The special Route 66 experience: A new place, built from old buildings.
Located about 18 miles north of Red Oak II, Red Oak (I) was a small town that, like many others, suffered depopulation after World War II as many people migrated to the larger cities. Lovell Davis was one of them. Growing up in Red Oak, he left town and returned there in the 1970s to find nothing but abandoned houses.
Finally, in 1987, he began buying old buildings from nearby ghost towns, bringing them to Red Oak II, restoring them and restoring them to their former glory. Red Oak II has everything a location needs: a town hall which houses the visitor center, school, blacksmith shop, general store, gas station, diner, police station, jail and even an authentic old graveyard.
Most of the houses are now privately owned again and occupied by people who, like Davis, are in love with the past.