I visited Picher, Oklahoma, on September 2. The entire town was declared unsafe and was bought out by the EPA through immanent domain. Schools closed in 2009. Many of the town’s buildings have been torn down.
Squares of empty city blocks dotted the community. There were some houses still standing, but many of them looked like shacks about ready to collapse. There were several brick buildings, which I later found to be low cost housing, still standing…spray painted with KEEP OUT in big orange letters.
The Picher-Cardin High School stands as a reminder to how big the town was. The high school once was major, but the last remaining class of 2009 had 11 graduates. The school’s football stadium seemed to be in good shape when I arrived. A man was jogging around the track. Fearing that I’d be asked to leave I didn’t hang around to ask him questions.
I can only imagine the town’s residents reaction to being asked to move due to the metal contamination by the surrounding mines. From what I’ve read, the buildings are slowly being demolished. An entire town, an entire way of life gone in the matter of a few years. So sad. And to visit it afterwards was so haunting.