Ghost Town of the Week: December 21st, 2014: Campus

At the time of posting this blog, I had visited Campus just two days ago! My stepfather had to make a work trip to a little place called Rexford, in Thomas County, to inspect some new housing being built there, so we decided to hit every little place along Old US 40 along the way. Campus, in the far western part of Gove County, was our last town before we headed north on US 83. There is an exit for "Campus Road" off of I-70, and the first thing you notice as you head north is a very large farming operation just south and east of the railroad.

Some of the Campus farming operation. Notice the three grain elevators. The business on the left was run by Western Plains Energy. It appears that most of the operation is an ethanol plant. 

But the old town is north and west of the railroad. There is a small amount of information online about Campus; it ran a post office from 1905 to 1935 and in 1910 it was reported to have "two general stores, lumberyard, blacksmith shop, farm implement store, church, school, depot, postoffice, elevator, stockyards and five residences"(1). The town was also reported to have a population of fifty. Not today.

The first thing you're greeted to in Campus is this long-abandoned house. It sits along the "driveway" to the only occupied house in town. However, this "driveway" used to be a city street.

On the southeast side of town sits a large abandoned house. You can't see it from this angle, but the words "DO NOT ENTER. YOU WILL DIE!" were spray-painted on the front of it. Continuing down the southernmost street you hit a farmstead that is the only occupied house in town. The farmstead has gradually taken over the entire western half of the old town. But there's more.

There are two more buildings still standing in Campus. One is another large abandoned house on the left, the other is a false-fronted building with a cattle stable on its right side. Was this a livery stable? A general store? Both? It's a mystery.

Another "street" does exist in Campus, and it leads you right up to the abandoned house and general store/livery stable/whatever it was. A third side street leads to nowhere in between the two buildings. Both of these streets were covered in corn stalks and grass when we were there. But the fact that remnants of a road network still exist in this Ghost Town fascinates me. You don't see that very often.

Google Maps view of Campus. The four buildings (and associated outbuildings) are about all that's left. There are no foundations or other ruins. You can see the faint remnants of a road network still left in the town. Note the street in between the north house and the false-fronted building; it leads to nowhere.

1. http://kansasoakland.blogspot.com/2012/05/campus-kansas-gove-county.html

Ghost Town of the Week: December 14th, 2014: Adamsville

BIG DISCLAIMER: I visited Adamsville all the way back in 2005, so this might not be the same today
As previously mentioned, Adamsville was visited on one of my very first road trips, way back in July 2005. The town is located in eastern Sumner County near the junction of Oxford Road and 80th Street South. The town was founded very late compared to most Kansas towns; its post office was not established until 1925! The post office closed in 1931. A historical plat map of Sumner County towns showed me that Adamsville was never more than a little hamlet; the plat was just one square block plus a grain elevator and train depot. When I visited in 2005 I approached from the west on 80th St. South.

The most notable remnant of Adamsville is an old tin grain elevator and weigh station.

About 200 feet south of the road is an old tin grain elevator and weigh station. The elevator was still in decent condition in 2005. The elevator sits next to an old railroad that used to run through several towns from Conway Springs to Arkansas City. The tracks have long-since been pulled up. Just east of the elevator is a heavily overgrown area that still has a few old buildings and ruins in it.

Tough to see behind all the overgrowth, but this building sits right on 80th St. South and was either an old store or possibly an old school.

Back in 2005 I didn't have a digital camera yet, and this trip was large, so on my disposable camera I took only two photos of Adamsville. But this town is worth visiting. Several buildings still remain hidden in the overgrowth; there are two houses visible from the main road, and a few other buildings that wouldn't take much effort to find.

Google Maps view of Adamsville. The old elevator complex is on the bottom left, the old store/school is on the top left. There are five other vacant buildings in the Ghost Town, and two houses are visible from 80th Street South.

No one lives in this town. There is a nearby farm that wasn't part of the original town, but Adamsville is a true Ghost Town. And with all that's left of it, it's worth checking out.

Ghost Town of the Week: December 7th, 2014: Maple City

DISCLAIMER: I visited Maple City in 2009, so some of this may have changed since then
Maple City is located just about in the middle of nowhere, about 15 miles east of Arkansas City and about 5 miles south of US-166 in Cowley County. The town's post office opened in 1872 and was listed as still open in 1961, but it surely isn't now. Curiously, the town was not even listed on state road maps until the 1950 map, and is still listed on maps today, despite the fact there's really not much left there.

Several abandoned buildings sit around this large intersection. This building might have once been an old gas station.

Just two roads go through the old town, which covers a wide area but has been reduced to a haphazard collection of buildings that are mostly abandoned.

This long-vacant building sits across the street from the old gas station. It looks like it was just a house.

About a quarter-mile south of the intersection is a still-operating church. Otherwise, on the "south" side of town is just a couple houses and some farm outbuildings.

Maple City's church, the only point of activity left in the Ghost Town.

I would estimate the population of Maple City at between 5 and 10. There are four scattered houses left, and I'm not sure they are all occupied. Driving north on 211th Road, you pass through the eerily empty remains of the town.

This is on the west side of 211th Road, in between the old gas station and a farmstead. There is some overgrowth and ruins in Maple City, but not much.

Continuing north, you pass one sizable farmstead on the left and then you reach the town's old school, which is in decent condition.

While in bad need of paint, the windows are still intact and I would imagine this building is still in use.

Maple City is cool because of the spooky feeling of emptiness you get when passing through it. It's expansive but empty, and all the abandoned buildings and ruins give it an even creepier feel. Plus its really in the middle of nowhere, 10 miles from any cities, yet somewhat easy to get to, especially because it's still marked on Kansas highway maps.