February 23, 1983

The Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy all of Times Beach and evacuate the town. After concluding that all the land in the town was contaminated with dioxin, government agencies spent nearly $40 million to buy out the 800 properties. The land was eventually cleaned and reopened as Route 66 State Park.

Based upon content from the book Missouri 365: This Day in Missouri History by John W. Brown, broadcaster and Missouri historian. Get your copy at Reedy Press.

Photo credit: “Route 66 State Park” by Roadgeek Adam is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0