Category: Modern Ruins

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The Avillians

Avilla has quiet a history, from it’s early inception through World War II. It will be much easier to give you the Wiki link if your interested in Avilla History.

My time in Avilla has always been fun, the people are open and friendly. For example, a certain older gentleman invited my friend Rick and myself into his Avilla Gentlemen’s Clubhouse for coffee and a quick chat. He is one of Avilla’s true gems. Enamel pots and pans collected and hung on the clubhouse walls, a giant concrete frog in the front yard, just about anything you can think of was somewhere around.

I was told that the clubhouse was no more, he had a son move into the building ending the informal chats, that’s too bad I looked forward to visiting again.

My second time back I was by myself and went into Bernie’s Bar & Grill to grab something to eat. Again those friendly “Avillian’s” were in top form and suggested a simple cheeseburger telling me “that’s what we’re famous for”. He was right. Stop in Bernie’s if you’re hungry! I suggest the cheeseburger.

There are lots of interesting buildings in and around Avilla, The Bank building (Post office now), I.O.O.F. just to name a couple.

Next time your out on west Route 66 take the time to see Avilla, you can’t be in that big of a hurry. Oh and grab a cheeseburger while you’re there.

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Barns of the Ozarks – Part 1

Ozark’s barns are fantastic testaments to the hardscrabble way of life, a life centered on the land, work, family, ingenuity, and perseverance. Many think of barns as integral landmarks along the byways. Others have their favorite barns like the well-kept, Meramec Caverns advertising barns dotting the interstate highways or the faded milking barn near their hometown. Others know these barns more intimately, barns are part of their family and home.

They are barns built by hand in wood, stone, brick, or metal and dating as far back as 1860. I’ll try to capture the beauty of these barns. You might see the making and breaking of a barn as it plays into the life and sustenance of several generations of a family who settled the land and now the farm is left abandoned, barns and buildings left to endure the mercy of time and mother nature. Now, who is up for a barn dance?





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The Old Country Store

The Old Country Store was and is the life blood of small Ozark’s communities. This applies more to this particular store than most. Most neighbors are not just a stones throw from here. Many miles of hills separate this store from most. Taney County doesn’t have a huge population now let alone when this store was active. In the 1930 census the nearest town of Bradleyville only had a population of 41.

When I entered the store it was walking back in time. I could see the shelves lined with canned goods, supplies, I imagine it had a wood stove near the right side. I’ll bet the old boys showed on Saturday with their chewing tobacco in pocket ready to chew the fat with the regular “spit & whittle” club. One thing I did not show was the old glass counter cabinet. It was in really sad shape, glass had been knocked out and it was falling apart. I feel it’s important to leave it alone. Let it go with this building when it decides to give way to time.


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Phillipsburg General Store

The Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation (Missouri Preservation) announced its 2017 list of historic Places in Peril on Friday evening, August 25, 2017 at a special “Unhappy Hour” event at the National Building Arts Center in St. Louis. Listed at #9 is…the Old Phillipsburg General Store in Phillipsburg,MO


Few small town buildings are as iconic as the old general store. The Phillipsburg General Store was constructed in the last years of the 1800s. It survived for many years as one of Phillipsburg’s largest buildings and now has the distinction of being the only historic building remaining in the village. The building also sat next to the railroad tracks, and trains supplied the store with the many provisions needed for the villagers and local farmers. Sugar and flour, crackers and other needed items were bought in bulk and put in sacks to take come. Dolls and garden supplies, tools, as well as rabbits and chickens were purchased in the store and taken home in wagons pulled by horses. In later years the adjacent Route 66 brought many tourists to this tiny town. The upstairs served a variety of the community’s social needs, containing a small theater, an office where a lodge was located and where the Woodsmen of America met, as well as other groups like the American Legion. After the lodges were gone, ladies set up quilt blocks where they constructed quilts for many families in the community. During the 1990s some rehabilitation work was completed on the old store and part of the building was used again for quilting and antique sales. But in the meantime, a building that has been cut off from the railroad and its iconic roadway is in danger. A roof leak in the rear of the building has caused extensive They hope to attract a buyer that is interested in renovation of this small town icon. Contact the owner: bcbender3@yahoo.com or 417.664.6520

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The Cane Hill Store

This is the Cane Hill Store, which sold numerous items for many years including butter churns. Back when a fellow named Jack Roy was a boy, Cane Hill had two stores, a barbershop, a mill, a school and a post office. Cane Hill also was home to the Buttercup Churn and Mixer, a patented product manufactured by the Pyle-Roy Mixer Company, which advertised a new deal for the housewife. The churn, which sat on the lid of a standard glass mason jar, offered a convenient alternative to other methods of churning butter.
I can give the churn my thumbs up, we were lucky enough to find one.

Roy’s father, Guy, worked with his two brothers, Lonnie and Clarence; his father, W.H. Roy; and his brother-in-law, Virgil Pyle, who invented the churn. Guy Roy lived in a white house just up the road from where Roy lives today, near Cane Hill. That’s where Roy’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather all lived.

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Brighton, Missouri

Old men sat on it’s porch while the women went in to purchased their flour or perhaps hard candies for the children. Walking by, I seemed to smell the pipe tobacco and feel the heat coming from the old cast iron stove on a cool morning. The Brighton, MO General Store and Mercantile now wastes away, just a shell of it’s once vibrant focal point of Brighton.

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I Had An Eerie Feeling

Kind of an eerie, creepy feel… this place felt damp, wet and yet warm and cozy in Greene County. Probably Grandmothers home where Thanksgiving dinners or Christmas parties were shared so it was left to rekindle memories I’m guessing. I liked the setting though. I had been by this pace many times as a kid. It’s close to a place we called Foleyville where my Great Uncle and his family lived. To the west of this house was a man-made pond and when I mean man-made it had hand poured concrete retaining walls. Most hidden from the road it always sparked my imagination of giant bass just waiting for me to catch.