Carterville revisited...

Growing up in the Cultural Mecca, as a teenager at 16, I used to go to the Webb City pool hall and shoot pool with my friends. We would go over on old 66 , aka Route 66, and really never thought much of it. As I was growing up I remember occasionally listening to a grab and gab talk show on a local radio show from KDMO. It was broadcast from the Boots restaurant which was just south of what they called, "The Crossroads of America." the intersection of U.S. 66 and U.S. 71. It was hosted by Lee Crocker and George Kolpin. They would interview people traveling through while they were grabbing a bite to eat. Being on the Radio was a really big deal then and they had no trouble getting takers for the interviews. For all practical matters the Mecca was not only the center of the United States then, but also for most Carthagenians was the Center of the Universe. But there wasn't a pool hall we could get into. That necessitated the trip to Webb City.

Between the Mecca and Webb was Carterville. It was inhabited by miners and their families and at one time was pretty prosperous. Way before I arrived however. In the 60's the loss of mining employment was getting to the economy and what was there was soon to be gone. Now it is more or less a narrowing wide spot in the road, a nest of memories. I stopped through there this last weekend and copped a couple of shots. The terrain has changed, the chat piles we used to play on are gone and there is no traffic. There were a couple of shots I should have taken but I didn't. Maybe next time.
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