John's Modern Cabins are an abandoned

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

tourist court on

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...

Newburg, Missouri Newburg is a city in Phelps County, Missouri, United States. The population was 470 at the 2010 census. History Newburg was founded in 1883 by St. Louis – San Francisco Railway as a division point for the railroad, where engines would stop ...

. Structurally unsound and at risk of being demolished or simply collapsing for many years, their name is now an unwitting example of

irony Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...

in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

History

In 1931, Beatrice and Bill Bayliss opened Bill and Bess's Place, a tourist court with a dance hall and six log cabins on U.S. Route 66 in Missouri serving travellers on the main road of the day. In the

depression era The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, cabins and

campground A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for camping, overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight u ...

s were popular low-cost alternatives to expensive

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

s. They sold the property a decade later; at this point there would be "all kinds of cabins" in the region, much needed to house personnel around

Fort Leonard Wood Fort Leonard Wood is a U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of The City of St. Robert. The post was created in December 1940 and named in honor of General Leonard Woo ...

as the US mobilised to join

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The site changed hands multiple times, being acquired by John and Lillian Dausch in 1951 for $5,000. John Dausch would soon acquire the nickname "Sunday John" for selling

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

seven days a week in open defiance of the local laws of the era. Widening of

in 1957 required the property be moved back from the original road; the dance hall was removed at this point. The nearby ''Vernelle's Motel'' also lost its restaurant and filling station when US 66 was widened. By 1965, the state was constructing

Interstate 44 Interstate 44 (I-44) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. Although it is nominally an east–west road as it is even-numbered, it follows a more southwest–northeast alignment. Its western terminus is in Wichita Fal ...

in the region. Some of the land from the John's Modern Cabins site was lost to

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

construction, but the new highway would not provide easy access to the cabin court and would prove fatal to the tiny business. John Dausch closed the business upon his wife Lillian's death, not long after the new road had bypassed the site. His own death in 1971 would leave the property vacant and unmaintained; Loretta Ross of

St. Charles, Missouri Saint Charles (commonly abbreviated St. Charles) is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 65,794 at the 2010 census, making St. Charles the ninth-largest city in Missouri. Situated on t ...

purchased the site in 1976 but that family's plans for the site were soon abandoned. The property was left untouched and decaying for the next 25 years. A proposal by the Ross family to demolish the now-unstable structures was successfully opposed by Route 66 preservationists in 2002 after the issue was publicised in "Route 66 Magazine" and on-line but no attempt has been made to prevent the further deterioration of the buildings. Mock Burma-Shave signs at the site once advised visitors to "photograph these / while you're here / the wrecking ball / is looming near". Unmaintained since 1971 and bypassed since the 1960s, the property is in dire condition and beyond repair. By 2011, the roof of John's larger living cabin had collapsed, along with 2 of the newer cabins he built. The site's outhouse, the matinence and the original cabins still stand. This segment of US 66 is usable but no longer maintained (the two-lane road is a dead end at a now-demolished bridge near the

Arlington, Missouri Arlington is an unincorporated community in western Phelps County, Missouri, United States. The community is located just northeast of the confluence of Little Piney Creek and the Gasconade River. I-44 passes just to the east and the Burlington ...

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

has also been diverted away from its original 1967 path, now an abandoned pair of gravel roads, as part of a 2005 highway realignment. The site is therefore no longer visible from the

. It is no longer safe to enter any of the buildings, although many have photographed the exteriors of the structures in the expectation that they may be lost completely in the near future due to years of abandonment and neglect.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Phelps County, Missouri Buildings and structures on U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 in Missouri