Preservation Online: Preservation 911 Archives: Kicks on Route 66

From Preservation Online, the online magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

www.preservationonline.org

Signs of Rust on Missouri's Route 66

Readers seek help for preservation emergencies / Jan. 21, 2003

Dear Preservation 911,

Missouri's icons of Route 66—signs, buildings, businesses along the highway that give us a sense of the highway's history—are rapidly disappearing. I'm attempting to preserve the state's signs along U.S. 66. The folks I am working with are affiliated with Friends of the Mother Road, Inc., and the Route 66 Association of Missouri. We must do what we can now to save what is left.

We are trying to save two signs. The first is the Arch Motel Sign in St. Clair, Mo. From what I understand, the sign is "ours for the taking" if we can move it. The state's department of transportation is improving that section of road and wants the sign to be removed. No one objects to the sign being moved to a safe haven like the Route 66 State Park or the Museum of Transportation. The problem is, the sign is close to 40 feet tall. We must determine how to transport it (it will be in 3 pieces) and how to put it back together. After that, who can restore the neon on the sign? It spans 40 feet of the sign and was once magnificent.

The second sign is the Stanley Cour-Tel sign on North Lindbergh north of I-70 in St. Louis County, Mo. The Stanley has more significance than just being on Route 66: The Apollo I astronauts stayed at the motel while training for the first manned space mission. Unfortunately, the Cour-Tel is scheduled for demolition to make room for a new runway for Lambert Airport. Yet the city of St. Louis, which owns the sign, says the sign's fate is in the hands of the demolition crew, who will, as part of getting the demolition contract, get the "salvage," which includes the sign). At this point, the demolition crew will not be chosen until the end of this year. When that happens, we will need ANYONE interested to write letters, and the inspiration of anyone who can provide assistance in moving the small sign that measures 10 feet by 15 feet.

That is what we all have to do to preserve what is left along Route 66 (as well as any other blue highway that you may hold near and dear to your heart). If we don't do something now, we may be looking at a road and nothing else—and that isn't what traveling Route 66 is all about.

Thank you,

Kip Welborn
Friends of the Mother Road, Inc.
Route 66 Association of Missouri

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