Seven Seven THE HEART OF MISSOURI LACLEDE AND WEBSTER COUNTIES The 1923 bridge over the Gasconade River consists of one 80-foot Warren pony truss, two 161-foot Parker through truss spans, and one 123-foot Pratt through truss. After Interstate 44 was completed, Old 66 became the service road. The bridge was closed due to safety concerns in December 2014. The Missouri Department of Transportation began construction of a new span in 2018. The old bridge was allowed to stand while preservation efforts continued. (Steve Rider Collection.) The new roadway creating four-lane Route 66 was under construction at the Gasconade River when this photograph looking east was taken in March 1959. Note the temporary connector roads. St. Louis businessman Stanley M. Riggs built the Eden Resort, on the right, in the 1920s. Walter and Helen Dickinson bought the Eden in 1946 and ran it until the early 1970s. Nothing remains of the resort today. (Missouri State Archives.) Lebanon was originally named Wyota for an Indian village. Jessie and Pete Hudson owned the Munger-Moss sandwich shop at Devils Elbow when it was bypassed. They bought the Chicken Shanty Restaurant at Lebanon in 1946 and added the Munger Moss Motel next door. The original seven cottages had rooms at each end and garages in the middle. They were later connected, and the complex grew to 71 rooms. (Ramona Lehman.) The neon sign at the Munger Moss still serves as a beacon for Route 66 travelers. Pete Hudson, the owner at the time, was inspired by the dramatic sign at the Rest Haven in Springfield and added the marquee with the sweeping arrow in 1955. Bob and Ramona Lehman have operated this treasure since moving from Iowa in 1971. The sign was restored in 2010 with assistance from the Route 66 Association of Missouri and the National Park Service. On June 10, 1950, Glenn Wrinkle opened Wrink’s Food Market on Route 66 on the east end of Lebanon. He operated the market until February 21, 2005, and died in March 2005 at the age of 82. One of Glenn’s sons, Terry Wrinkle, reopened the store in 2007, but it closed again in 2009. It then briefly housed another business that also closed. Glenn’s granddaughter Katie Hapner brought Wrink’s back to life in June 2017. Newlyweds Lois and Emis Spears spent their honeymoon with his parents counting cars along the roadside in search of a good location for a tourist camp. In 1927, they settled in on the gravel Route 66 at Lebanon and called their place Camp Joy. The sign at the exit read, “Teach Your Baby to Say Camp Joy.” Later known as the Joy Motel, it remained in the family until 1971 and closed in the 1980s. Only a single cabin remains today. Andy Liebl’s Street Car Grill occupied two old streetcars salvaged from Springfield, Missouri. The diner was known for “Andy’s Famous Fried Domestic Rabbit.” It also advertised “The Finest Food in the Ozarks” and “Lebanon’s Cleanest Café.” The Street Car Grill closed in 1961. It was located just east of Carter and Lawson’s gas station, which became Orchard Hills Liquor. Honorary colonel Arthur T. Nelson donated the right-of-way through his apple orchard for Missouri 14 (later US 66). Nelson’s Tavern, at Highway 66 and Missouri 5, opened on January 21, 1930. It never actually sold alcohol and was later known as Nelson’s Hotel. Lush gardens surrounded the hotel, and the interior was filled with plants (including palm trees) and exotic caged birds. “Nelsonville” was leveled for a supermarket in 1958. (Lebanon–Laclede County Library.) While working on the Missouri displays at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, Arthur Nelson saw a fountain with colored lights synchronized with music. Nelson said his design for a tourist court came to him later in a dream. Across 66 from the Nelson Hotel, records played over a loudspeaker at the lighted fountain in the Dream Village. The entire complex was demolished in 1977. (Lebanon–Laclede County Library.) The first contract signed under the Interstate Highway Act on August 2, 1956, was for 13.8 miles of four-lane highway between Lebanon and Hazelgreen. A new section, opened in December 1957 at Phillipsburg, bypassed this Frisco Railroad underpass with a clearance of just 13 feet, 5 inches. Some truckers had to let air out of their tires to get through. The old underpass remains on present-day Route W. (Missouri State Archives.) S.W. “Sim” Harris had the market cornered at the intersection with Route J in Conway. His two gas stations and Harris Modern Camp occupied three corners, and the family home was on the fourth. His son Barney opened the Harris Café next to one of the stations in 1931 and later moved to the four-lane route. Old Route 66, now Route CC, is a nice drive well away from the interstate between Conway and Marshfield. In 1940, a prominent attorney built the Abbylee Court and Café “Among the Trees” west of Conway. Some of the cabins were used regularly by a group of bootleggers. Ernest Cunningham, a mail carrier from Kansas, took over in 1949, and the café burned in 1950. By 1963, the Abbylee was no longer a motel. The seven white clapboard cabins were converted to monthly rentals and still stand, along with the old sign. Off Interstate 44 at Exit 107, a nondescript ruin is crumbling among the choking weeds. It was once one of the most memorable places on Highway 66. Kermit and Letha Lowery wanted to make sure travelers would remember the name of the café they opened in 1952, so they called it the Garbage Can. Known for its little round pies, a recipe Letha inherited from the Harris Café in Conway, the Garbage Can closed in 1973. (Missy Lowery.) The Skyline was the café at the original Marshfield Airport and golf course. Herman and Cleta Pearce built it in 1947 on the site of the old Trask’s Place Station and Café. Except for the propeller on the wall, the interior was typical of the small cafés in the Ozarks. The Skyline was expanded in 1957 using a building moved from Evangel College, and the country club purchased the site after the café closed in May 1963. Route 66 in Marshfield is named in honor of local Edwin Hubble, the astronomer who proved the existence of galaxies outside the Milky Way. A replica of the Hubble Space Telescope sits on the courthouse lawn. The Sinclair Tourist Camp at the west entrance to town was operated by Marshall Lane, who built a new station with his son-in-law after World War II. It later became the R and J Café. A gas station still stands here today. When the new four-lane US 66 was constructed, Spur Drive was built to connect with Marshfield. The intersection shown here in June 1955 became one of the deadliest on Route 66 due to the high speeds and cross traffic. Prior to 1957, “reasonable and prudent” was the only speed limit on Missouri highways. On the left is the Spur Café, which was owned and operated by George and Jean Barnes. From Springfield to the west, Route 66 was either paved or under contract to be paved in 1926. The first section of concrete highway in Missouri was the 7.4-mile section from Webb City to the Kansas state line, poured in 1920 and designated Federal Aid Project No. 2. Construction was overseen by John Malang of the Joplin Special Road District, who later became state superintendent of highways. Eight Eight