Missouri’s Most Toxic Town is Now Buried Under a Grassy Mound in a Route 66 State Park

Times Beach, Missouri

The St. Louis Star-Times newspaper launched a subscription promotion in 1925. Readers paid $67.50 for a six-month subscription and a small lot along the Meramec River.

The newspaper divided a triangular piece of land into 6,000 lots measuring just 20×100 feet each. Early buyers saw it as an affordable weekend getaway from St. Louis.

Located 17 miles southwest of downtown, Times Beach sat directly on the newly designated Route 66 highway. The small riverside plots soon filled with modest cottages.

From Resort Town to Permanent Community

First homeowners built their cottages on stilts in 1925-1926. They knew the Meramec River flooded regularly and raised their structures to protect them.

The Great Depression hit in 1929, forcing many families to move permanently to their weekend homes. City apartments cost too much during economic hardship.

Gas rationing during World War II killed off the last traces of Times Beach as a vacation spot. The government restricted fuel to essential travel only.

The population climbed from 800 to 1,240 between 1950 and 1970 as Times Beach became a blue-collar town with full-time residents.

The Roadside Community Along Route 66

Bridgehead Inn opened in 1935 at the eastern entrance of the Meramec River bridge. The roadhouse served hungry travelers on Route 66 and locals seeking a good meal.

Edward Steinberg bought the inn in 1947 and renamed it Steiny’s Inn. He ran the popular establishment for 25 years until 1972.

Residents spent summer days at Sylvan Beach along the Meramec River. Kids swam while adults fished and families gathered for weekend picnics.

Times Beach settled into life as a lower-middle-class community by the early 1980s. Modest homes lined unpaved streets while children played in yards near the river.

The Dust Problem and Russell Bliss’s Solution

Dust clouds billowed from 23 miles of dirt roads throughout Times Beach. Cars kicked up choking brown clouds that covered everything in sight.

Town officials hired waste hauler Russell Bliss in 1972 to solve their dust problem. He sprayed oil on roads to keep dust particles from flying into the air.

Bliss ran a waste oil business in Frontenac, Missouri where he collected used motor oil from service stations. He mixed various industrial fluids in his storage tanks.

Each summer from 1972 through 1976, Bliss drove his truck through Times Beach. He charged only six cents per gallon while his competitors asked much more.

The Hidden Toxic Waste

Bliss picked up waste from Northeastern Pharmaceutical and Chemical Company in Verona, Missouri. NEPACCO operated a facility 200 miles southwest of Times Beach.

The chemical company manufactured hexachlorophene for disinfectants. They previously produced components of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.

Bliss hauled 18,500 gallons of NEPACCO waste to his Frontenac facility in 1971. He mixed this industrial waste with used motor oil he collected elsewhere.

The waste contained dioxin at 2,000 parts per million. Health officials considered just 1 part per billion harmful to humans.

Early Warning Signs at Horse Stables

Bliss sprayed his oil mixture at Shenandoah Stable in Moscow Mills in 1971. Within days, 62 horses at the stable died mysteriously.

Similar deaths hit Timberline Stables near Jefferson City and Bubbling Springs Ranch near St. Louis. Birds and small animals died after exposure to sprayed areas.

People near sprayed locations developed headaches, nosebleeds, stomach pain, and skin rashes. Many connected their illnesses to the strong chemical smell.

A stable owner watched his six-year-old daughter fall severely ill after playing in a freshly sprayed arena. Her unexplained symptoms prompted health officials to investigate.

The Investigation Begins

CDC scientists arrived to investigate animal deaths in 1971. They took soil samples from horse stables where animals died after Bliss sprayed.

Tests revealed over 30 parts per million of dioxin in soil from Shenandoah Stable by 1974. This concentration far exceeded safe levels for humans or animals.

EPA expanded their investigation to other Missouri sites in 1979. They traced the contamination path from the chemical plant to Bliss to various sprayed locations.

A newspaper reporter obtained leaked EPA documents in November 1982. Times Beach officials learned their town appeared on the list of suspected dioxin sites.

Disaster Strikes Twice

The Meramec River flooded Times Beach in December 1982. Water rose several feet above flood stage and submerged most homes and businesses.

EPA technicians finished collecting soil samples just before floodwaters swept through town. Their timing proved crucial for identifying contamination levels.

Floodwaters spread dioxin from roadways into yards, homes, and throughout the community. The contamination reached places previously untouched.

Test results showed dioxin concentrations up to 100 parts per billion along town roads. CDC considered anything above 1 part per billion dangerous to human health.

The Federal Buyout and Evacuation

President Reagan created the Times Beach Dioxin Task Force on January 7, 1983. Representatives from multiple federal agencies joined to address the crisis.

EPA Administrator Anne Burford announced the buyout on February 22. She spoke from a locked conference room while hundreds of residents listened through loudspeakers outside.

The federal government allocated $36.7 million to purchase 800 homes and 30 businesses. This marked the largest environmental relocation in American history.

Homeowners received approximately $40,000 for their properties. The government paid market value as if the homes were not contaminated.

The Town Disappears

Governor John Ashcroft signed an order disincorporating Times Beach on April 2, 1985. The town legally ceased to exist as a municipality in Missouri.

One elderly couple refused to leave despite the contamination. They stayed in their home even as workers demolished neighboring houses.

Warning signs and barricades surrounded the empty town for years. Streets remained with no cars while empty lots showed where homes once stood.

No American town had ever faced complete evacuation due to toxic contamination before. Times Beach pioneered a response to environmental disaster.

The Cleanup and Transformation

Workers built an incinerator on the Times Beach site in 1996. From March 1996 through June 1997, it burned at temperatures exceeding 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Syntex Agribusiness paid for and operated the incinerator. They owned Hoffman-Taff, the parent company of the chemical manufacturer responsible for the dioxin.

Crews in protective suits burned 265,000 tons of contaminated soil and debris. Material came from Times Beach and 26 other dioxin sites across eastern Missouri.

EPA removed Times Beach from its Superfund list in 2001. Extensive testing confirmed the successful cleanup of the once-toxic ghost town.

Read More from This Brand:

• “The Loneliest Road in America” is a Survival Test Across a Nearly-Empty Desert Highway
• A Business Tycoon’s Dream European Castle Now Stands as Haunting Ruins in Missouri State Park
• Missouri’s Ancient Pink “Elephants” Became America’s First Braille Trail for the Blind in 1973