Many American towns thrived for a moment. Now, cracked streets & empty buildings are the only things left behind, thanks to issues like floods or chemical spills. Yet these ghost towns have some rather incredible backstories. Here are ten of them. Which one would you like to walk through?
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Picher, Oklahoma
This town used to churn out lead & zinc for the war effort. However, decades of mining poisoned the ground & the water, while mountains of leftover chat dusted everything gray. A tornado ripped through in 2008 and took what was left. After that, the government bought everyone out & shut the place down for good, though you can still visit it.
St. Thomas, Nevada
People in St. Thomas watched the water rise after the Hoover Dam was built and decided to leave. They packed up their homes & rowed away as the town slipped under Lake Mead. These days, when the lake drops during long droughts, you walk along the cracked foundations that were once underwater. It’s honestly quite eerie but strangely calm, almost like time just stopped.
Rhyolite, Nevada
Rhyolite was a town that sprang up overnight during a short-lived gold rush. In just a few years, it had a stock exchange & a bank, as well as a house made entirely out of glass bottles. But the gold disappeared, as it did in most towns. The investors bailed, and by 1916, it was a ghost town, with the ruins left baking in Death Valley’s harsh sun.
Kennecott, Alaska
You’ll find Kennecott next to a glacier in Alaska & it was once one of the richest copper operations in America. Workers lived among mountains of ore and snow until the last train left in 1938. Today, the red mill buildings are still on the slope. They’re preserved inside Wrangell–St. Elias National Park as one of the remnants of the industrial age.
Cahawba, Alabama
Cahawba was Alabama’s first capital, and it sat right between two rivers. That turned out to be a terrible idea. Floods kept soaking the streets, leading to the government eventually picking up & moving the capital. Sadly, the town never really bounced back. All that remains of this historic site are old bricks & grave markers, along with a few tree-lined streets.
Thurmond, West Virginia
In the past, Thurmond was the place where trains met coal & cash, and its downtown was essentially a straight line of hotels and depots. These were jammed between tracks & the New River Gorge cliffs. However, as rail traffic slowed down, everyone left, and then the National Park Service moved in during the ’90s to clean it up.
Bannack, Montana
Gold struck practically everywhere in the 1860s. Bannack was no exception. In 1862, the town exploded into life with saloons & stores, becoming Montana’s first capital before the boom shifted elsewhere. There are about 50 old wooden buildings on the dirt road now that park rangers keep standing. It’s just enough so that you can imagine the noise the town once had.
Gilman, Colorado
Gilman was once on a high cliff above the Eagle River, and it was built by a mining company that owned everything. However, acid mine drainage started seeping out in the 1980s. The EPA stepped in and evacuated the whole town in 1984. You can still see the houses & school they left behind, and even the bar is still there.
Times Beach, Missouri
During the ’70s, Times Beach sprayed oil on the dirt roads to keep the dust down. But then it emerged that the oil was mixed with dioxin, a toxic chemical left from waste oil collection. Flooding spread the contamination years later. As such, the EPA stepped in & bought out the entire town before bulldozing what was left, and it’s now part of Route 66 State Park.
Glenrio, Texas/New Mexico
Glenrio is right on the state line between Texas & New Mexico. For decades, it was a pit stop for travelers, as you could get gas & food, stay at a motel, and even visit a bar that only operated on one side of the border due to liquor laws. But Interstate 40 came through in the mid-’70s and sadly skipped the town entirely, so all that remains are the old buildings.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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