Isabel Kansas

Isabel is a tiny town in south-central Kansas about 40 miles north of home-town Kiowa. We’ve moved here now that we’ve finished cutting around home. Isabel is my favourite stop to date.

The population would be less than 100. The town is littered with derelict buildings. The only places still occupied on Main Street are the post office, the general store, an auto-parts store and a little 10sqm shed with the words ‘CITY HALL’ stuck on the front door with plastic letters.

The thing I like about the place is that, contrary to it’s neglected exterior, it has a warm spirit, unjaded by a tough recent history.

Many of the locals are Mennonites, which may have something to do with the vibe. They’re a Protestant denomination, similar to the Baptists, but they’re pacifists, most notably rejecting church organisation. They look Amish in that the men have long bushy beards, wide brim hats, and wear slacks hung off suspenders, but clearly they’ve embraced some elements of modernity because a few of them cart grain in some pretty modern looking dump truck.

A guy called ‘Buddy’ refuelled my truck at the Farmer’s Co-op. He’s lived in Isabel all of his 60 years. Apparently the town nearly died when the local school was shut down in the early 70s. The only thing keeping it alive today is the grain elevator. It’s a huge week for them; yesterday they took about 3000 tonnes of wheat.

We’ve set up camp on a vacant lot near the elevator for the next few days while we cut around the area. This pic is of a house across the road. The building in the background is the elevator.