EAST PRAIRIE - This is a story about small town life.
Like so many small towns in Southeast Missouri, East Prairie once supported a thriving downtown. Pat Helms recalls when weekends were booming as families crowded East Prairie's two movie theaters, stores were busy welcoming customers and those teens lucky enough to have a car filled the seats with their friends and cruised from the East Side Mobil to the West Side Mobil then back east again.
Times changed though. The theaters closed and so did some of the businesses. Teens hopped in their cars and found more activity further down the highway.
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