Ghost Towns

The Western landscape by nature reflected the moving on spirit. The remains of wagon train settlements were abandoned by those looking for a fresh start. A nearly empty continent with fast moving families  left behind the abandoned places we know as ghost towns - places left before they were used up.

in Iowa, for example a list from 1930 of towns, villages, even post offices that had been abandoned since 1838 were 2,205 ghost towns.   This list did not count towns and villages that become parts of other places, nor name changes. or those never built up.  These were actually abandoned places where people had once lived. Mail was delivered there.   Houses were built.   Hopes and dreams were lived out before the people moved on. The time frame for this list only concerned places abandoned between 1852-1912 -  a period of 60 years.  A comparable list of Kansas abandoned towns is over 2,500 considered ghost towns.

The western settlers moved on because they had more need, more temptation and more opportunity to do so. They had no roots and no time to make roots. The uncertain America from as far back as the first
settlement of Jamestown was one of the first ghost towns. Founded in 1607, it had the first legislative assembly in 1619 and was actually the capital of Virginia until 1698. By 1722 a visitor noted that
"nothing but abundance of brick rubble and three or four inhabited homes" remained of Jamestown.

Like the West, our capital was mobile and the eastern states capitals as well. By 1812 eight of the original 13 states had different capital cities than they had in 1776.  Most of these new capitals were moved once the new capitals had gained enough population.  Many were were settled for that specific purpose. New Hampshire's capital moved from Portsmouth to Concord (1808). New York City to Albany (1797), Princeton, New Jersey to Trenton (1790) with Pennsylvania, Delaware,  North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia all following suit. These were the signs of rapid population growth in America's early days

 

Unlike the western territories, these capitals did not become ghost towns, just cities of lesser importance.  The western territories however went about their capitals a bit differently…

Next time- The Western Capitals

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Today in Pioneer History: "On August 17, 1862, Minnesota erupts in violence as desperate Dakota Indians attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. The Dakota were eventually overwhelmed by the U.S. military six weeks later. The Dakota Indians were more commonly referred to as the Sioux, a derogatory name derived from part of a French word meaning “little snake.”