Melvern

We visited Melvern about five years ago, but we never actually went into the town. Myrick had a cross country meet at Melvern Lake, so we decided to drive into town and explore a bit while we were there.

It's a good-sized little town, with a riverfront trail, a high school (go Trojans!), a park with an old railroad car near an old railroad bridge, another park downtown, and more! Many of the homes are well-kept, though some have overgrown yards and could use a bit of work. 

After the meet, we stopped at the Blue Canoe Grill, Pub, and Patio for dinner, and we had a very pleasant time.

Agency

When we put Agency into Google Maps, it directed us down a gravel road. But when the gravel stopped, so did we, thanks to our regrettable experience trying to get to Fidelity through a mudhole. 

Zed, Matt, and I walked about half a mile further, down an unmaintained dirt road lined by haybales, sunflowers, and barbed wire fences. We got as close as we could to where the GPS said Agency should be, and seeing no sign of human civilization, raced back to the van. (Matt won, but I just barely edged out Zed on the homestretch.) 

Quenemo

To get to Quenemo, we drove down a gravel road, over muddy, tree-lined creeks, and through fields of soybeans and sunflowers. Along the road, we saw the Quenemo Quarry.

The town has gravel roads, older homes, an elementary school, and a post office. We saw a guy riding down the street on his lawnmower. 

There are also a number of shuttered businesses, as well as the Oak Hill Cemetery.

Michigan Valley

This town is near Pomona Lake. We saw a helicopter hovering near the lake as we crossed over the dam. On the opposite side of the road from the lake, we saw farmland, trees, and gently rolling hills.

Michigan Valley has a community church. We also saw some ranchland, Corwine Farms, and fields full of corn, soybeans, and hay. There are a lot of old buildings around the town, and a few of the yards have old cars and construction equipment in them. The yards were trimmed, but not too fancy. The gravel roads around town reminded us that we were still in the country, even in the middle of town. 

Vassar

Vassar's cemetery dates back to 1885. It's a town with a lot of nice homes and a beautiful old rock wall. A lot of yards had cute footbridges, as did the city park. Most of the homes and yards are well maintained. Most of the streets are gravel, though Topeka and Main are paved.

The town has a walking trail, a community center, and a park and picnic pavilion. There's also a flea market east of town. We were amused to see that many of the road names were the same as we see in Topeka: Croco, Topeka, and so forth. 

Around the town, we noticed many fields of drying corn.

Melvern

Osage City

 Osage City was pretty large and contained lots of businesses and things to do. It was sprawling; everything was spread over a pretty wide area. We played in Lincoln Park, where the boys especially enjoyed an old retired tank.

We decided to have dinner at Marilynn's Place at 12th and Laing. It's a clean, friendly local establishment with burgers and fries, steak and potatoes, and many types of fresh-made pie. They also had several salad options. It was a good meal; we'd eat there again.

It was a great way to end a fun (and unseasonably warm) January day. We headed home full of satisfying home cooking and even more satisfying memories of another great day exploring Kansas.

Barclay

Barclay is now a ghost town. There wasn't a lot around, but we did see an aged cemetery and some farms. There was also a large old building with "Barclay" etched near the top of its stone wall. (It looks like this was the old high school.) Not much else was here.

Here's an article on the history and remnants of Barclay.

Arvonia

Arvonia is a cute little village with historic buildings and nice homes ranging from modest to imposing. The town itself is pretty much gone, but there is a thriving historical society. It has a Welsh background, according to the signage there. There were also a church, a schoolhouse, a well, and a cemetery: All very old and well-preserved. 

We saw a fun little house with a sign proclaiming it to be the Creative Cottage. I'm not sure what it is or why it's there, and Googling didn't help me solve that mystery. Kind of makes you wonder...

At some point in the future, it would be fun to see if there are tours of the area.

Ridgeton

Ridgeton doesn't seem to exist anymore. At any rate, we couldn't find it, except for a single sign near the railroad track. We crossed over that track three or four times, driving along those country roads and trying to find any other trace of it. Alas, we had no success.

It seems that Ridgeton is another example of a town that once existed because of the railroads, but slowly petered out of existence, one family at a time. The big difference is that many other such towns have grain elevators, so at least some physical reminder remains.

I did find a web site that mentions the railroad location, as well as this YouTube video showing the actual train journey between Melvern and Ridgeton.

Much to our amusement, the roads here are laid out much as they are in Topeka, complete with the same names. It was funny to be driving around looking for a ghost town somewhere between Wanamaker and Urish.

One thing we did come away with was an extremely filthy van. The rains of the past few days had left the dirt roads pretty muddy in places.

Olivet

Olivet is a small town near Pomona Lake. (According to its Facebook page, there are about 64 residents.)

We saw a couple of storage facilities where folks were keeping their boats in the off-season, an old church with an outhouse, a community center, and a fire station. It was a pretty countrified town, and a few of the yards were packed with the skeletons of old cars and machines.

Perhaps my favorite part of the town was an amazing deer blind mounted atop a truck that had been painted olive green. It was a true testament to ingenuity and resourcefulness.

We did get out to see the train pass by, but that was about all we could find to do here. Also, Myrick did a great job of taking our picture in front of the outhouse behind the church!

Lyndon

Lyndon is a small town just south of the Pomona Lake Project. We saw many homes there -- some old, some new. Matt loved that the water tower had a tiger's paw instead of an "O."

The town has a clear agricultural heritage; it is surrounded by wheat fields and cow pastures, and many yards have chickens in them. The houses were neatly painted and the yards were well-kept.

Downtown Lyndon is charming and well-populated with businesses, a county courthouse, and a city hall.

The kids and I took advantage of the unseasonably warm January afternoon to play in the park while Mom checked out a boutique and a consignment sale down the street.

The park is clean and well-maintained, though the dirt driveway was a bit muddy because of recently melted snow. At the edge of the park, there's a territorial-era house (the Wells P. Bailey House). When Myrick heard that Laura and Mary Ingalls probably lived in a home like this one, he insisted on running around it and howling like a wolf to terrorize its occupants. I can only hope they were not home, or they surely would have been frightened out of their wits.

Baby Madelynne and I took to the dead brown turf on a little hillside -- I to enjoy the sun and she to master the art of grass-crawling.

It was as perfect a January day as one could hope for. The sun's insistent warmth was tempered by the chill of the earth under my elbow, as well as a light breeze. It smelled of damp prairie earth and dead grass. In the bare trees, chickadees, sparrows, and cardinals sang sweet celebratory songs about spring's imminent return.

Other than having to occasionally fend off a six-month-old's attempts to eat my notebook, I hadn't a care. But then Myrick needed the restroom, so I got up and resumed my role as responsible parent.

Overbrook

Overbrook has a really, REALLY big grain elevator! It also has quiet neighborhoods and a historic downtown. It struck us as a place where people work and live in harmony with the past.

One of our favorite sights in this town was a delightful gazebo beside a pond near Brookside Retirement Community. It looks like a nice, restful place for residents to live out their days.

Burlingame

Burlingame, like Scranton, was a delightful surprise. The downtown was well-maintained, and several fun local shops were still open toward the end of the day on Saturday.

Magen posed in front of the Burlingame Dance Spot building (another location of the Scranton Dance Spot).

Then, while she fed the wee one, I took the two older boys to check out Chicken Coop Antiques across the street. Even though it was almost closing time, the owner was really sweet and let us look around for a bit.

This town was warm, friendly, and inviting. I'd love to visit again in the morning when more shops are open and we'll have time to enjoy lunch at the cafe.

Scranton

The difference between Carbondale and Scranton was like night and day. While Carbondale's downtown evidenced a mass exodus, Scranton is thriving. It seems like the residents are really good at repurposing old spaces. For instance,  there's a tire and lube shop in an old church. There's even a dance studio in an old storefront shop on the main street!

Scranton has the air of a town with hope and a future. We wish we could have stayed a while there; it looked like they had some fun antique shops and restaurants. We would definitely like to visit again soon, when we have more exploration time.

Carbondale

I was sorry to see so many vacant storefronts in downtown Carbondale. This old coal-mining town was once prosperous because of the railroad. And, as the Iron Horse declined, so did her favorite children. (I have a feeling this is going to be a recurring theme in small-town Kansas.)

One bright spot was the City Park, which was created by the town's Lions Club. The boys had a lot of fun playing on the slide, and they also made some new friends who were long-suffering with the boys' desire to push them on the merry-go-round.

Carbondale still does have some economic life coursing through its veins: It is home to a large retirement community, along with the clinic and pharmacy that serve the retirees. Hopefully, this will help the town to survive and make a new future for itself in northeast Kansas.

Update, 10/4/2014:
As we returned home through Carbondale today, we saw a hardened perpetrator evading arrest in front of us. The police cruiser flashed its lights as an officer exited the passenger side to pursue the suspect on foot. She was soon outrun, however, and her partner picked her up to resume the chase in the vehicle. 

Ultimately, the chase ended outside of a small home, where the perp, a sandy-colored terrier, fled inside. The officers let her go, presumably because they had a more pressing call elsewhere on the mean streets of Carbondale...