DUANE
Duane's take
The marker's the one telling this tale, and I'm just the voice carrying it down the road. Now, ten miles north of where you're sitting right now, there's nothing much to see — just the quiet, windswept ghost of a town called Upland. But rewind the clock, and Upland wasn't just a dot on the map.
It was supposed to be something. The plan was grand: a station on a rail line running all the way from St. Louis down to Chihuahua, Mexico.
And on top of that, it sat near the stage route of the Butterfield mail line. Upland had ambition written all over it. In 1908, Henry Halff and his son platted the townsite — laid it all out, streets and lots, the whole promise of a future.
That same year, a school opened its doors. Things were moving. Then in 1910, Upland was named the first county seat of Upton County, and to put a fine point on it, they went ahead and constructed a stone courthouse.
Stone, now. That's not temporary thinking. That's a town saying we intend to be here a while.
But here's where the road bends. New rail lines came through — and they didn't come through Upland. They passed it by entirely.
And then the drought arrived, the kind the marker calls severe, the kind that doesn't argue and doesn't apologize. Between the rails that never came and the rain that wouldn't fall, Upland started letting go. Homes were moved.
Buildings were moved. And by 1921, Rankin had become the new seat of government. The stone courthouse, the school, the platted lots — all of it gave way.
What was meant to be a stop on a line connecting St. Louis to Chihuahua ended up a town that the future simply routed around. Ten miles north.
Go look if you want. The land remembers, even when there's nothing left to show for it.
What the marker says
Now abandoned, the town of Upland (10 miles N) was intended as a station on the rail line from St. Louis to Chihuahua, Mexico. It was also located near the stage route of the Butterfield mail line. Henry Halff and his son platted the townsite in 1908 and a school opened the same year. In 1910 Upland was named the first county seat and a stone courthouse was constructed later. By passed by new rail lines and suffering from a severe drought, the town declined. Homes and buildings were moved here by 1921 when Rankin became the new seat of government.