Missouri’s ghost towns carry dark legacies of federal displacement and environmental catastrophe. Times Beach became a dioxin-contaminated Superfund site after contaminated oil was sprayed on roads from 1971–1976, forcing complete evacuation by 1985. Hamburg, Howell, and Toonerville vanished in 1941 when the military seized 17,232 acres for Weldon Spring Ordnance Works, giving 576 residents just 45 days’ notice before burning their homes. These weren’t gradual abandonments—they’re stories of forced exile, toxic contamination, and communities erased overnight. The full accounts reveal Missouri’s most haunting chapters.
Key Takeaways
- Times Beach was evacuated in 1985 due to dioxin contamination and is now Route 66 State Park with lingering stories.
- Hamburg, Howell, and Toonville vanished in 1941 for munitions manufacturing, leaving only ghost stories and buried foundations.
- Phenix in Greene County disappeared after 1929’s economic crash, with its quarry closure erasing all historic architecture completely.
- Civil War displacement reduced populations from 3,000 to 300 by 1865 through forced evacuations and guerrilla warfare destruction.
- Weldon Spring’s nuclear site contains 1.5 million cubic yards of radioactive waste entombed for 1,000 years with interpretive trails.
Times Beach: Dioxin Disaster Turned Federal Superfund Site
What began as a modest resort getaway for St. Louis residents in 1925, Times Beach transformed into America’s largest civilian dioxin exposure site.
Between 1971 and 1976, you’d have witnessed waste hauler Russell Bliss spraying roads with oil contaminated by toxic chemicals from NEPACCO’s Agent Orange production.
This industrial pollution caused immediate deaths of horses and pets, with contamination reaching 100 parts per billion—vastly exceeding EPA safety standards.
The federal government evacuated the entire town in 1985 and incinerated the contaminated soil to eliminate the toxins. Citizens received compensation through Superfund, marking one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.
The former contaminated site now operates as Route 66 State Park, offering 409 acres of recreational facilities including trails, boat launches, and fishing opportunities along the Meramec River.
Hamburg: Vanished for War Effort at Weldon Spring
In late 1940, you’d have found 576 residents of Hamburg, Howell, and Toonville receiving War Department letters demanding they vacate their homes within 45 days—not for any crime, but because the U.S. Army needed their 17,000 acres to build America’s largest explosives plant.
The communities vanished almost overnight as the Weldon Spring Ordnance Works rose from their foundations, manufacturing TNT and DNT through 1945, followed by uranium processing operations in the 1950s that left behind radioactive raffinate pits and contaminated groundwater. During the Cold War era, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission repurposed the site for uranium processing, transforming the former explosives plant into a nuclear facility. The facility processed raw uranium into yellowcake until 1966, when operations at the Weldon Spring Uranium Feed Mill finally ceased.
Today, you’ll find the Weldon Spring Site Remediation Area (WSSRAP) where Hamburg once stood—a 75-foot engineered disposal mound sealing contaminated materials beneath a white limestone cap designed to contain the legacy of wartime urgency for a millennium.
WWII Ordnance Works Displacement
When the United States entered World War II, the federal government’s desperate need for explosives manufacturing capacity sealed the fate of three small Missouri communities. You’ll find that Hamburg, Howell, and Toonerville vanished almost overnight when the Army acquired 17,232 acres in St. Charles County during 1940.
Groundbreaking began Thanksgiving Day, and Atlas Powder Company soon manufactured TNT and DNT for the war effort. At its peak, the facility employed 5,200 workers in 1943, operating over 1,038 buildings across the massive ordnance works. The historical architecture of these settlements disappeared beneath industrial facilities, while local folklore preserves memories of families forced to relocate within weeks. Approximately 700 citizens relocated from these communities to make way for the wartime ordnance works.
Community Erasure in 1941
The small river settlement of Hamburg met its abrupt end in 1941 when the U.S. government converted 17,000 acres into the Weldon Spring Ordnance Works.
You’ll find nothing remains of this 1833 German immigrant community—the Army systematically burned homes, churches, schools, and businesses after forcing nearly 600 residents out with less than 45 days’ notice.
By July 1941, Hamburg, Howell, and Toonerville were completely erased from St. Charles County’s landscape.
The government transformed generational farms into TNT production facilities, justifying the displacement as wartime necessity.
Today’s urban decay and restricted access fuel ghost stories about the vanished towns.
Some displaced families battled compensation disputes through the Supreme Court, while their former lands became parking lots and munitions infrastructure serving Atlas Powder Company’s war effort. The site later housed a uranium processing facility operated by the Atomic Energy Commission, which contaminated the area for decades after operations ended in 1966. The Missouri Hamburg shared only its name with Germany’s second-largest city, which itself faced systematic destruction during the 1943 Operation Gomorrah firestorm that killed over 42,600 civilians.
WSSRAP Remediation Site Today
After decades of contamination from uranium processing and TNT manufacturing, the Department of Energy assumed custody of the Weldon Spring site in 1985 and established the Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project (WSSRAP) to address the toxic legacy left on Hamburg’s former farmland.
The EPA designated portions as Superfund sites in 1987 and 1989, triggering extensive remediation progress spanning 16 years and involving nearly 5,000 workers at a cost approaching $1 billion.
Remediation progress milestones include:
- Construction of a 41-acre disposal cell containing 1.5 million cubic yards of radiotoxic materials
- Water treatment systems at both the Quarry and Chemical Plant areas
- Completion of all remedial activities by 2001
Today’s site transformation has created a community resource featuring the Weldon Spring Site Interpretive Center, opened in 2002, alongside ongoing groundwater monitoring. The disposal cell was engineered to last 1,000 years, safely isolating contaminated materials from the environment. The site now includes the Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail, providing public access and raising awareness about the location’s radioactive history.
Howell: Farming Community Erased by Military Expansion
You’ll find no trace of Howell today—this thriving Howell County farming community disappeared in 1941 when the U.S. Army forcibly relocated residents to establish Fort Leonard Wood.
Unlike the gradual abandonment that claimed other Missouri settlements, Howell’s erasure was swift and systematic, transforming farmsteads and businesses into military training grounds within months.
The base’s decades-long environmental cleanup efforts continue to unearth remnants of the town buried beneath firing ranges and tank trails, a haunting reminder of the civilian lives displaced by wartime urgency.
Pre-War Settlement Life
Beginning in the early 1800s, settlers carved out prosperous farmsteads along Dardenne Creek, transforming approximately 750 acres of Missouri bottomland into a thriving agricultural community.
Frontier settlement patterns reflected self-sufficient households where you’d find families managing substantial livestock operations—typically a dozen horses and two dozen cattle marked with distinctive ear crops for identification.
Historic land use centered on diversified income streams:
- Crop cultivation and livestock management provided primary subsistence and market income
- Whiskey distillation operations produced approximately 1,400 gallons annually for St. Charles merchants
- Ferry operations and plank road infrastructure connected rural producers directly to St. Louis markets
You’d witness cooperative labor systems where multiple family units worked interconnected parcels, constructing mills, clearing timber, and building the essential infrastructure that sustained independent agricultural operations throughout the mid-19th century.
1941 Forced Relocation
When Brigadier General James Haggin McBride declared martial law across Howell County in July 1861, he issued an ultimatum that shattered the region’s fragile neutrality: Union supporters must either enlist in Confederate forces or abandon their homesteads entirely.
You’ll find that many residents chose exile over betraying their principles, though countless others fought under duress to protect their families.
By 1863, both armies conscripted any remaining able-bodied males, making neutrality impossible. Guerrilla Warfare consumed the countryside as bushwhackers burned Union homes, seized livestock, and threatened death to families fleeing northward.
This systematic Civil War persecution reduced Howell County’s population from over 3,000 residents to fewer than 300 by 1865, erasing entire communities through forced displacement rather than conventional military campaigns.
Environmental Cleanup Legacy
Between 1972 and 1976, waste hauler Russell Bliss unknowingly transformed Times Beach into Missouri’s most contaminated ghost town by spraying a lethal mixture of motor oil and dioxin waste across the community’s 23 miles of unpaved streets.
The industrial pollution from Agent Orange production triggered an unprecedented $200 million cleanup response.
By 1995, you’d witness a temporary incinerator processing 265,354 tons of contaminated materials from 27 eastern Missouri sites.
The remediation established new environmental protection standards:
- EPA demolished and incinerated 800 homes, 300 businesses, and all infrastructure
- Legal challenges determined settling defendants’ responsibilities for demolition, debris disposal, and site restoration
- State agencies assumed long-term management of the burial mound containing Times Beach’s remains
Route 66 State Park now occupies this remediated landscape.
Toonerville: Evacuated for WWII Ordnance Production
In late 1940, families across Toonerville, Howell, and Hamburg opened letters from the U.S. War Department demanding they vacate their homes within 45 days. The government seized 17,000 acres through eminent domain, displacing 576 residents to build the Weldon Spring Ordnance Works.
By mid-1941, demolition crews had erased all historical architecture—homes, churches, and schools vanished within three months.
Within months, centuries of community history disappeared as bulldozers methodically dismantled every structure that had defined these Missouri towns.
What began as a comic strip-named town with a roadside gas station became a massive explosives facility. Atlas Powder Company employed over 5,000 workers across 1,000 buildings, producing 700 million tons of TNT by 1945.
Local folklore now whispers of foundations hidden beneath overgrowth, though little remains of these farming communities. The courts later upheld the seizures, solidifying this chapter in Missouri’s ghost town legacy.
Phenix: Greene County’s Forgotten Settlement
While the federal government forcibly emptied Toonerville for wartime production, Greene County’s Phenix disappeared through quieter economic collapse. You’ll find this former company town between Walnut Grove and Ash Grove, where C.R. Hunt established Phenix Stone and Lime Company in 1888 after railroad workers discovered limestone deposits.
By 1904, it operated Missouri’s largest quarry, producing Napoleon Gray Marble for the State Capitol and New York Stock Exchange.
The company controlled everything—homes, stores, even payment through company script. Over 500 residents lived here at its peak, including young Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde fame.
Phenix’s downfall came swiftly:
- 1929 stock market crash halted production
- WWII claimed quarry equipment for war materials
- Workers’ homes were carted away, erasing historic architecture
The Weldon Spring Ordnance Works Legacy
The U.S. Army’s 1940-1941 acquisition of 17,232 acres in St. Charles County created one of Missouri’s most contaminated ghost towns.
You’ll find this site 30 miles west of St. Louis, where military expansion displaced twenty-seven cemeteries during rapid construction.
Atlas Powder Company’s TNT and DNT production lines operated here from 1941-1945, followed by Mallinckrodt’s uranium processing from 1957-1966.
This industrial history left devastating environmental consequences—nitroaromatic and radioactive contamination earned it Superfund status in 1990.
While most acreage transferred to Missouri for conservation, four raffinate pits and a limestone quarry remain filled with hazardous waste.
Today, you’ll encounter a landscape where government secrecy and environmental damage created an uninhabitable zone near a well field serving 60,000 residents.
Environmental Contamination and Community Displacement
Between 1972 and 1976, waste hauler Russell Bliss sprayed 23 miles of unpaved streets in Times Beach with used motor oil contaminated with dioxin—a toxic chemical generated from nearby IPC company’s production of Agent Orange and hexachlorophene.
This industrial pollution created Missouri’s worst environmental disaster. When EPA testing in December 1982 revealed dioxin levels up to 0.3 ppm along roads, officials ordered complete evacuation of over 2,000 residents in early 1983.
Environmental Justice Failures:
- CDC discovered over 30 ppm dioxin at related sites in 1974, yet warnings came too late.
- Meramec River flooding spread contamination into homes before residents knew the danger.
- Families lost everything, advised to leave possessions behind due to widespread toxicity.
The $200 million cleanup incinerated 37,234 tons, erasing the town entirely by 1997.
Visiting Missouri’s Abandoned Town Sites Today
Today, several of Missouri’s abandoned communities welcome curious visitors, though each site offers vastly different experiences—from contaminated exclusion zones to accessible roadside ruins.
You’ll find Devil’s Elbow’s bridge and buildings along Route 66 hiking trails, while Avilla’s crumbling storefronts showcase preserved decay in open farmland. Arlington offers riverside paths over former foundations near the Gasconade River.
Halltown blends abandonment with commerce through antique shops occupying historic structures, making it exceptionally visitor-friendly.
Times Beach remains Missouri’s most restricted site—parkland with limited access due to dioxin contamination. Educational signage explains its dark legacy, though you’ll view ruins from a distance.
Urban legends persist around these locations, fueling tourism. Preservation efforts vary considerably; some sites maintain structures for historical value, while others embrace natural reclamation. Always respect posted boundaries and trespassing laws.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are There Actual Ghost Sightings Reported at These Missouri Ghost Towns?
Among Missouri’s four documented ghost towns, you’ll find supernatural encounters scarce—only Windyville claims verified ghost sightings in folklore records. Times Beach, Howell, and Cookville lack documented paranormal activity despite their eerie abandonment, relying more on atmospheric dread than actual spectral evidence.
Can You Legally Visit Times Beach or Enter Route 66 State Park?
You can legally visit Route 66 State Park daily without restrictions. The former Times Beach site operates under standard property regulations, emphasizing historical preservation while ensuring visitor safety after EPA cleanup confirmed no contamination risks remain.
Were Residents Compensated When Forced to Evacuate These Communities?
You weren’t left empty-handed when dioxin forced your departure. Relocation compensation totaled $33 million federally, plus $29 million from corporate settlements. The economic impact devastated families, though buyouts covered property losses and helped you rebuild elsewhere by 1983.
What Health Problems Did Times Beach Residents Develop From Dioxin Exposure?
CDC studies found no increased disease prevalence directly linked to dioxin among Times Beach residents, despite environmental contamination concerns. Health risk assessments showed no chloracne cases, though you’ll find ongoing debates about long-term exposure effects persist.
Are Any Original Buildings or Structures Still Standing at These Sites?
Want to explore abandoned architecture firsthand? You’ll find original structures still standing: Yeakley Chapel (1887), Plano’s limestone store, Halltown’s repurposed Route 66 buildings, and Avilla’s 1840s schoolhouse survive despite limited preservation efforts across these historic Missouri sites.
References
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ghost_towns_in_Missouri
- https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/mo/mo.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERFnlJ5pjBg
- https://www.ghostsandgetaways.com/blog-1/top-10-haunted-places-in-missouri
- https://www.visitmo.com/articles/missouris-most-haunted-places
- https://www.missourihauntedhouses.com/real-haunts/
- https://www.environmentandsociety.org/tools/keywords/times-beach-missouri-evacuated-due-contamination-dioxin
- https://www.epa.gov/mo/town-flood-and-superfund-looking-back-times-beach-disaster-nearly-40-years-later
- https://www.stlmag.com/Remember-Times-Beach-The-Dioxin-Disaster-30-Years-Later/
- https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/evacuation-times-beach-missouri
