in years past. Some of these towns become residential only.
In a previous post, we discussed the ghost towns of Arlington, Far West, Garber, Jollification, and Avilla. If you search the internet, there isn’t a lot of information about a lot of these towns, which makes these posts special. Through them we can keep the history of our state alive so these towns and their rich histories don’t disappear forever. Let’s keep the discussion going with 6 more towns that have seen better days.
1. Medill
Google Earth
Google Earth
Although there is virtually nothing left of Medill but the railroad, in its day, Medill was an interesting railroad stop and waypoint on the Santa Fe’s Missouri Division. A Burlington Lines branch crossed the Santa Fe right beside the depot. Today, Medill is just a small residential community.
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2. Mineola
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Google Earth
Mineola is located in western Montgomery County, about six miles south of Montgomery City and about one mile from Interstate 70. Its post office closed in 1967 and mail now comes from Montgomery City. The community was founded in 1879 by a land grant to Daniel Boone, and thrived as a great stop for travelers between Kansas City and St. Louis. Unfortunately, when highway 40 was built in the early 1900s, it greatly reduced traffic through the town. In addition, parts of Mineola were destroyed in the late 1800s when a tornado hit the area. Although the town was rebuilt, it was hit by a flood 3 years later.
3. Goldman
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Goldman is a tiny ghost town in Jefferson County, about five miles north of the county courthouse at Hillsboro. Goldman was once a center for trucking farm produce via Old Lemay Ferry Road and the Sandy Creek Covered Bridge, an old trade route. A blacksmith shop thrived from about 1878 to 1946.
The Goldman store was built in 1915 and had a tavern. In the 1920s, a man named Dr. Brown built a treatment center for tuberculosis patients just north of the store. There was a large building for a dining/meeting room, and many small patient cabins and homes for the staff. In the 1930s, Kap King's Dance Hall was a popular Saturday night gathering place.
When State Highway 21 was built in the early 1940s, it bypassed the business district and Sandy Creek Covered Bridge. Today, the bridge is a historic landmark and one of only four covered bridges left in the state. The treatment center was later purchased by the St. Louis Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church and used for a campground called Mater Dei. A fire destroyed several of the buildings a long time ago, and the property is now owned by Christian Outreach Church, the site of a church and school.
Sandy Creek Covered Bridge
Even though the commercial and business center is no longer functioning, the Goldman name is still alive and kept active by the Goldman Fire Protection District, formed in 1948.
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4. Possum Trot
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Silver Lake Mill
Flickr/ Al Turner
Possum Trot is a former town in northeast Stone County, about eight miles southwest of Nixa on Missouri Supplemental Route M. The general store at Possum Trot was operated by a family named Wilson during the early part of the 20th Century. Part of the community was once known as Self. Near Possum Trot you will find Silver Lake, an impoundment dammed in 1865 by Davis Kimberling to power a feed and flour mill. It is now a recreational area. In town, only the remains of a church and a house are left.
5. Hematite
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Hematite is located in eastern Jefferson County, about seven miles northeast of De Soto. It was founded in 1861 and named after the iron ore mineral (hematite) that was found nearby. By 1956 only two buildings stood when a number of buildings were created to support a hematite fuel-cycle facility.
Google Earth
From 1956-1974, the facility was used to research and produce high-enriched nuclear fuel for the U.S. Navy nuclear submarine program and other reactor programs. From 1974-2001, the facility "produced nuclear fuel assemblies of low-uranium enrichment for commercial nuclear power plants." Although the plant is now shut down, all the years of production and its byproducts may have tainted the water in some nearby wells.
6. Oscar
Google Earth
Oscar is located on State Road 137 about 6 miles north of Raymondville. In its day, it had a rather large store for the area that operated until the late 1970s. It was one of the major merchants in the rural area south of Texas County. Today, the building is the home of an Amish family, and as it has always been, it is a farming area. The store building and a sawmill are all that remain in Oscar, but several farms still operate in the area.
If you have any further information about any of these places, please share them with us, along with any pictures either current or vintage. What are some other ghost towns at risk of being forgotten? Do you live in any of these places? Share in the comments below.
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