Cunningham, Kansas and the Road to Nowhere.

Its hard to call something “progress” when it destroys a way of life.
Consider the little city of Cunningham, Kansas. Or, rather, consider what is left of Cunningham, Kansas.
A year ago, Cunningham was a small but fairly thriving little place. There were gas stations, grocery stores, a motel, eateries and much more. Small shops along the city square area were open and doing okay.
Now, the one surviving café is only open til one in the afternoon, There are no gas stations, no market, half of the shops are now vacant and the place is, as described to me by a man named Bill, who runs the only steady business still open---a liquor store---a ghost town.
What happened? The “road to nowhere” happened.
Rt 170 used to be the main road through Cunnnngham. Now, Route 54, a new modern four lane runs less than a mile away, parallel to 170, and now all traffic goes on that road to Pratt, the next town, 15 miles away, where there is a Walmart, that great destroyer of small businesses, as well as McDonalds, motels, and much much more.
“Ever since the new road opened up, things just kinda dried up here,” says Bill, owner of the liquor store. It’s a sentiment shared by a young man named Tyler, a lifeguard at the swimming pool in the Lions Club Park, a beautiful ---by any standards---municipal facility with an Olympic size swimming pool, baseball diamond, football field, huge playground for kids, and more. Tyler, who allowed me the privilege of a free swim (usually two bucks, but they were getting ready to close) talked freely about the state of the city, and agreed with the things that Bill said.
I asked Tyler if the city had enough people in it to support a pool and park the size and quality of the one they have, and he was absolutely positive that they do. “They put a lot of work into this park.” And it shows.
The rest of the city looks to be almost as neat as the park, with one exception: a former gas station, which now has tons of old metal and junk lying and blowing around, under the guise of a flea market, albeit one that doesn’t seem to be open. It lies right in the heart of town, on one corner, and in many other places would be illegal. Ironically, it was the sight of me walking around and taking pictures of some of the junk there that prompted a resident to call the local sheriff’s department, who located me in the park where I slept for the night. “The city wanted to buy the lot from her,” said Kingman County Undersheriff Jerry Mart, of the woman who owns the flea market, aka pile o’ junk, “ but with the city being in such bad shape because of the road, it might not happen.”
Ironically, the “road to nowhere” moniker does not refer to the new road, Rt 54, it refers to the old main drag, Rt 170, through town. When the new fourlane was built, it was decided to let 170 run about a mile and then just dead end it, and that is how it stands now. A road to nowhere, much like the city that once thrived because of it. Progress? I don’t think so.