Ghost Towns of Route 66 by Jim Hinckley Read Free Book Online Page A

1920s, the discovery of oil in the area and burgeoning Route 66 traffic kicked growth into high gear. By 1940, there were six churches, a population of more than 1,500, and more than fifty businesses. McLean was also an economically diverse community with petroleum, agriculture, and Route 66–oriented businesses, as well as a factory (now the Devil’s Rope/Old Route 66 Museum) that produced ladies’ undergarments.
    How many years has it been since the road-weary trucker stopped for coffee, pie, and a friendly smile at the café in Alanreed?
    During World War II, the economy received an additional boost from a military facility constructed north of town. The history of this facility, utilized as a POW camp for German mariners, is preserved at the Devil’s Rope/Old Route 66 Museum.
    Several factors sent McLean into the slow-motion downward spiral experienced by so many Route 66 communities: drought, the emergence of Pampa as the county’s industrial center, the collapse of the oil industry, and, of course, the bypass of Route 66. Today, the resurgent interest in Route 66 has stemmed the decline and has served as a catalyst for the resurrection of McLean’s remaining roadside relics, including the recently refurbished Phillips 66 station that dates to 1930 and the Cactus Inn Motel.
    Less than a dozen miles to the west lies the old town of Alanreed, another victim of changing times. As of 2001, the population hovered at fifty residents.
    The town site in the basin of McClellan Creek six miles north of present-day Alanreed, selected in 1881, was centrally located on the busy stage and freight road that connected Mobeetie to Clarendon. Oddly enough, it would be three years before the Clarendon Land & Cattle Company began selling lots.
    When surveys in 1900 made it apparent that the Choctaw, Oklahoma, & Texas Railroad would miss the little community, the platting of a new community commenced. The following year, the school opened, and the year after this, the post office transferred to the new location.
    By 1904, Alanreed was the largest community in Gray County, and by the mid-teens, all indications were that this town was a rising star. The community had a bank, a hotel, a depot, churches, saloons, grocery and hardware stores, and a livery stable and blacksmith shop.
    In the early 1920s, oil replaced water-melons as the area’s primary export, and for a brief moment, there was a booming surge that pushed the population to an estimated five hundred in 1927. As with most towns along Route 66 in the eastern half of the Texas Panhandle, the downward slide of Alanreed was a slow one.
    In 1947, the population had slipped to three hundred people, and there were eleven businesses, mostly service related, along Route 66. Thirty years later, there were an estimated sixty residents and no operating businesses.

    Maintained by the Texas Historic Route 66 Association, the restored Bradley Kiser 66 Super Service Station, circa 1930, is the crown jewel of Alanreed.
    The reawakening interest in Route 66 has kept the faintest spark of life glowing, however. Perhaps the most notable manifestation of this is the preservation of the 66 Super Service Station, dating to circa 1930.
    Less than a dozen miles west of Alanreed are the forlorn remnants of Jericho, a small community with origins dating to 1902 and the establishment of a station for the Chicago, Rock Island & Gulf Railway. Ironically, traffic on Route 66 made the dark days of the Great Depression the glory days for Jericho.
    At its peak during the early 1930s, the town boasted three stores, a grain elevator, a tourist court, a garage, and a filling station. But the realignment of the highway and the changing face of agriculture in the Panhandle fueled the town’s demise. By 1955, the population no longer was sufficient to warrant a post office.
    The original alignment of Route 66 from Jericho to Groom is notorious in the annals of the highway’s history.