Before Interstate 77 became part of the Mid-Ohio Valley, the major north-south route was U.S. 21, which wound through the communities of Lower Salem, Elba and Macksburg and into Dexter City in Noble County.
Now Ohio 821, the roadway was busy, and so were the communities it bisected.
"Us kids were forever being cautioned to stay off the highway, away from the big trucks that came through one after another," Dexter City Mayor Emily Warren once told The Marietta Times.
But after the interstate was built, those trucks had a better route and the populations and relevance of those communities began to shrink.
The interstate, coupled with the frequent flooding of Duck Creek, have essentially made a ghost town of Elba, once home to a railroad station, coal mines and several businesses.
Today, there are only a handful of homes left and no businesses.
"It's not even a community anymore really, although the signs (saying 'Elba') are still up," said one-time resident Cheryl Evans, 62. "There's nothing left. I don't even go through there anymore."
In its heyday, Elba had hundreds of residents, three competing general stores, several grocery stores, a hotel, church and a few doctors.
Highway 21 served for years as the main route for people who worked in Cleveland's steel mills and Akron's tire factories who had relatives in West Virginia.
By 1982, the last store and even the post office were closed in Elba.
There was a similar decline in nearby Dexter City, which had a school, numerous stores and population much higher than the fewer than 200 people who live there today.
"If people still had to come through the area to get somewhere, there would need to be gas stations, restaurants and all kinds of stuff," said Evans. "I don't think it would be as empty as it is today."
But there are also advantages to the lack of traffic coming through, say some residents.
"It's quiet here, and I think that's why people live here," said Ken Haas, of Lower Salem. "I like the peace. We're not a ghost town like some other places. We're just a nice little community."
