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1952.
    Today, the last remnants from this often-overlooked chapter in the history of Route 66 are a scattering of abandoned homes and businesses and the rusty supports for the Key Bridge. However, Bridgeport is not a true ghost, since the town is still home to a handful of residents who value their privacy at the end of a lost highway.

    The fast-vanishing links to Bridgeport’s gilded age that dot the fields provide few hints it was once a town of importance.
    From Interstate 40, turn north on U.S. Highway 281 at exit 101 and turn west on old U.S. 66; the road is well marked. Continue west for a couple of miles, turn north on Market Street, and then turn right on Broadway to Main Street, where you turn left.
    Realigning Route 66 and bypassing Bridgeport called for the construction of a bridge consisting of thirty-eight Warren pony trusses to span the South Canadian River.
    Engineering Time Capsule

    The section of Route 66 between Hinton Junction and Weatherford is a perfect time capsule of Route 66 circa the mid-1930s. The concrete roadway is curbed here to divert rainwater that rolls across the hills, an antiquated highway engineering practice with few surviving remnants.
    The thirty-eight span, 3,994-foot “pony” bridge across the South Canadian River that replaced the one at Bridgeport was a federal aid project that opened in 1934. At 3,944 feet, this was and is the longest bridge on Route 66 in Oklahoma.
    Lucille Hamon’s gas station and motel, just west of Hydro, is one of the most photographed sites on Route 66. Dating to 1941, the structure has changed little, and plans are in the works to refurbish the building in the near future.

    Established in 1927, the property known today as Lucille’s was operated by Lucille Hamon from 1941 to 2000. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the original Hamon’s Court sign is displayed at the Smithsonian Institute.
    FOSS
    T HE FIRST MANIFESTATION OF Foss—named after J. M. Foss, former postmaster in Cordell, Oklahoma, on Turkey Creek north of the present site—vanished with the flood of May 2, 1902. Relocating to higher ground, the residents rebuilt the town at the heart of a vast area of rich farmlands.
    By 1912, Foss was a prosperous and substantial community of stone buildings with a business district that included two banks, cotton gins, several general merchandise stores, a newspaper, a wagon works, a machine shop, drugstores, a bakery, a broom factory, and an opera house. At its peak, the population purportedly neared one thousand residents.

    Near Foss, Route 66 runs straight as an arrow to the horizon through a pastoral landscape unchanged in appearance since the town was a vital, thriving farming community.

    In 1900, the Foss cotton gin was one of the busiest enterprises in the area and an important component of the town economy.
Research Division of the Oklahoma Historical Society
    At exit 53 on Interstate 40, turn north on State Highway 44.

    A ghost sign on a weathered wall provides the faintest of hints as to what purpose an overgrown building once served in Foss.
    The development of nearby Clinton and Elk City as rail and supply centers was the first blow to the town’s economic stability. The population plummeted to 348 in 1920. Providing services to motorists on Route 66 partially stemmed the decline, but this was a short-lived reprieve, as collapsing agricultural prices and the drought that fueled the Dust Bowl spurred a second exodus.
    For a brief moment in the early 1950s, with the establishment of an Air Force facility at nearby Burns Flat, it appeared Foss might experience a renaissance. But the closure of the base and the bypass of Route 66 by Interstate 40 sent the old town into a downward spiral. In 1977, the last bank closed for good.
    Those who still reside in Foss adamantly deny the community is a ghost town. However, history, the ruins nestled in the brush, and broken sidewalks give