RURAL BLIGHT

The Ugly Remains of Failed Endeavors

May 11, 2003

Urban blight is a persistent problem attracting a great deal of attention, but the same forces are at work in rural areas. In fact, the problem is usually worse as rural economies these days are typically rather weak. In urban areas, buildings are usually abandoned for only a few years, and seldom longer than a decade except in the most persistently depressed locations, but in rural areas, abandonment is often complete and permanent. The reasons for this are complex, but in the last half-century there have been a few persistent causes. Among the greatest changes affecting rural communities in the United States was the gradual completion of the Interstate Highway system, a network of freeways that crisscrosses much of the country. These limited access highways bypassed communities and greatly reduced travel times, so people could travel longer distances in less time and make fewer stops along the way. Businesses in the center of town closed, and new businesses clustered around freeway offramps. A typical offramp community now consists of gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants, and motels which are usually members of nationwide chains and are seldom local in origin. Changes in the patterns of agriculture - the consolidation of family farms into larger operations - also contributed to the situation. As a result, the patterns of commerce radically changed in many small towns, causing numerous buildings to become permanently abandoned.

In more recent years, even the freeway offramp communities have suffered in some locations. The continued consolidation of chain businesses around certain offramps has contributed to the decline of smaller operations which cannot compete. The gas station at the freeway offramp which fails will sit idle for decades until it finally falls under its own weight. Hideous remains of ancient gas stations blight the landscape for such a long time that they become familiar landmarks. One in particular, the gas station at Exit 77 (State Highway 196) on Interstate 80 in western Utah has been there so long that it seems like it belongs there. Indeed, I would be disappointed if it disappeared one day. The highway from that exit heads south into a desolate place known as Skull Valley. Somehow it makes sense that a derelict gas station would be located there to welcome the few travelers who drive down that lonely road. It has sat empty for as long as I can remember, gradually becoming more decrepit with each passing year. Covered with graffiti and strewn with garbage, it is the definition of an eyesore, but it belongs there nonetheless. If it were gone, it would leave an emptiness that could never be filled by anything else. Then, that particular freeway interchange would lose its unique character and become like most others in the region - just another offramp to nowhere.

Additional note added on February 1, 2004: The restaurant building at the abandoned gas station has since burned. I suspect that the fire was set by vandals out for a good time, but they have destroyed an interesting old relic. I will add updated pictures next time I visit the site.

Additional note added on May 20, 2004: The last time I drove by on the freeway, I noticed that this site has degraded even more. It looked like the metal building in the back had been severely damaged. I definitely need to get out there with a camera to get some updated pictures. These sites can degrade very quickly.

Additional note added on January 7, 2008: Now, nearly everything at the gas station site is gone. I wish I had managed to get pictures to document the degradation of the site, but now it is too late. I will miss the beat-up old gas station.

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Views of the abandoned gas station at Exit 77 from I-80 in western Utah


More views of the gas station. Does anyone need a new couch? Now you know where to get one.


I have always called this the "beer stand".
It is located at the junction of the Pony Express Trail and State Highway 36 near Faust, Utah.
This place has not sold any beer for a very long time.


A typical sight in western Utah,
a mysterious abandoned building by the side of a dirt road

Photos of the gas station, beer stand, and mysterious building were taken on May 11, 2003.

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