Life…Death…Iron

Last weekend I headed headed east onto the great high plains for my first visit to Arlington, and obscure Colorado ghost town which dates to 1887 when it sprang up along the Missouri Pacific Railroad line in sparsely populated Kiowa County roughly 120 miles southeast of Colorado Springs.

One of the old shacks that remains at Kiowa County’s Arlington

En route to Arlington my mind became lost in the endless flat expanse, covered in a short stubble of the previous year’s blonde prairie grasses. Here and there a patch snow occupied a shadowy depression in the flats. People out here, in this forgotten corner of the Colorado landscape, are few and far between. It had been thirty minutes or so since I saw another motorist, and I was daydreaming when I sped past the Kiowa County Sherriff who quickly flipped a U-turn, lights flashing, and pulled me over. Ten minutes, 4-driver’s license points, and a $188 fine later I was back on my way to find Arlington.

Another Arlington shack

Taking Highway 96 southwest out of the tiny town of Eads, I rumbled down the blacktop for another 35 miles without seeing another motorist, then I reached Arlington. Arlington is defined by a few occupied farm houses and out buildings that straddle Highway 96, then the old town site just off the pavement on a dirt road to the west.

A hack and the schoolhouse which mark the west end of the Arlington town plat

Three blocks appear to have been platted and developed at one point in Arlington, but that was long ago. Today only the dirt streets remain, along with a couple of abandoned shacks, and the stunning two-story Arlington schoolhouse which can be seen from a distance as you approach the ghost town. One small home remains occupied on the northeast end of the old town footprint, but nobody was home when I passed through.  I spent a few minutes snapping photos and wondering what Arlington once looked like. It must have been something in its prime since it had a two-story schoolhouse, an oddity out here on the plains.  Not much to see these days in Arlington, but the old schoolhouse is worth the trip!

Arlington schoolhouse- Worth the trip!

North end of the schoolhouse

You can see the schoolhouse at Arlington from several miles away as you approach Arlington

East side of the schoolhouse

The old school appears to be the place where all of Kiowa County’s bald tires go to die

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