OLD HIGHWAY 50

 A fun day trip southwest of Kansas City is to follow Old Highway 50 between Ottawa and Emporia, Kansas. Before the construction of Interstate 35, US Highway 50 was the main drag between Kansas City and Emporia. Today, the two highways are concurrent between the two cities, however, there is an interesting stretch of the older highway that is still in use but very lightly trafficked. This stretch is referred to as Old Highway 50, it is paved but most of it is blacktop rather than a modern highway. It is a lazy, relaxing, peaceful drive, away from all the speeding vehicles and ginormous semis cluttering up I-35. To access Old 50, if coming west from Kansas City, when you get to Ottawa on 35, exit left (south) at Eisenhower Road. Almost immediately after you exit the interstate you will turn right (west) onto Old 50. One you are on old 50, drive a ways and the first town you will come to is the semi-ghost town on Homewood. The most interesting thing to see at Homewood is the historic one-room schoolhouse.

Next up is the tiny town of Williamsburg.

Be sure to stop in at Guy & Mae's Tavern for their famous barbeque.

As you continue on Old Highway 50, about 2 miles southwest of Williamsburg lies the ghost town of Silkville. Silkville is a ghost town today. The settlement was founded in the late 1800s as a utopian socialist settlement. Their main product was silk, as implied by the name of the settlement. The silk of Silkville was featured at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, however, difficulty in selling the silk and a loss of settlers ultimately doomed the community. All that really remains today is this cool old school building, a lonely remnant of a past utopian community still standing in the prairie in the 21st Century.

Continuing southwest on Old 50 is the semi-ghost town of Agricola. It was so grown up around Agricola, even in early mid-March of 2019 when I went, that a person could miss it entirely. The town site is just to the left(south) of Old 50. There were still a few street signs but the streets were all dirt. There appeared to only be a handful of people living there in old trailers and few run down dilapidated old houses. Yards were littered with old vehicles and scrap metal in disarray. The place was a little creepy, to be honest. On my way out of the tiny town I saw this.

 

Continuing to travel further west on Old 50, you will cross US Highway 75. This was the original location of the old BETO Junction truck stop (Burlington-Emporia-Topeka-Ottawa). BETO Junction has now moved to the north at the intersection of I-35 and US 75. As you continue west on Old 50 you will pass just south of Lebo, Kansas. There is a neat abandoned gas station at this spot on old 50.

This is also a good time to turn off Old 50 and head north a short distance to Lebo and take a snack and restroom break at Casey's. Once back on Old 50, we continue west and Old 50 also becomes known as "Road 175". Once I reached the intersection of State Highway 130, I decided to turn south and travel a short distance to Neosho Rapids to check out the river there.

Once back on Old 50/Road 175 I continued west to the intersection with I-35 where Old 50 ends and modern day US 50 is rejoined, separate from I-35 and concurrent with 6th Avenue in Emporia.