Kansas Ghost Towns Part 5 - Iowa Point, Eagle Springs, Bendena

[@71chadknight]

Great video as always!! I travel along that route quite a bit when I work up north. I have never been off that beaten path. Very interesting about how a town can go from 3000 people to nothing in a course of a few years because of the Civil War. I'll have to check those out on my next trek up north from Kansas. As always keep up the great footage!!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thanks Chad! It's a really beautiful route. There is a historical marker on the road at Iowa Point but not much else. Eagle Springs is basically impossible to find - I'm not sure I was in the exact correct location. Bendena is a fun stop!

[@MsTugg]

Doniphan county is full of old ghost towns like this: Highland station, Palermo, Doniphan, Sparks, New Norway, Moray, Denton, Leona. Leona is an incorporated town with no paved roads to it. There was a big fire in the 1960s that desyroyed much of it. The survivors that still live there never really rebuilt. The Scandinavian presence is very strong in Western Doniphan county. It is found in last names, words, phrases, and even some first language speakers still. I'm glad you went to eagle springs and got footage of the "grand canyon". That location is lost to many residents even.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you! I was kind of lost trying to find Eagle Springs and I’m not sure I was supposed to be there haha. Lots of cool areas in that part of the state so I’ll have to go back again!

[@MsTugg]

@@TravelwithaWiseguy yeah....eagle springs is on private property now. the roads up that away are not maintained by the county. There used to be a spot that you actually had to drive over a creek . the roads would frequently wash out due to rains and flooding, making it difficult to even get to some of these small towns. This was as late as the 2010s!

[@papabear562]

I found a few of the cities you mentioned on Google Maps. GMaps didn't show a location for Highland Station, New Norway but the others were easy to find.

[@robchit1]

@@papabear562 Highland Station later became Sparks after the other Highland came into being

[@annetterussell2195]

I love this series, the music always suits the video and not to mention the quality of it with the drone shots

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you very much! I hope to add more to the series!

[@Quitealways]

Beautiful area. Your drone coverage I really appreciate . You can see all nature's beauty of the area. 😊

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thanks! The drone definitely makes me look like a better filmographer than I am 😂

[@rondadepenbusch8152]

Wow !! That’s interested. It’s a beautiful place!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Yes it's a very beautiful part of Kansas! Thanks for watching!

[@markatsunbirdacres5805]

Found you site by accident very interesting, reminded me of the ghost towns of Kansas books, K State had published years ago. I had moved to SE Ks years ago had not been to Miller for years, when Dad passed away went back to Dunlap amazing how much of town was gone in the past 30 plus years. Great job!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you very much for watching! I probably read some of those same books - definitely interesting to learn more about the history of towns like Miller. I really liked visiting there!

[@markatsunbirdacres5805]

@@TravelwithaWiseguy it was through University of Ks Press at KU not K State it was published in 1976, I have 4 volumes of six ? I had a great Ks history teacher at Emporia HS, even got to visit the original sits of Burdick which was just a pastue and old foundation in class as a field trip. Great Job! I remember Joyland when it was open what a shame to see it in ruins. Take care, Mark

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Yes I’m aware of those books by Daniel Fitzgerald. Really great books and I have a couple of them as well! So many great areas to explore around Emporia - you definitely had a great teacher!

[@JB-wd5rw]

Part of the movie Paper Moon was filmed here and througout NE KS and nearly MO. Those building can be seen in the show.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Very interesting - Would like to find a video of that!

[@johanconradie2120]

nothing lasts, never a day is perfect, never true happiness to be found

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

😢

[@gavinmassell1264]

i’ve watched all your videos but you are never close to concordia kansas, i don’t know it there’s any ghost towns around there but i’d be cool to see

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you for watching all of my videos - I really appreciate that! I have a few towns around Concordia on my list, including Agenda, but I'm not sure when I can get up there. I have shot a lot of other videos from around the country and plan to release them in the coming weeks/months.

[@robynoconnell-tatum904]

Yes, I would also be interested in that. I was born and grew up there. Lots of cool stuff around there, including Camp Concordia WW2 POW camp.

[@papabear562]

Iowa Point and Bendena were easy enough to find on Google Maps. Eagle Spring, not so much, and there wasn't much to had just doing a simple Google search either. Bummer, I was really hoping to find it.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Yeah tough to find. I’ve received messages that I was close in this video but not exactly there.

[@ohiocats]

I live in bendena can you travel to moray ks

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Is it a good ghost town to visit? By the way I love your name (I grew up near Cincinnati 😊)

[@MsTugg]

@@TravelwithaWiseguy There is a train depot in Moray, and a few houses. It is off of Halfmound and like 170th road i think. I grew up on Friendship and 190th so right in between Bendena/Severance/Moray in a region called New Norway. Btw you should look at Sparks, Doniphan, Purcell and White Cloud. Bendena still has a bank, post office, gas station and like 200 people still live there, not quite a ghost town lol. Great job documenting all of this.

[@marilynduckett5793]

My family is from little in Kansas down road from highland ks its Leona ks.i live there when I was a little girl.we had a bank,store,post office a co-op.sportman club.now Leona has nothing in it but maybe 50 people if lucky..but I love them small towns.sparks ks is very small but they have two flea market every year there and it's always big people come from all over.