The Shoe Tree, a landmark on old Route 66 near Stroud, Okla., toppled over a few weeks ago.
The Shoe Tree was a tree where Route 66 travelers tossed their old footwear into its branches. I’m not certain how long it had been there, but my copy of “Oklahoma Route 66” by Jim Ross includes a 1997 photo of the tree with shoes in it even then.
It wasn’t apparent what caused the tree’s trunk to snap about three feet from the ground, but I’m sure the extra weight of the shoes didn’t help. The tree had looked sickly in recent years.
According to reader posts in Roadside America, the tree fell between Sept. 24 and Sept. 29.
This is the second shoe tree on Route 66 to bite the dust this year. In April, a shoe tree near Amboy, Calif., toppled over, although a Lingerie Tree nearby seems to have taken its place.
The most famous shoe tree likely is the one on U.S. 50 near Middlegate, Nev. It’s a huge cottonwood tree that’s been there for decades. Roadside America keeps track of several other shoe trees across the country.
What stinks about the Stroud Shoe Tree’s demise is the nearby Shoe Tree Trading Post, which sits on a semi-abandoned 1926-84 alignment of Route 66 off the “new” Oklahoma 66, has lost its namesake. And it seems no other tree has taken its place … not yet, anyway.
The Shoe Tree Trading Post was closed Sunday, so I couldn’t get more information about the deceased tree from the owners.