Photographer Lowell Baumunk is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this documentary photography. From the project ‘High Plains’. To see Lowell’s body of work, click on any photograph.

In the yard of an abandoned gas station. Ordway, Colorado.

Modern grain elevators and a view down Main Street. McDonald, Kansas.

Grain storage accounts for the monumental architecture of the High Plains. Vehicles seem miniaturized. The old hotel is in remarkably good condition relative to similar buildings in neighboring towns. Taken in Holyoke, Colorado.

Grain storage elevators and local bar. Decorated for Christmas. Benkelman, Nebraska.

These photos were taken on a week-long car trip, visiting small towns in eastern Colorado, western Nebraska, western Kansas, western Oklahoma, and northeastern New Mexico.

These are farming communities- commercial and civic centers serving an area of surrounding agricultural production. In the early twentieth century substantial brick or stone stores and other businesses were built along the Main Streets. At their peak, populations of a few hundred to a few thousand people worked as shopkeepers, bankers, teachers, ministers and whatever else was needed to serve their communities.

But now there is an air of desolation. Most of the storefronts on Main Street are abandoned by the grocers, druggists and general merchandise enterprises that were once important to serving the needs of the community. People who still live here often order goods on-line or drive to larger towns for the likes of Wal-Mart.

Once was a drug store. Haigler, Nebraska.

A downtown business recently converted for a higher purpose. Springer, New Mexico.

Hotel Ordway and other architectural remnants of a more prosperous time. Ordway, Colorado.

An abandoned downtown business. LaJunta, Colorado.

About the Photographer

I am a veteran photographer, most often involved in street photography and portraiture.  I grew up in small towns similar to those featured in my series “High Plains.”  I’m currently working on photos taken on the streets of Rome, Naples and Palermo.

All images and text © Lowell Baumunk