“Success builds success.”
“One thing leads to another.”
Those observations describe the positive momentum that is happening in a rural community in central Kansas.
Dave Mueller has played a leading role in the resurgence of the town of Tampa in Marion County. Mueller grew up on a farm near Tampa. After attending K-State, he worked for a national feed company before coming back to join his father on the farm. Mueller raises crops and runs a cow-calf operation on the family farm today.
Tampa is a historic community. It was a frequent stop for wagon trains traveling along the Santa Fe Trail. Over time, it experienced the typical struggles of smaller rural Kansas communities, such as declining population and outmigration. By the late 2000s, most of the businesses in downtown Tampa had closed.
“My aunt and uncle, Butch and Phyllis, had operated Butch’s Café (in Tampa) since 1980,” Mueller said. By 2009, Butch had passed and Phyllis was wanting to retire. “I bought the building so that the café could continue to operate.”
Next door to the café was an abandoned building. Mueller approached that building’s owner about purchasing it, but the owner was unwilling to sell. One day while Mueller’s crew was replacing the roof on the café building, the roof on the abandoned building next door collapsed. Continue reading “Dave Mueller, Tampa Trail Stop”
