Route 66 - Spencer, Missouri

Congratulations on making it to Spencer, Missouri Richard, an actual real-life ghost town. Although Spencer was never much more than a wide place in the road, it did actually have not just people but a post office in the late 1870s. The local population were nearly all connected with agriculture, and Spencer gained both a church and a general store to cater to them.

However, less than forty years later, the road became unusable, and the town more or less emptied - at least for a while. By the late 1920s, when Route 66 was constructed to pass through the derelict buildings, the town reopened for business, with two shops - one grocery, one dry goods, a barber, a garage, and a Tydol station. The second death of Spencer occurred when Route 66 was bypassed by I-44 and until recently, the whole town was a row of vacant premises left over from the still rather quiet heyday of the 1920s.

In recent years, the site has been purchased by the Ryan family - bought from the Caseys, who first owned the land the 'town' was built on in 1925. The gas station has been restored, and although non-operational, is full of authentic memorabilia of the period it was first constructed, including a vintage police car parked in front. Spencer never required or got its own police station, but it's a nice touch.

Just to prove that vandals really will trash anything, the restored (but closed) barber shop was damaged in 2015, including the theft of its nostalgic red and white pole. They may have caused a few thousand pounds worth of damage, but Spencer will carry on - a lovingly-restored, slightly creepy non-town along historic Route 66.



PS. Experience our virtual challenges in real life - The Conqueror Adventures

The team at The Conqueror Challenges
https://www.theconqueror.events