in 1880 bodie was a bustling gold rush boomtown in california, boasting a population between 5000 - 7000, 2000 buildings, 2 banks, 4 fire companies, several daily newspapers and 65 saloons lining its mile long main street. bodie soon fell from its high perch as the gold started to run out and the residents moved on to find their fortune in other places, the last paper printed in 1912, it was labeled as a ghost town in 1915, the railroad closed in 1917 and the last mine closed in 1942. in 1920 the population had dropped to 120 although there was a few permanent residents through most of the 20th century.
in the 1940s the cain family who owned most of the land hired caretakes to protect and maintain the towns structures, in 1961 bodie was designated a national historic landmark and in 1962 it became bodie state historic park with a total of 170 buildings still remaining. now it stands as a tourist attraction and a permanent reminder of how quickly things change and people move onto the next big thing.
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