"Cars" Tourism Revitalizes Kansas Town-- Part 2: Mining Played Out

For many years, like Radiator Springs in the movie "Cars," Galena has been in decline.

The town was born as a mining settlement when lead and zinc were discovered near the surface in 1876.  By 1900, the Galena area had more than 250 producing mines and a population of 30,000.  Population growth was even greater with the new-found popularity of Route 66 which went through it.

Sadly, we know what happened to Route 66 and then the mines played out in the 1970s and population began shrinking until today it has about 3,000.

The Cars on the Route is in a former Kan-O-Tex gas station.  More than 3,000 visitors recently went through it in a three-month period of time.

--RoadDog