Book review: “Ghost Towns of Route 66″ May 25, 2011

Posted by Ron Warnick in Books, History, Photographs, Towns.
2 comments

Ghost town – a once-flourishing town wholly or nearly deserted usually as a result of the exhaustion of some natural resource. – Merriam-Webster dictionary

The term “ghost town” conjures images of abandoned, dusty, and tumbleweed-strewn buildings in a once-bustling Wild West town founded in the 1800s.

However, in the case of historic U.S. 66, ghost towns are a 20th-century phenomenon that doesn’t confine itself to the desert Southwest. Route 66 ghost towns can also be found amid Midwestern cornfields and Missouri’s lush Ozark Mountains.

And though Route 66 mostly tells its story through well-preserved structures and amiable people, dead and dying towns remain an important part of its history.

Author Jim Hinckley and photographer Kerrick James cover this oft-overlooked chapter with “Ghost Towns of Route 66″ (160 pages, Voyageur Press, e-book available). It covers two dozen communities that ebbed away, mainly due to industrial decline or interstate bypass. And a few of the towns could be described not as has-beens, but never-weres.

The book looks terrific. James previously has proved his photography mettle with “Ghost Towns of the Southwest,” “Route 66 Backroads,” and “Backroads of Arizona.” He does it again by capturing desolate and decaying structures that nonetheless look beautiful amid the orange light of a setting sun, puffy clouds, or enveloping trees. Several photos are bathed in sepia tones for an old-time look.

The book’s images are augmented by images from the author (an able photographer) and Joe Sonderman’s huge Route 66 postcard collection. Between the photography and the pleasing design, the pages of “Ghost Towns of Route 66″ look  indisputably handsome.

The book’s format goes from east to west, exploring each of the ghost towns. Chapters of each of Route 66′s eight states are sprinkled with snippets, such as driving directions and “Don’t Miss” opportunities. The ghost towns run the gamut, from ones that declined with its local industry (Godley, Ill.), burgs that never amounted to much (Plano, Mo.), to towns that withered when bypassed by the interstate (Yucca, Ariz.).

The most famous of the latter is Glenrio, Texas, on the border of New Mexico. It counts just five residents amid the ruins of former businesses. Hinckley, as with other Mother Road ghost towns, does plenty of yeoman’s work in researching Glenrio’s history. Believe it or not, Glenrio once boasted a grocery, hotel, land office, several cafes, several gas stations, and even a newspaper.

Glenrio faded fast when it was bypassed by Interstate 40 in the 1970s. But it remains a powerful symbol of the rise and fall of U.S. 66. Michael Wallis mentions it prominently in his best-selling book “Route 66: The Mother Road.” And director John Lasseter said Glenrio made a profound influence on the creation of the fictional town of Radiator Springs in the 2006 Disney-Pixar movie “Cars.” In fact, you can see a dead ringer of Glenrio’s now-closed Little Juarez restaurant in the movie.

A few of the towns vanished because of misfortune or redevelopment. The tiny hamlet of Cotton Hill, Ill., now lies at the bottom of the man-made Lake Springfield. Times Beach, Mo., no longer exists after it was evacuated due to dioxin contamination. And Bridgeport, Okla., dried up after its toll bridge over the Canadian River was bypassed in the 1930s by a newer, free bridge in another location.

The stories in the book aren’t all depressing. Goffs, Calif., after years of decline, has been transformed into “one of the most astounding and, perhaps, most overlooked treasures on Route 66.” A group of dedicated volunteers restored the town’s well-designed 1914 schoolhouse into a museum. And that’s not all:

Throughout the well-maintained grounds, and linked by a pleasant little trails, are artifacts ranging from a weatherworn 1921 Buick to an Atlantic & Pacific boxcar more than a century old. The bronze eagle on the flagpole is from General George S. Patton’s Indio headquarters. The site contains an operational stamp mill painstakingly moved from an old mine and reassembled on site as well as a collection of bottles with glass turned purple from the desert sun, vintage highway signs, and gas pumps. You’ll find telephone poles from the first transcontinental telephone line and an aircraft beacon dating to the 1920s, ore cars and antique railroad crossing gates, and pumps, crushers, and other mining equipment that predate Route 66 by decades.

It seems Hinckley gets a little loose with his criteria by including Baxter Springs, Kan. — especially when he incongruously describes it as a “large and busy ghost town” — when the town’s population has remained relatively stable for 80 years.

And one may question his inclusion of towns with four-digit populations. For instance, Afton, Okla., undoubtedly is declining and has been for decades. But it proves difficult to accept the notion that a settlement of more than 1,000 souls is truly a ghost town.

The only other problem with the book turns out to be its cover. For all its terrific photography inside, you’d think the front of “Ghost Towns of Route 66″ would feature an intriguing image. Instead, a lone, rusty Route 66 shield becomes the main visual element, with a black-and-white image of the Glenrio in the background that’s so indistinct, it seems an afterthought. 4 Eyes Design performed well in laying out the beautiful inside pages of the book, but inexplicably failed with the outer packaging.

These quibbles shouldn’t detract much of the enjoyment of this book. The photos will draw you in, and the text will prove valuable to those who want to find out more about these nearly forgotten towns.

Recommended.