I explored several small towns in a quiet corner of Kansas, and a ghost town in Oklahoma. Towns visited: Picher, Oklahoma Baxter Springs Galena Scammon Weir Parsons Chetopa Travel Vlog 167
I remember taking 66 on my way back home from California, didn’t have any cash to pay the turnpike toll on 244, decided to go scenic for a bit. Sun was just starting to set at my back, was a nice summer night… those couple hours through OK, KS and into Joplin before I got back on 44 were the most relaxing hours of driving I’ve ever had. Something about that Midwest charm.
Aside from being declared uninhabitable, Picher, OK had a bad F4 tornado in 2008 which is the reason most of the structures from the town are no longer there, as it left Picher almost completely demolished.
Crazy now folks are pushing electric cars. What is in the big bad batteries? Lead. I will stick with my gas 2012 Civic. The Civic is better for the environment.
Another awesome video. I have a 12-year-old granddaughter, and due to medical issues, she is homeschooled. Today's Social Studies assignment was on rivers and their tributaries, so I decided to show her your video on Cairo, Illinois. She absolutely loved it. You are an amazing film maker and commentator. Your eye finds beauty that mine would simply pass over. I pray you never decide to lay your camera down.
Sir I think you have touched a nerve with so many people with your amazing channel. Gas is $4 a gallon so its hard to even drive to the grocery store, let alone all over the U.S. Hitting these old towns off the beaten path is something most of us 60 somethings won't have a chance to do on a fixed income. In a time where most cities resemble Soddom and Gamorrah, these places remind us of when living in the U.S. was safe and fun. Your commentary and demeanor are perfect. Can't wait to see where we're going next.
Exactly!! I'm 71 and I really look forward to these .it's places I always wanted to see but will never and places I've been that I totally enjoy seeing what they look like now
$4 a gallon? Where? I live in California and gas has been way more expensive than that. Around $6 a gallon or more at various times. My sister and I rarely go anywhere and if we do, we trip link!
@@johnrogers7846 This is true, but on my SSA, I'm really not making it financially, as rent, utilities, groceries, clothing, gas and other necessities are outpacing my income. So irregardless of your argument, being broke is still being broke. I'm not getting as much money on SSA as you might think. This argument doesn't hold water against corporate greed!
I bought a house in south East Kansas…. It’s actually quite peaceful for the most part…. After living in the big cities most of my life it’s a nice change 👍
Having lived in Southern California for over 40 years, and also having lived 3 years in Cherry Hill New Jersey and frequently going to Philadelphia and Manhattan New York, and now living in the Northeast part of Kansas, close to Manhattan Kansas, for the past 8 years, I’ll take Kansas in a heartbeat over living in California or New York …….
I think it's so cool that you give us a look at places many of us will never see. The road less followed is often some of the most amazing sites. Every town has its own unique story, very fascinating.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Love this channel and agree with the commenter above. It's so interesting and fascinating to see all these interesting places vicariously through your travels. I also like the stories you tell about the places and the interesting backstories and historical facts you share. Keep up the great work, thanks again for the awesome and original content
Many of the empty houses are absolutely huge. With utility costs rising higher and higher, added to the cost of maintaining such properties, it's no wonder so many people couldn't afford the upkeep in fading small town America
I went to high school in Parsons because my parents moved there to buy a 1900 victorian home with a good land size. My parents are gone and I didn't think I would ever see Parsons again. But thanks to you I have. :)
As a life long resident of Kansas,Kansas City Kansas to be exact I very much enjoyed this video had a no idea of any of these places even existed. This was awesome!
I love little towns that appear clean, quiet and old architectured well kept Church(s). Kansas appears to have quite a few. It's sooo cool ! Thx for having this Channel Joe & Nic. ♥
i grew up in SE Ks in a town called Coffeyville, known for the Dalton gang raid. This was a fun video to come across, i've been in all those towns you went to
Born and raised in Parsons, Dad worked for the MKT railroad for many years as did a lot of people. When the railroad left and moved to Denison, Texas, Parsons suffered. Glad you are doing a tour of SE Kansas. Sorry the Presbyterian Church is not surviving. I have cousins who still live in Parsons, The Smiths.
Great series of "Road Less Traveled" videos. Since we like that sort of thing there is a great book that is devoted to nearby (a couple counties north) Chase County Kansas. Profound detail on the history, geography, sociology, and significance of one obscure Kansas county. It's called "PrairieErth, A Deep Map" (sic) by William Least Heat Moon. Always made me wonder what fascinating stories that any county anywhere would offer if someone just looked close enough.
Thanks for highlighting my part of the world. There is some captivating history, and some really great folks around here. I live in a little town called Caney, about 20 minutes west of Coffeyville, on the Oklahoma state line.
I was an environmental consultant way back and I did the math once.....Basically over 98% of our productivity is squandered by our government. And not by taxes, but mostly redundant regulation. That means we burn 50x more oil than we have to....in order to save the environment. And we are all 50x poorer than we should be. I calculated this by looking at our energy availability per person (I used "Calories" [kilocalories] to make it easier]) vs . Basically the fact that we are working more than an hour a week today despite having over 300x the energy availability to a person back then is what proves it.... The avg. 40 hour work week STILL required for the basics today would only add up if people were working avg. 120,000 hours per week back then....not 60.
We love your videos... One thought for you... you give a lot of interesting statistics but one other one to provide... what drives the economy... where are people employed?
@Lord Spoda Thanks... as an example... my son and I visited a town here in NJ called Bivalve, NJ. It was a real boomtown as, you guessed it, the oyster capital of the east coast. In the 50's it was hit by a blight that killed much of the oysters. The business and the town collapsed. When visiting their small museum, I asked... "So what drives the economy here, where do people work?" The answer... "There are a few prisons around here." This is why I brought this up. Some of the towns you visit are shrinking, so I wondered... like Bivalve... the people that still live in these towns... where do they work. Did the companies or industries that employed the residents move or close? Anyway, sorry if I rambled a bit there. Keep up the great job you're doing. We look forward to all your new videos
Picher, Ok has a fascinating history ! I love Route 66. The preserved gas stations are really cool. Also loved Galena and Parsons. The church in Parsons was spectacular. Thank you for a great video!
My husband did two road trips not long ago, traveling the entire length of Route 66. So many cool things to see. He's got an eye for odd things others would overlook, and one place he visited, somewhere in AZ or NM, was an abandoned prison, where he photographed all kinds of drawings on cell walls. One of the tourist traps on 66 in Missouri is Uranus. It's essentially a lot of weird sci-fi kitsch coupled with a running pre-adolescent gag. It's not too far from Lake of the Ozarks.
If you do a google street view, you can see some decent well kept up households. I could only imagine how devesting it was for these people to be forced out of their homes
I love watching your videos with my son. I'm always asking him "hey did he upload yet?" Or he'll come to me and say "He uploaded!" Good times, keep on driving!👍
I grew up 3 miles away from Picher in Commerce ok (home town of Mickey Mantle). Many of my family members worked those mines until they closed in the early 70s. Most of the town of Picher is undermined several street have collapsed.
Oh, my goodness! I am a Kansas girl, moved away in childhood, and visit my roots yearly. You gave me a wonderful glimpse of places I have never been! Thank ypu so much!
My daddy grew up just outside Baxter Springs and went to high school in Columbus. He was one of 10 siblings. The older ones grew up in Joplin and had a nice house with electricity and running water for a time, but Grandma didn't like the "big city." She put her foot down, Grandpa quit working the mines, and off the family went to scratching out a living in Baxter Springs, and life with no bathroom and a 2-seater outhouse. That thing always scared the liver out of me. How they raised a family in the Depression in that tiny 1 bedroom house with a tiny kitchen and sitting room blows my mind. With all the nearby mining activities, sulfur got into the well sometime in the 30's I think, but my grandparents still used it for everything and remained there until they died in the 1970's. I can still taste the green beans cooked in that sulfur water. Yikes! Seems I've heard that the Shawnee Tribe has been buying back the land in and around Picher and taking on a lot of the pollution remediation. They're also handling security and slowly pulling down remaining dangerous structures as money allows. It's quite a vision they have that will likely take generations, but will no doubt be speedier than the US Federal Government.
My Dad grew up in Carona. Had not electricity or running water and a coal stove....also a cistern for water. Every summer he would put a new catfish into the cistern to eat the wigigletails. My Great Uncle JImmy would call the water soup as they would have to strain the water before they could dring it. Later, my grandparents moved to Scammon so they could have running water and electricity. I do remember the rotten egg smell of the water when we visited them in the 50-70s. I'm planned a trip this May to Scammon to see the old house and then to Hosey Hill Cemetery to lay flowers on my family's.graves.
I love little towns like Baxter and Galena. Having areas where we can preserve the past and have it on display in the present, reminding the future to respect and honor those who started the whole thing. Our history is so important.
Great Video!!! The murals on the Old Poolhall in Galena, Ks. = Mtn. Dew / those murals I've been told are very old maybe 50 years but due to the way the bldg sits the weather hasn't been able to decay & fade it like most murals that age. I live in the bldg. across the street & if you ever get this way again feel free to stop by & I can show you so much more in Galena that will make it worth the trip. Blessings 2U and Ur's
Cool, thank you for that. You can tell the Mountain Dew mural is very old because of the design. Fascinating little town, though. Lots of great, campy Americana there - my favorite thing to see.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip so much more to see here like the Old Court House that was also the Fire Station and Jail, the Museum is actually very interesting with many displays & even a few oddities, Story's of ghosts and hauntings are plentiful. The nature center at the City Park & the Cave would be an interesting video. So again I say if you get this way & have time contact me & I will arrange for a complete tour.
I went to the Wizard of Oz site in Liberal Kansas and enjoyed that except that it was in the wind path of a slaughter house. I will try the one you visited on my next trip to Kansas in the spring.
I grew up in a mining town and though the mines were abandoned by then, the waste remained. We always climbed up on the chat which we called slag piles. It's sad that a town was wiped out like that. Mining towns have such rich histories as they attracted so many ethnicities.
I was raised in Kansas about 5 miles north and west of Picher,Oklahoma. We used to go ride 3 wheelers on the chat piles back in the late 80’s/early 90’s. It was a blast. I work in Baxter and live in Columbus.
I grew up in McCune. Many of my best friends were from Weir. Parsons was where we went when needed to “go to town”. I haven’t been home in a few years now. Thanks for this journey. Brought back a lot memories.
I stumbled across this video and oh the memories it has brought back… I had family and friends in all of those towns many years ago and had visited them quite often…. Thank you for a trip down memory lane!!
My grandparents lived in Joplin, so, naturally, I grew up riding around this area. Thanks for the look back. You know, Mickey Mantle grew up near Picher, in Quapaw and attended Commerce, OK High School.
Of all the cars trips I have seen you take, besides Dodge City, I so wish I could have been in the car with you. Mentioned before that I am from Larned, Kansas near Dodge City. My family had a ranching and cattle corporation. My twin and I were Tri Delts at University of Kansas. We had a sorority sister from Galena, Baxter Springs and Parsons. You made me so happy today on this trip! Thank you so much! Off to Topeka next? My uncle was a Senator there for 17 years. Bob Dole used to come to dinner parties at my house is Larned. Thank you, thank you!!
You are in my neck of the woods!!!! ❤ grew up in Picher and live a stones throw away now in SE KS! The homes still standing in Picher were owned by the government. They were low income housing. They use them now for K9 training or so I heard. The Quapaw Tribe bought all of that area including the school. I love seeing this!
Maybe you look into finding the mayors or older residents in these towns and interning them briefly about the history. It might add a little “color” to the video. You could spend a little more time on each town and not cover so many in each video. I really enjoy you videos - Mattar was great!
Most of the buildings were not torn down as told in the video, but were destroyed by a tornado. Luckily it happened after much of the town had already been evacuated. My wife had family that lived there. Her uncles house was totally gone, nothing left but the concrete foundation. Excellent video.
Fun fact no one mentions. They took that chat and dumped it along railroads instead of gravel for over a half century. They scattered that chat all across Kansas, OK, Mo and AR. People, myself included climbed those piles, slid down them, people ran 3 wheeler's, 4 wheeler's, 4X4's, quads and dune buggies on them for over a half a century.
Fun Fact: There are approximately 1,000 billboards in Kansas. 900 say "Jesus Believes in You". Thanks, Invisible Guy. I drive thru Kansas twice a year, so I know this sort of thing. 😎
You need to check out my town in Kansas if you love history. Fort Scott Ks has the very first National Cemetery and we still have a Civil War Fort. Also Gordon Parks is from my town and shot the Learning Tree here.
Problem with most of those small towns is no hospital service, no lumber company, no super market, no clothing stores, no---no---no---- So you are doomed to a lot of driving to the nearest large city to get what you need. And if you have a fire, well.....
If you come back through Parsons, you missed quite a few things. Across the street from the Presbyterian Church is the old Carnegie Library. Supplanted in the mid 70's as the municipal library, it is still used on occasion as a cultural and arts center. On the other side of town, St Patricks Catholic Church is undergoing a major roof repair and renovation. The movie Kodachrome was about a famous photographer, played by Ed Harris trying to get to Dwayne's Photo in Parsons to get his last rolls of Kodachrome film developed (Dwayne's was the last lab to process Kodachrome). Sadly, the film didn't even send a second unit to shoot in Parsons. In Chetopa, if you had driven just a little farther out Maple, you would have come to the Neosho River, a very popular fishing spot in the summer.
During Urban Renewal the downtown streets in Parsons were mostly all closed to vehicle traffic. Urban Renewal was intended to help downtowns compete with strip malls and indoor shopping malls, and that's how they did it in Parsons. We quite literally never went downtown in Parsons, even though we were over there occasionally. Eventually they realized that had been a mistake and reopened the streets. Last summer the UP 4014 "Big Boy" steam locomotive made a stop in Parsons. We drove down to see it. We'd seen it when it was parked at Union Station in Kansas City the year before, but hadn't been able to see it run. Up at the intersection of highways 59 and 400, there's an interesting park with some limestone carvings. One is a giant head, and the other is the back of a turtle just poking out of the ground. They have something to do with Native American legends, I think.
@@revsharkie I have video of the Big Boy pulling out of town. I shot it at the Appleton Ave crossing. I call the big giant head statue the Easter Island head. Out at the landfill, the remains of the Plaza awnings are piled up. When I lived in Denison, Texas (the other end of the KATY line), they tried that pedestrian Plaza, it lasted a few years before they realized how bad of an idea it was.
@@bobcole612 Somebody took the pillars from the awnings they put up in Coffeyville to a spot between there and Independence, and built a house or something around them.
My grandparents were longtime residents of Parsons, both having been born near Mound. My dad was born there in 1919. He and my grandfather planted trees all over the property they had which was located at 3000 Thornton, an address that no longer exists because it later became the site of the high school. Almost all of those trees were wiped out in the 2000 tornado. I had visited in 1998 and located the farmhouse they had moved to in the 1950s out near Lake Neosho (If I remember that name correctly.) When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s we visited every summer. We drove through last summer (2022) and located my grandparents gravesite and stayed in a local motel. It’s a nice town but definitely different that the pre-tornado town I remembered.
Carneiro KS is an almost ghost town - population of about 5 - about 30 miles west of Salina. Not much left there - Mushroom Rock State Park, most of the town is gone.
I took a solo road trip out west from Arkansas a handful of years ago. Forbade myself from using any interstate highways. And took US and State highways through south central and southwest Kansas. I realize these area are a bit different from southeast Kansas. The way I felt out there traveling through these towns was unlike the feeling I’ve had anywhere else. Just vast openness and a sense of ease in the landscape and people. Everything slowed down bathed in the last hours of golden summer sunlight. I’ve herd multiple friends and acquaintances take similar routes and call it boring, but that’s nonsense. You have to approach it with a different mindset and you see real beauty and tranquility out there.
Parsons has a Jr College and a state hospital and training center. That one neat building is a church. The narrowness of the Rainbow Bridge is about the width of almost all US 66 back in the old days, outside of cities. lots of rural areas, you can still see where around World War II, highways were rebuilt 100 feet or so from the original road. Many times to straighten a bad curve. Chetopa was home to Chetopa Twill Pants. A type of kakckis. H D Lee bought them. Later closed the factory. Best building & home architecture is Atchison.
You were close to Oswego. In that town they have a mansion that was bought at the World's Fair. They shipped it piece by piece, but assembled it backwards.
3.29 for gas is GOOD! Thanks for the ride! Ya gotta love them old homes, and wonder how they did that so easily back then when to build something like those would cost millions in this day.
Don't want to get too political here, but a big part of the problem in Coffeyville is that they won't stop re-fighting old battles. There are people on the Facebook pages still fighting over Urban Renewal and Memorial Hall, and for years you couldn't get a school bond issue passed because folks were still mad that they didn't match the bricks to the old building when they built the new gym. They COULDN'T match them, because the original bricks were from the local brick plants, which were closed by the time the new gym went in.
I moved years ago ago.. My uncle was chief of police.. And my aunt was a city commissioner...... I grew up on the Eastside.. Everything I remember. Every landmark is gone.... As far as I van concerned Coffeyville is just as dead as my family and friends laying in Restlawn
@@phillipivy9780 I think I vaguely remember him. My grandpa owned Kwik Stop, where they made fried chicken that was so good KFC couldn't get a foothold there as long as Kwik Stop was in operation. So many people would come get buckets of Kwik Chick or salads from the deli for church dinners, and hastily dump them into their own serving dishes in an attempt to make them appear homemade. Nobody was fooled, of course, because nearly everyone had done the same thing at some time or other!
Very familiar with this area and used to drive through Picher once in a while on my way from KC to Tulsa. It is an interesting and empty part of the state, but a fun drive..
Have you noticed that the current value of homes according to the real estate industry is always substantially higher than the most recent census valuation? Who, other than the residents, potentially benefit from this statistic? Simple. REALTORS. I frankly would not put any trust in those numbers. Dying towns with a hot real estate market should give anyone pause. Just doesn't seem plausible to me.
I use to travel the back roads some years back on my motorcycle... I loved going through the small towns. So small towns were not to happy having a biker passing through their tow... LOL...
This is one of my favorite areas. The Joplin area is one of the most affordable in America. I live in Texas and have been playing a trip for years but haven't been able to afford it. As John said, this video is quite valuable to me.
Yet another Lord Spoda video showing us the America that no one else in the world (and few Americans) ever sees. This is why I love this channel. I lived in South Carolina from ages 11-25, and South Carolina has plenty of neglected and even abandoned small towns and rural areas. Any chance you'll be heading that way anytime soon?
We will be heading to South Carolina within the next 3 months, Janelle! I will be exploring small towns there and we will be visiting the capital in Columbia. We're really looking forward to it! I'm a big fan of South Carolina. :)
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Should be a great trip. I lived in Charleston, which is a great city, but comparing Charleston to the rest of South Carolina is a bit like like comparing Austin to the rest of Texas.
If you’re still in Kansas you should check out Ottawa, we’ve got a great history with a old depot museum about the history of Ottawa and Kansas in general. We have an old coca-Cola bottling house, and we have the oldest cinema in America (proven)
Terrific series of vids . Don't need to spend thousands of dollars exploring the many interesting small towns when I can view from the comfort of my sofa on my 60 in screen
I just subscribed to your channel. I find all the places you have shown us to be fascinating! I've always wanted to explore these small towns that have so much history. Thank you for taking us along!
It is eerie driving through Pitcher. The Rascal Flats guys are from there. I would go by there when l went to Kansas City. I was there when there was people and when there were none.
"your going the wrong way...! (Oh...he's drunk! How would he know where we're going...! lol) Darn...! I was hoping you would come up to where I live, in Pittsburg, Kansas! Very interesting stuff that you presented in regards to the small towns I am near. Thank you!
Great video! I love watching your videos of towns off the beaten path. I live in SE Kansas and it's a pleasure to see my neck of the woods in your videos. Although you didn't get to my hometown of Fredonia, which holds its own personal charm and history, I know the surrounding towns seen here on your video. A couple great towns to visit next time is Coffeyville and Cherryvale. Coffeyville holds a lot of history with the Dalton Gang and they even do a reenactment of the Dalton Gang's Raid around October 5th. Another cool site in Coffeyville is the Brown Mansion. Not too far from Coffeyville is Cherryvale, the home of Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz from "I Love Lucy"). Then just a little east of Cherryvale is the site of the Bloody Benders. Nothing is left of the Bender home, but I believe there is still a historical marker up near the site.
Little small towns throughout parts of Kansas are some of the best places to get some good hamburgers and french fries as well as a quick glimpse into the past of the ones wild and crazy Kansas yes outlaws roam freely and Kansas was a stopping point for a lot of people going to California and other places I have yet to finish all of Kansas but there's a lot of to do places on my list and I live here in Kansas
