Ghost Towns in Missouri

Arrow Rock

Saline County • Est. 1808

Arrow Rock was the gateway to the Santa Fe Trail—where William Becknell crossed in 1821 to open the West. The 1834 J. Huston Tavern still serves food ...

Old Iron Town

Iron County • Est. 1923 (recreation)

Old Iron Town was so important to Missouri's iron industry that the county was named for it. Charcoal iron furnaces operated here before and after the...

Rush

Marion County • Est. 1870s

Rush was a zinc mining boomtown on the Buffalo River. At its peak, 300 people worked the mines and lived in company housing. When zinc prices crashed,...

Times Beach

St. Louis County • Est. 1925

Times Beach was a Route 66 vacation community until 1982, when the EPA discovered deadly dioxin levels 300 times above safe limits. The contamination ...