Greenbush

 

Greenbush is the home of St. Aloysius Church, which legend says was founded by a priest who was caught in a thunderstorm near this site. 

The neighborhood has a history of Catholic piety, as you can see from the grotto of St. Mary that was built by parishioners here. The church has been closed since 1993, but the historical site lives on, a testament to the faith of the Catholic settlers in this part of Kansas. 

In addition to the ruins of the 1902 church and the 1986 church building, this site also has a picnic area, a camp and retreat center, and a sidewalk that takes visitors through the stations of the cross. 

Nearby is the Greenbush Education Service Center, which serves schools throughout southeast Kansas. We also saw a seed company and a fabric store in the neighborhood.

Girard

Girard is the county seat of Crawford County. Out in front of the county courthouse is a nice big lawn, complete with a gazebo and a helicopter on display honoring the town's veterans. 

Downtown are some shops and a bar called "Bender on 7." The town also has a park, a swimming pool, and a lovely sesquicentennial display of decorative quilt squares.

Perhaps surprisingly to those who know Kansas as a solid "Red State" Republican party holdout, Girard used to be a bastion of the Socialist Party, especially from the 1890s through the 1920s. Fred Warren, a citizen of Girard, commissioned Upton Sinclair to write The Jungle, and the notorious Socialist politician Eugene V. Debs lived in the town in the early 1900s. 

 

Beulah

 

Beulah's Main Street is gravel, and there are cattle pens lining it. There are also two churches here: Crossroads Baptist Church and Beulah Community Church. In other words, it's a place that's hanging onto its identity, and there are people here who want to keep their community going. The modest homes and quiet gravel roads in this neighborhood underscore that point.

Filler

 Filler didn't have much besides a fire station, a cell tower, a water tower, and a lot of cattle, dirt roads, and fields. We did enjoy seeing a red-tailed hawk swoop down over the winter-dead prairie in search of a tasty snack. Sadly, it seemed that he did not have much success.

Cherokee

 

Just outside of Cherokee, we crossed some dead train tracks, where I found two beautiful ladies posing, so I figured I'd snap their picture before we moved on.

A little further on, we saw some cats crossing the road, whereupon they turned to each other and began to lick one another diligently. "Look, Daddy!" the kids said, "Kissin' kitties!"

Cherokee itself boasts several churches, a cemetery, a downtown area with some thriving shops, a school, a city hall, and a number of small houses (some in good repair, others not so much). 

We were surprised at how busy First Baptist Church was in Cherokee -- It seemed like there were more people in that parking lot than lived in the whole town.

Chicopee

 

After several more sparsely populated places, it was fun to see that Chicopee had a number of nice homes, as well as an Anglican church. The houses got more expensive as we approached the Crawford Country Club (which, come to think of it, may also explain the presence of the Anglican church here). 

The town had a couple of empty stores, as well as a plant nursery. And, of course, a really cute little boy in overalls smiling in front of the church. 

Fleming

 

Another tiny, time-forgotten town, another dead end. This neighborhood, like several others we saw today, was surrounded by woods. In it, we saw our second owl of the day, this one taking off from the ground with a dead mouse in its beak. We also found our second dead end of the day, this one with a quainter sign, but no less dead for all that. 

Klondike

 

Not much is left of Klondike - only a few houses and the skeleton of a service station. From the buildings, it seems like people did live and thrive here, at least for a time. But a service station in the middle of nowhere is a tough business to keep alive, and eventually, it seems that it became too much for Charles Miller, Dealer Owner, to maintain.

Kramer

Kramer is a dead end road near a railroad crossing. There's a towing service nearby. I got out to take a selfie and the family up and abandoned me! It's a good thing it was a dead end road and I could catch them when they doubled back. 

 

Kirkwood

 Kirkwood was a group of houses in the woods. Some of them were really nice homes! We saw a dead skunk on the road, as well as an owl swooping down into the low brush.

This seems like it was probably another of those towns that were created when the railroad first came through and have been in gentle decline ever since.

Atlas

Atlas was a railroad crossing in the midst of cattle ranches and farms. We found some railroad spikes just lying around, and so, of course, they became weapons in the hands of small boys.  

 

Langdon

 

Langdon was just a neighborhood with a cemetery, the Cobb Bros. Lumber Company, cattle in a field, and some farms. There wasn't really even a good place to park for a cemetery selfie.

Opolis

 

Opolis is a small town with modest homes. It's the type of the place where cats cross the road without looking either way. There's a park, a post office, a Bible church, and a flea market that looks like it has seen better days. (Though, really, what flea market ever looks like it's in its heyday?)

Frontenac

Frontenac is a little town that feels like a suburb of Pittsburgh, but still has its own personality. We really liked walking through the Wilderness Park, and we were also charmed by the community burn pile. The town's trashcans are distinctively painted in a yellow-and-red or yellow-and-pink pattern, and they are very proud of their Raiders athletic teams.