Environmental degradation – remnants of lead and zinc mining can cause soil contamination that can render entire communities uninhabitable e.g.

Army Corps of Engineers have sought to control floods through the building of dams along rivers and the resulting outcome is a town having to be moved or abandoned and demolished.

Eminent domain / flood control – Since 1951, the U.S.

As people lose their jobs or have to move because of another job, towns lose population.

National economic depressions - There have been several economic depressions and recessions that have wiped towns off the map.

When a school district is closed and students moved to another district, the remaining abandoned school just adds insult to injury. Towns that lose their local school to consolidation can no longer root for their home team.

Schools – Schools can serve as a place of civic pride.

Some towns were abandoned in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl period which mainly relied on Agriculture.

Industry/employment – Towns that catered to a specific industry like coal mining or military housing were boom towns that quickly died when their markets collapsed.

Towns that were contenders for the county seat and lost typically saw most, if not all, of their town die out. Survival of a town also depended on if it won the county seat. When Kansas became a free state in 1861, pro-slavery towns died out. Towns were either pro-slavery or abolitionist.

Politics – In Kansas, the political atmosphere was highly divided.

When railroads were established towns developed along the tracks or even moved to where the tracks were.

As traffic from the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails increased, towns boomed along them.

Transportation has played a major role in settlement in Kansas. The more businesses that close the more people are apt to want to move away to a bigger town. Transportation – With the development of major highways and interstates, people were willing to travel farther for goods and services causing local businesses in smaller towns to lose customers and ultimately close.There are many factors and reasons as to why a community becomes abandoned (or nearly abandoned).

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