Ghost Towns of Missouri

Ghost Town USA’s

Guide to the Ghost Towns, Mining Camps,

and Other Formerly Inhabited Places in

MISSOURI.

Locations beginning with U & V

PLEASE NOTE:

Unless noted otherwise, most of these listings are quoted from postings to Rootsweb’s Missouri Ghost Town discussion forum (THE LIST). Some minor editing for editorial consistency and spelling WAS made, as well as spelling out of directions (N, SE, NNW, etc), and numbers less than ten.
Unless noted otherwise, indicated population figures are from the 1990 census. (In the next year these should be updated to the 2000 census.) If the population is listed as 0*, the asterisk indicates “assumed”, based on other facts.
Many of these listed locations may be just rural post offices, country churches schools, forts, stage stations, crossroads stores, mills or river fords, rather than what we normally consider towns. The reason for that is that many of these types of locations had small communities grow up around the main business.
When a current town that is not listed in this work went by a different name, or a name markedly different than its present name, it is indicated by the DEAD NAME entry. These are noted due to the fact that these names MAY be discovered in research, and by listing them here, it makes it easier for the researcher to discover the current name.
In all the listings below, personal comments will be noted with either names or initials, like (MF) {Mike Flannigan}, or (GBS) {Me}. In some cases, I didn’t write down the name, but only an e-mail address, so I left them in. If you know of any Missouri ghost town location not listed on these pages, please contact THE LIST if you are a member, or me if not. I will pass on the information to THE LIST.
Highways are marked thus...

CR – County Roads
SH – State Highway
US – US Highway
I – Interstate Highway

Locations marked with a $ indicate an admission fee is charged to visit the site.
Locations with part of the name HIGHLIGHTED are linked to a page listing “all” locations of the same type such as those listed below. Many times these type of locations acted as a magnet for a small community that later faded away. Some of these locations included: Ferries, Mills (These include flouring, grist and logging mills.), Mines (and the associated mining camps), Rural Post Offices (These were usually small “post offices” located in a farmer’s home or out building. They served folks in outlying farming areas, and often acted as a community center or gathering place to catch up on the latest gossip or commodity prices.), Way Stations (These include railroad & stage stations, rural stores, taverns, or other stopping points along transportation routes.).
See also our Ghost Town Index, listed by County.

Without further ado, let’s visit some of Missouri’s many hundreds of ghost towns!

-U-

ULF Phelps Co.

Location not determined. (MF)

UMPIRE Wright Co. _

Location not determined.

UNEEDA Henry Co.

Uneeda was a hamlet in central Bear Creek Township started by Mr. Newton Hurst about 1895. It was named for Uneeda Biscuit.

Probably located a few miles east of Montrose. (Mike Flannigan)

UNIONDALE St. Louis Co.

Located in Central Township on St Charles Road.

UNIONVILLE Putnam Co. 1989

Elevation 1067'

Unnamed MILL Boone Co.

History of Boone County gives its location as NE¼ Sec13, T49N, R12W. It was the first mill in Boone county. It was a horse-powered mill brought in by wagon from Virginia by William Wright in the year 1816 and run for many years.

UPPER FERRY Benton Co.

Upper Ferry crossed the Osage River above Warsaw. It was a little above Lower Ferry.

USEFUL Osage Co. -

In the eastern part of the county. Actual location not determined.

-V-

VALLE MINES Jefferson Co.

These lead mines were listed in the 1888 Goodspeed’s History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford & Gasconade Counties, Missouri. It also produced barite, hematite iron and zinc silicate. The location of the mine is not determined, but it was probably near the present town of Valles Mines, which had a 1990 population of 500. (GBS)

VAN BIBBERS LICK Montgomery Co.

…SEE Loutre Lick

VAN BUREN Osage Co. -

AKA – Vanburin

The variant Vanburin comes from a misspelling in the county records. This village was located five miles southeast of Linn. A Mr. Goodman had a mill here. The land was bought and laid out into town lots. An effort was made to secure the county seat, but in vain, and the place soon died. It was probably named for President Martin Van Buren.

Must have been northwest of Judge. (Mike Flannigan)

VAN HORN TAVERN Boone Co. _

On US 40/I-70, five miles west of Columbia.

VAN STUDIFORD STATION St. Louis Co.

Located in Central Township.

VANBURIN Osage Co.

…SEE Van Buren

VAULT STORE Franklin Co.

A store in southern Lyon Township.

VENTURA Monroe Co.

This is a discontinued post office and country store in Jackson Township, south of Paris. The name is coined, signifying that the store was a venture.

VERNON SPRINGS Miller Co.

Vernon Springs was laid out by Wilbur Vernon in 1882 about two miles east of Aurora Springs, but it never developed.

VESSIE Phelps Co.

Located at the end of CR W, ¼ mile west of the Ben Fore School, which still stands. The school looks like it is being used as a barn. A post office operated here 1909-1945.

· Ctr Sec 8, T36N, R8W,

(MO-GT, Dave P, Sep 16, 2002)

Your description for Vessie Post Office would be perfect if you changed 'section 8' to 'section 18'. That location is interesting since it's about 2.5 miles northeast of the current location of the town of Vessie. The town is now in the western part of Sec 23, T36N R9W. Apparently it moved a little.

(Mike Flannigan Sep 17, 2002)

VEST Phelps Co.

Location not determined. Was located somewhere south of Clementine. It did have a post office 1879-1898.

(MO-GT, Dave P, Sep 16, 2002)

VILLA DE ROBERTS St. Louis Co.

DEAD NAME – This was one of the several early names for the city of Bridgeton, (1990 population - 17,000) (GBS)

VILLAGE A ROBERT St. Louis Co.

DEAD NAME – This was one of the several early names for the city of Bridgeton, (1990 population - 17,000) (GBS)

VINYARD Lawrence Co.

Vinyard was named for a pioneer family.

VIRGINIA LEAD MINE Franklin Co.

…SEE Virginia Mine

VIRGINIA MINE Franklin Co. 0

AKA – Virginia Mines, Virginia Lead Mine, Virginian Mine

This now abandoned lead mine was one of the top producers in the state, and the best producer in the Southeastern (MO) Lead District. In 1888 it was 480’ deep and had produced 15,000 tons of galena (lead ore). It was compared favorably to the famed lead mines of Cornwall, England. Now abandoned, it was located about five miles southeast of St. Clair. (GBS)

· Sec 16, T41N, R1E, Prairie Township.

· Lat: 38.3019960, Long: -90.9190261

· Lat: 38º18’07”N, Long: 90º55’08”W

VIRGINIAN MINE Franklin Co.

…SEE Virginia Mine

VOMUNDS FORD Lincoln Co.

Vomunds Ford was located on Lead Creek in Millwood Township.

VON SCHRADER St. Louis Co.

Located in Central Township on the Missouri-Pacific Railroad. (Mike Flannigan, Dec 30, 2000)

VOORHEES Camden Co.

Voorhees was a PO in 1896-7. It was named for the man who operated the store and post office.

VOTAW St. Louis Co.

Possibly same as VOTEAU)

John Votaw was one of the first settlers of the Eureka area. Originally, he settled just north of the Meramec River, south of the actual city of Eureka. Augustine Road. is located southeast of downtown Eureka. Take Augustine Road to VOTAW ROAD. This was shown on the 1878 Atlas, T43N, R3-4E. Votaw Road doesn't exist as that name anymore. If you take Augustine to the end, where it makes a sharp curve, it used to keep going. Now, you follow it to the right. Instead of Votaw Road it is now Augustine. However, at the sharp curve is a driveway/road to the left that would have been the other side of Votaw Rd. It is a private drive and is mostly blocked off by a chain. Looking at the Atlas of T44N R4E, Votaw Road used to continue to a Blakey Road. Blakey Road does not exist anymore, but used to connect to Lewis and Antire Roads.

(Michelle Robinson)

VOTEAU FORD St. Louis Co.

(Possibly same as VOTAW)

Located on the Meramec River near Eureka.

If you follow that driveway (See Votaw, above) to the northeast, it goes down a hill to the river bottoms, curves sharply to the south, then back east nearly to the river, and then north to the south side of old Times Beach. It joins Bussen Quarry road where it then continues east across the river and to Lewis Road. So Voteau Ford is basically where I-44 (and Bussen Quarry road) cross the river now. That's what I think. (Mike Flannigan)

* * *

Also visit:

Ghost Town USA’s Ghost Towns of Missouri

Missouri Ghost Town locations with names beginning:

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | PQ | R | S | T | UV | W | XYZ

Detailed information on individual locations:

Blythedale | Rivermines | McLellan Springs

Listings of related groups of locations

FERRIES | MILLS | MINES | RURAL POST OFFICES | WAY STATIONS

Also visit: Ghost Town USA’s

CURRENT Ghost Town of the Month | PAST Ghost Towns of the Month

Ghost Towner's Code of Ethics | Publications | Genealogy | License Plate Collecting

A few LINKS to outside webpages:

Ghost Towns | Treasure Hunting | License Plate Collecting | Genealogy

First Posted: July 27, 2001

Last Updated: April 05, 2009

E-mail Us

ON THIS PAGE, the above copyright applies ONLY to information NOT obtained via the Missouri Ghost Town discussion group.

Copyrighted information is marked GBS, and falls under the Gary B. Speck Publications copyright protection.

This MO GT DISCUSSION FORUM information is posted as a public service for all members of the group and is posted with their permission. It is not to be used for commercial gain without the express written consent of the individuals who make up this discussion forum.

If you have any questions regarding this disclaimer, please contact me at GTUSA.