Abandoned 
Overview
A switch on the Frisco
Carson stood on the Frisco railroad about two and a half miles southeast of West Plains, the Howell County seat, by the 1945 place-name record; Wikipedia says about two miles. The same record ties Carson to an older name, China. It calls the China Church, built by Methodists in the 1880s, a union church at Carson, and says the China post office, which a Mr. Curry kept in his store from 1894, was later replaced by Carson's. The Rev. T. Proffitt said the name came from someone who remarked: "We live a way down in China; so we will call our church China."
Other records put China somewhere else. The 1944 USGS sheet labels a China Church about 8.6 miles southwest of the Carson crossing, where Wikipedia places the community of China and its China Union Church, on Route JJ. Jim Forte's postal history dates the China post office 1892 to 1897, eleven years before Carson's opened. We haven't found a source that settles which account is right.
Around 1900 Jack Carson, who owned mines in other parts of Missouri, opened iron mines nearby and ran them successfully for a few years. A track was laid out to the mines, which is why the place was sometimes called Carson Switch. Carson kept a store and the post office, which opened in 1908 and closed in 1928. By 1945 a store and filling station were what remained, and the place-name record has the China Church in use by Baptists and Methodists and as a community building.
That is nearly all the record holds. The Missouri Geological Survey keeps two undated maps of the Carson Mine, one of them for the Missouri Iron & Steel Corporation, in section 35 of T24N R8W. The USGS sheets of 1938, 1944 and 1983 don't label Carson at all.
Timeline
What we know
- Methodists build the China Church. The 1945 place-name record calls it a union church at Carson; the 1944 USGS sheet labels a China Church about 8.6 miles southwest of the Carson crossing.
- A post office called China opens: in 1892 by Jim Forte's postal history, in 1894 by the place-name record, which says a Mr. Curry kept it in his store with mail three times a week. It takes its name from the church.
- The China post office closes, by Jim Forte's postal history.
- Jack Carson, who owns mines elsewhere in Missouri, opens iron mines near the settlement and works them for a few years. A railroad track is run out to the mines, and the place is sometimes called Carson Switch.
- The Carson post office opens. Jack Carson, who has a store there, keeps it. The place-name record says it replaced the China office.
- William R. Haight, the St. Louis financier F. J. Stuart and others develop the mines at Carson and set up a smelter, but the war ends before the work is finished.
- Baptists organize a congregation called Grand View and use the China Church.
- The Carson post office closes.
- Cora Ann Pottenger's place-name thesis says a store and filling station remain at Carson. It is the latest description we found.
Site map
Where the town stood
The mapped point sits where Route ZZ crosses the railroad. On the 1938 sheet that crossing is a plain road junction, with Langston School and Howell Valley Church to the northeast and a mine symbol in section 35 to the southwest. The 1944 sheet shows West Plains to the northwest and Chapin down the line to the southeast. By 1983 the map marks strip mines and a pond in section 35, the section where the state's mine-map index puts the Carson Mine. We haven't been able to confirm whether any building from Carson still stands.
Historic maps
Carson on USGS maps, 1938–1983
Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.
Map & directions
Getting there
West Plains is next door, about seven minutes away by US 63 and Route ZZ. From Springfield the drive runs east on US 60 and south on US 63. Both routes end where Route ZZ meets the railroad. We haven't been there, and we don't know of anything to see.
Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.
- From Court Square, take East Main Street east.0.5 mi
- Continue on US 63 Business: Jackie D Garrett Drive, East Main Street and Bill Virdon Boulevard.1.3 mi
- Turn left on the Jan Howard Expressway (US 63).0.5 mi
- Turn left on Route ZZ to the railroad crossing.1.2 mi
- From Park Central Square, take South Avenue south, then West Grand Street.1.0 mi
- Turn left on South Campbell Avenue.2.6 mi
- Turn left on West Battlefield Road, then right on South National Avenue.2.3 mi
- Take the ramp onto the James River Freeway (US 60) and follow US 60 east.85.1 mi
- Keep right onto US 63 south.21.2 mi
- Turn left on Route ZZ to the railroad crossing.1.2 mi
Road and safety notes
- The routes are computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.
- We don't know who owns the land at the site. Stay on public roads and off the railroad.
Photos
Have photos of Carson?
We haven’t added more photographs of Carson yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.
Visitor reports
Been to Carson?
Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.
Other mining and oil
More lead, iron, mercury and oil ghost towns
The nearest in Missouri, then the nearest elsewhere.
GuidePhenix
37.38, -93.55Greene County, Missouri
A company town built around a marble quarry on Sugar Creek, once among the biggest stone producers west of the Mississippi. The town emptied, but the…
GuideRush
36.13, -92.57Marion County, Arkansas
Prospectors came looking for silver and found zinc. Rush boomed with World War I, emptied after it, and now sits inside Buffalo National River with…
Nearby
Other sites near Carson
Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Missouri index.
Sources
Sources and credits
- Wikipedia, "Carson, Missouri", retrieved October 2026: coordinates, Route ZZ and the railroad, post office 1908 to 1928 (citing Jim Forte Postal History), Jack Carson as namesake.
- State Historical Society of Missouri, Ramsay Place Names File, Howell County, entries Carson, Carson Switch, China, China Church and Haigart, from Cora Ann Pottenger, "Place Names of Five Southern Border Counties of Missouri" (M.A. thesis, University of Missouri, 1945): location on the Frisco, Jack Carson's store, post office and iron mines, Carson Switch, the 1945 store and filling station, the China post office and church, the World War I mine and smelter work.
- Missouri Geological Survey, mine maps for T24N R8W, read October 2026: two undated maps of the Carson Mine (iron), section 35, one for the Missouri Iron & Steel Corporation.
- Wikipedia, "China, Missouri", retrieved October 2026: China and the China Union Church on Route JJ, the GNIS point for China, post office 1892 to 1897 (citing Jim Forte Postal History).
- Jim Forte Postal History, Howell County post offices, archived copy of April 10, 2015: Carson 1908 to 1928, China 1892 to 1897.
- Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, West Plains sheets of 1938, 1944 and 1983; the 1944 sheet also labels China Church southwest of Carson. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.
Photo and map credits
- Carson's crossing on the 1983 USGS sheet, with strip mines in section 35 to the southwest: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
- Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
- Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): West Plains 1938, 1:24,000; West Plains 1944, 1:62,500; West Plains 1983, 1:24,000.