The decay of Winkler was the loss of not having a railroad run through the town site. A railroad running through a town almost guarantees growth and survival for small towns in Kansas. Glen Stockwell, a local resident near Winkler during the 1930s, remembered that originally the Leavenworth-Kansas-Western railroad planned on running a line up Fancy Creek, through Winkler. However, the plan fell apart and the line was sent down to Garrison, then to Leonardville.