Elmo, Kansas (Dickinson County) – Little is left of this town. A church and a cemetery are the most preserved spots. I have driven by Elmo for years, without knowing the remnants of a small town were hidden in the trees, just off the highway. Its existence was discovered by accident, after photographing the Last Chance service station. I was placing it on a location map (using Google maps), and Google indicated a town, just off the intersection of highway 4 and 15. Last time through the area I checked to see and…. yup, there it was, such as it is.
The town was always small. An undated old photo in the WSU collections shows a hotel on the main street. Elmo’s big claim to fame is the spectacularly productive insect fossil bed southeast of the town.
This was photographed in morning light. The dark foreground is the shadow of large grain tower, and I think, becomes an important part of the composition.
