Ghost Towns of Route 66 Read Online Free PDF

that gave it vitality. According to George Shirk, an Oklahoma historian, it was also the railroad that indirectly gave the town its name.
    Shirk asserts the name was bestowed by Anton Aires, a Scottish railroad surveyor, as a monument to his daughter, Afton Aires. Moreover, the Afton River in Scotland was the inspiration for the naming of his daughter.
    Growth in Afton was slow but steady. The post office opened in 1886, and by 1900, the population had surpassed six hundred. A decade later, the population had doubled; the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad had constructed a second line through town; and Afton was on the fast track to a very promising future. This trend continued through the teens. By that time, the town supported a large waterworks, a brick and tile plant, a creamery, several mills and grain elevators, two banks, two hotels, and a newspaper.
    For a town heavily dependent on the railroad and agriculture, the post–World War I collapse of wheat, corn, and beef prices was devastating. Between 1920 and 1930, the population dropped by almost 20 percent.

    Association with Route 66 did not ensure prosperity for a community, as evidenced by Narcissa, a town that in 1946 consisted of a combination gas station/grocery store/garage, a school, a grain elevator, and a few dozen homes.
    In 1926, a ray of hope, signed with a shield and two sixes, shone on Afton. Service-related industries—from motels and gas stations to garages and attractions, such as the once legendary Buffalo Ranch—infused the economy with a vitality that lasted for decades. Adding to this new era of prosperity was the completion of the Pensacola Dam in 1940, which created the Lake O’ Cherokees.
    With the suspension of railroad repair in Afton in the late 1930s and the completion of Interstate 44, which left the town isolated on a forgotten stretch of highway, hard times returned to the town. Demolition of the roundhouse and turntable, closure of motels and cafés—all were symptomatic of a town in decline. But it was closure of the iconic Buffalo Ranch in 1997 that provided the clearest indication that Route 66 had been the lifeblood of this historic community.
    Route 66 seems infused with a power to transform those who drive its broken asphalt and truncated alignments. In Afton, this transformation led Laurel and David Kane to purchase a defunct DX service station and give it new life as Afton Station, a time capsule that houses a vast collection of memorabilia and a collection of vintage Packards.
    Afton Station epitomizes the new era of Route 66. As testimony to the passion and hard work of the Kanes, the business was recognized in 2009 as the Route 66 business of the year.

    The empty cabins of the Avon Court Motel in Afton, Oklahoma, stand as silent monuments to the dream of John Foley, who established the facility in 1936.
Jim Hinckley
    From Miami, drive south sixteen miles on U.S. Highway 69. For a one-of-a-kind Route 66 experience, inquire locally about the “Sidewalk Highway,” an original section of Route 66 that was only nine feet wide! Narcissa has the distinction of being the only community on this unique alignment.
    The faded glory of the Rest Haven Motel on the east end of Afton is reflected in its weathered sign stripped of its colorful neon tubing.
    An empty rocking chair and an equally empty street stand in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of Afton a century ago.
    WARWICK
    T HE WELL-WATERED LANDS along Deep Fork River were what led David and Norah Hugh to homestead a farm, in 1891, on the site that would become Warwick. A collective of similar-minded farmers provided ample reason for the establishment of a post office in 1892.
    In the early fall of 1896, the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad purchased a right of way from Hugh. A second right of way was deeded, in 1903, to the Fort Smith & Western Railway Company, and in the same year a town site was platted and lots sold.
    Indicative of