Vermillion

Halfway between Vliets and Vermillion, we saw some cows hanging out around an old abandoned house. We didn't see any cows once we got into Vermillion, though. 

What we did see:

• Bright red (vermillion!) street signs
• Many older houses, most very well maintained
• An old church converted to a community center
• A yard full of classic cars in various states of repair
• A moose silhouette
• Many backyard cellars with storm shelters
• A bar named "Dutch's Place" with a Sinclair dinosaur out front
• The dinosaur was very popular with us
• A library and city hall near an old train depot
• The library has free wifi 

There's still some commerce and community around here, but the main street is pretty dead, in terms of shops.

In the early 1900s, Vermillion was very modern, according to this interesting history on the Legends of Kansas. They had electric lights by 1914, and they built a modern brick high school and city hall around 1903-04. The population peaked around 300 in 1910, and has since declined to around 100.

Vliets

Today, Vliets is mostly a few grain elevators surrounded by pretty little houses. There's also a monument to Vliets School, where Magen's grandpa attended when he was a boy.

But Vliets wasn't always this small, as I learned from this excellent history of the town. Back in 1910, it had over 300 people, as well as a bank, restaurant, barber shop, and optician.

Waterville

Waterville is a historic town that holds a lot of memories for me. When I was a young boy, we always stopped at the Route 77 Corner Store on our way to Grandma's house in Belleville. The ostensible purpose for our stop was to use the restroom, but we always left with two bags of candy for the road: butterscotch disks and lemon drops.

I was pleased to see that the place hasn't changed much, and though it took me some time to find them, they still have butterscotch disks and lemon drops for sale.

Waterville has several other things that I'd like to come back and see sometime: A historic hotel and B&B, Idlewild Falls, and the Waterville Opera House.