A Trip to Times Beach, MO - A Town Lost to Time

 

We visited the Rt 66 State Park while we were in the St. Louis area. 

The visitor center was once a busy inn and motel.

It is next to the Meramec River which offered summer fun.

The park has plenty of open space with trails and roadways for hiking. 

The park bears an uncanny resemblance to a map of Times Beach, MO.

Times Beach began as an advertising gimmick for the St. Louis Times.

They sold off lots at this "resort" location along the Meramec River for $67.50; 

$10 dollars down and $2.50 a month with a subscription to the news paper. 

Lots were sold and folks began building summer cottages. 

Families escaped the summer heat in St. Louis and came to Times Beach.

Wives would bring the children and husbands would

join them on weekends. 

The families swam and canoed in the river that bordered the town.

During the depression many families moved to Times Beach and it became a year-round town of over 1000 residents. In the early 70's the town paid to have all of the streets sprayed with waste oil to cut down the dust from cars going along the dirt roads. 

Not long after, it was discovered that horses and dogs were dying at nearby stables where the same oil had been used to cut down the dust in the riding arenas. It was discovered that the waste oil was contaminated with dioxin. Residents were advised to leave. Shortly afterwards, the Meramac River flooded, spreading the contaminated soil. Residents were told not to return, and in 1983 the government bought out the entire town. It became a superfund site. All of the remaining structures were demolished. An incinerator was erected and soil from the area was burned. The land became a state park in 1999. The land has been tested and is now considered safe. Visitors can hike in what was the town of Times Beach, even wandering trails that once were the town roads.