Using his newly acquired acreage as an unlikely canvas, Davis grew his collection. Unwilling to let his own story vanish into thin air, Davis began moving some of these marooned structures to his farm and restoring them-some from Red Oak, some from other forgotten nearby towns. Many former outposts along Route 66 had been abandoned while he was away, their buildings withering and histories fading into the cornfields.

And Red Oak wasn't the only ghost town he came across.

When he stopped by his childhood neighborhood to reminisce, he found it deserted, a victim of widespread 20th-century migration to larger urban centers. He and his first wife bought a rundown farm near town for $18,000 with no expectations as to what would happen next.ĭavis was raised in the small community of Red Oak, Missouri, about 20 miles east of the couple's new farm. In 1974, artist Lowell Davis left his big-city job in Dallas to return to the bucolic southwestern Missouri countryside where he was raised. Don't worry, this will all make sense in a moment. It could be succinctly dubbed an outdoor ghost town museum. It's an old-fashioned rural settlement, an art installation, and a roadside attraction all at once. Red Oak II sits northeast of Carthage, and describing it accurately requires effort. It's barely inhabited, positioned along Route 66, and even houses its own cemetery-itself a fossil of another era-but it was never exactly abandoned. The most awe-inspiring ghost town in Missouri isn't a ghost town at all.

Phenix missouri ghost town