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Dust in the Wind

A Guide to American Ghost Towns?

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INTRODUCTION

Unless noted otherwise, information on this web page is from original research by Gary B. Speck.  However, much information in these ghost town listings is quoted from postings to the Rootsweb Missouri Ghost Town discussion forum (MO-GT), and that information is indicated as follows.  Specific information and/or personal comments will be appropriately credited with either names or initials, like (MF) {Mike Flannigan}, or (GBS) {Me}. In some cases, I didn’t save the name, so those will be indicated as MO-GT. 

If you know of any Missouri ghost town location not listed on these pages, please contact the MO-GT discussion forum, if you are a member.  If you are not a member, please contact me and I’ll pass on the information to the group.  If you are interested in Missouri ghost towns and would like to join the group, let me know and I’ll tell you how to join the forum. 

Please note that some minor editing for editorial consistency and spelling WAS made, as well as spelling out of directions (N, SE, NNW, etc), and numbers less than ten.

Highways are marked thus...

• CR – County Roads
• SH – State Highway
• US – US Highway
• I – Interstate Highway

Locations marked with a $ indicate an admission fee is charged to visit the site.

Unless noted otherwise, all indicated population figures are from the 1990 census. 

GNIS stands for the US Geologic Survey’s Geographic Names Information System. 

Many of these listed locations may be just rural post offices, country churches, schools, forts, stage stations, crossroads stores, mills or river fords, rather than what we normally consider towns.  The reason for that is that many of these smaller locations had small communities grow up around the main business. 

Memories of the past glory of these one-time active communities still float like dust in the wind over Missouri’s hillsides and prairie.  The winds of time that created these ghosts reach deep into America's Heartland and those gentle zephyrs take those past memories and deposit them in front of you.  Reach out and grab them!  Without further ado, let’s visit some of Missouri’s many hundreds of ghost towns!

PLEASE NOTE: 

Where photos are indicated thusly (PHOTO!), please use your browser’s “BACK” button to return to this page.  More photos will be added over time.

SITE NAME

POPULATION

1990

U.N.O.

DESCRIPTION & LOCATION

BURTON MILL

0

Burton Mill was built about 1850, three miles above Dildy Mill on the land of Milo Burton.

DALES MILL

0

Dales Mill was named for its pioneer owner.

ENRIGHT STATION

0

Enright Station was named for a local landowner.

FOREST HOME

0

Forest Home was the name of a trading-point established after the Civil War near present Stotts City. It was named for the forest around the store and for the homelike atmosphere.

JOHNSON-CHERRY MILL

0

Johnson-Cherry Mill was located on Johnson Creek one mile above Johnsons Mill (Spencer).

This is an incredible area that I will hopefully be visiting soon.  (Mike Flannigan)

JONES MILL

0

Jones Mill was a pioneer mill on the Spring River operated by a Mr. Jones.

KENDALLSVILLE

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Kendallsville was laid out in 1886 and named for H. R. Kendall.

LIKINS MILL

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Likins Mill was named for W. Likins, who built a mill on the Turnback and operated it before the Civil War.

LOCKHART

0

Lockhart was a station on the Missouri-Pacific Railroad in 1885.  It was named for W. A. Lockhart, a railroad official.

LUMLEYS MILL

0

William Lumley, a Revolutionary soldier, built a mill on a spring branch about six hundred feet from the Turnback near the Terrell Ford about 1835.

I wish I knew where this was.  I don't know where Terrell Ford is either.  (Mike Flannigan)

McCOYS MILL

0

McCoys Mill was named for its owner.

McNATTS STORE

0

McNatts Store was a trading point three miles northeast of Aurora.  It was  built in 1849 by J. C. McNatt.

MOUNT PLEASANT

0

Mount Pleasant was the County Seat of Barry Co. until 1840 when Lawrence County was formed from it.  It was located near Pierce City.

OLD RED MILL

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…SEE THE Old Red Mill

RED MILL

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…SEE THE Old Red Mill

SAINT MARTHA

0

Saint Martha was laid out for W. R. Wild and his wife, Martha, for whom the town was named.

SLYS MILL

0

Slys Mill was located on Center Creek and named for its owner.

SOUTHBEND

0

Southbend was a post office and store in a big bend on the Spring River named because of its location.

Probably located north of Stotts City.  (Mike Flannigan)

THE OLD RED MILL

0

This mill, built in 1837 on Spring River, was so named because of the dark red paint.

I sure would like to find this one.  (Mike Flannigan)

VINYARD

0

Vinyard was named for a pioneer family.

ZINNS MILL

0

Zinns Mill was built in the late 1830s near the head of the Spring River and named for Henry Zinn, the owner.

This is probably near Verona.  (Mike Flannigan)

Historians estimate that there may be as many as 50,000 ghost towns scattered across the United States of America. During the next five years, Gary B. Speck Publications will be publishing unique state, regional, and county guides called

The Ghost Town Guru's Guide

to the Ghost Towns of *** ™

These original guides are designed for anybody interested in

ghost towns. Whether you are a casual tourist looking for a new and different place to visit, or a hard-core ghost town researcher, these guides will be just right for you. With over 30 years of research behind them, they will be a welcome addition to any ghost towner's library.

Thank you, and we'll see you out on the Ghost Town Trail!

For more information on the ghost towns of MISSOURI,

contact us at

Ghost Town USA.

E-mailers, PLEASE NOTE:

Due to the tremendous amount of viruses, worms and “spam,” out there, I no longer open any e-mails with unsolicited attachments, or messages on the subject lines with “Hey”, “Hi”, “Need help”, “Help Please”, “???”, or blank subject lines, etc.  If you do send an E-mail asking for information, or sharing information, PLEASE indicate the appropriate location AND state name, or other topic on the “subject” line.  THANK YOU!  :o)

IMPORTANT

These listings and historical vignettes of ghost towns, near-ghost towns and other historical sites in MISSOURI above are for informational purposes only, and should NOT be construed to grant permission to trespass, metal detect, relic or treasure hunt at any of the listed sites.

If the reader of this guide is a metal detector user and plans to use this guide to locate sites for metal detecting or relic hunting, it is the READER'S responsibility to obtain written permission from the legal property owners. Please be advised, that any state or nationally owned sites will probably be off-limits to metal detector use. Also be aware of any federal, state or local laws restricting the same.

When you are exploring the ghost towns of MISSOURI, please abide by the

 Ghost Towner's Code of Ethics.