A short history of Soulsby Station October 16, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Gas stations, History, Preservation.add a comment
Here’s a video about Soulsby Service Station, which has sit on a corner of old Route 66 in Mount Olive, Ill., since 1926.
According to the description of the video, it was for a class project. It turned out pretty well.
Help Avilla save its post office October 16, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Route 66 Associations, Towns.1 comment so far
A few weeks ago, longtime roadie Tonya Pike and her father Tommy Pike, president of the Route 66 Association of Missouri, attended a public hearing about the possible closure of the post office in Avilla, Mo.
This weekend, she has issued a report … and a plea:
As many of you are aware, the United States Postal Service is in financial trouble. They are presently targeting postal facilities all over the USA for closure.
A couple of weeks ago, a meeting was held at Avilla, Missouri, to discuss the closing of their post office. For any one who has traveled Route 66, the post office at Avilla is one of the most visible on Route 66 in Missouri. It is in a red brick building, highly visible and roughly a half-block north/east of 66, just west of Bernie’s Bar & Café at Avilla, which fronts out on Route 66, aka Highway 96, in Avilla. The building itself is was originally a bank, built in 1915. It was leased to the USPS in 1952 and has served as the Avilla Post Office ever since.
The owner of the post office building, Nancy Young, has asked for assistance from the Route 66 roadies and the Route 66 Association of Missouri to stop the closure of the Avilla Post Office. Hence, my father and I journeyed to Avilla to sit in on this particular post office closing meeting. The meeting was held at a church in Avilla and was attended by over half of the Avilla’s population of 125.
The first half of the meeting was presided over by a representative of the USPS, whose name I unfortunately did not get. It was basically a question and answer period. Numerous objections were raised. The main ones included:
1) Home delivery precludes assistance with many post office services, particularly if you are unable or unwilling to do USPS business online.
2) Due to a lack of other businesses in Avilla, it is very unlikely that a “village post office” can be set up in another business in Avilla, meaning anyone who has to go in to a post office to conduct business will have to travel to Reeds or Carthage, Missouri to do so. Not everyone present at the meeting felt that they could travel to one of those places during the hours the post offices in those locations were open to conduct their postal business. It was also pointed out that only a very small number of the services currently performed at a regular post office can be done at a “village post office” even if one could be set up.
3) If the post office is closed, the people of Avilla will have to sit home all day and wait on their postman in order to complete most postal services from home, such as purchasing money orders or signing & receiving certified mail.
4) Loss of the post office will be a major blow to the economy of Avilla, as there are only 4 businesses left in the town proper itself and that is including the post office.
5) This post office is frequently a stop for foreign visitors traveling Route 66. And note here, this was initially voiced by Avilla residents, not my father or myself, although we did voice remarks supporting this claim. The day of the meeting alone, the Avilla Post Office had customers from Germany and Russia who were Route 66 travelers, mailing postcards back home.
The last reason gave the USPS representative a bit of discomfort. She honestly did not know how to respond to the statement that closing the Avilla Post Office will deprive foreign visitors of a very special Americana experience.
After the USPS representative finished her question and answer period with the citizens of Avilla and left to go to another post office closing meeting, Steven Vanderhoof, president of the retiree’s Missouri Chapter of the National Postmasters of the United States, addressed the group. He quickly explained that this proposed closure of post offices across the USA is essentially a tactic to get citizens riled up so that the USPS can ask Congress to allow them to cut postal service back to 5 days a week. And, along the way, if the USPS can close any post offices in areas where there are not citizens who care about their post office, so much the better. He also pointed out that if the USPS were to close 10,000 of the 36,000 US post offices, it would save the USPS less than 1% of it’s yearly budget!
Mr. Vanderhoof went on to say, that in all the communities where he’d attended meetings about closing post offices, the meeting at Avilla was the first time he’d heard Route 66 travelers given as a reason that a post office should NOT be closed. He stated that this was a unique qualification that needed to be capitalized on. He also told the group that in communities where the citizenship protested the closing of their post office, for the most part, the post offices were being left open. And this is why I am posting about this. The City of Avilla and the Avilla Post Office need our help.
With that, Pike asks that Route 66 fans write five letters by Nov. 13, requesting that the Avilla post office be kept open.
Very important, the first letter needs to be addressed to:
Postmaster
205 Greenfield St.
Avilla, MO 64833This letter is the most critical and needs to be done as soon as possible, as it will be submitted in a package on Nov. 17 up thru postal service channels by the Avilla Postmaster. If you can’t write all five letters, if you can at least write this one, that would be a huge help. Please state very clearly that you are opposed to the closing of the Avilla Post Office because of its negative impact on not only the citizenship and economy of Avilla, but because it denies both domestic and foreign visitors traveling Route 66 a chance to experience America by posting mail from a historic building in sight of a Missouri state scenic by-way, which is Route 66.
If you can write only one letter, please, please, please, make it out to the Postmaster at Avilla. These letters are the only letters that the USPS will consider in making their final decision about closing the Avilla, Missouri Post Office, and they must be submitted by the Avilla Postmaster for the USPS to consider them.
Then, please send four additional letters of protest to the legislators over the Avilla area. These letters should express our displeasure that A) a post office would be removed from both such a small community where it’s economic impact will be great and where there are not facilities for other alternatives, such as a village post office, B) that a business will be removed from Route 66 that may deny travelers an American experience, and C) closing post offices isn‘t going to provide the necessary financial assistance that our postal service needs anyway. The addresses for these letters are as follows:
The Honorable Claire McCaskill
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510The Honorable Roy Blunt
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510The Honorable Billy Long
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515The Honorable Jay Nixon
Governor’s Office
201 W. Capitol Ave.
Jefferson City, MO 65101The purpose of sending these additional four letters is to let them know that people are not in favor of closing the post office in hopes that they will vote in the future in such a way that allows most of our post offices to stay open.
If you have any additional questions, you can email Tonya at tjp_666(at)yahoo(dot)com .
Bloomington gas station marks 70th year October 15, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Gas stations, People.add a comment
There aren’t too many of gas stations this old anymore.
According to an article today in the Bloomington Pantagraph, Quinn’s Shell is marking its 70th year of business today at Main and Chestnut streets (map here) in Bloomington, Ill. And, yes, it’s on Route 66.
Though it may look like any other Shell station, it boasts old-time attributes. First, it’s one of the few full-service stations still around. And second …
There aren’t a whole lot of places where a dog can just hang out while his owner fills the gas tank, but Quinn’s Shell in Bloomington is definitely one of them.
Take Coco, a chocolate lab who wandered in for a few treats Friday while owner Dan Riccolo of Bloomington filled up. It has become a regular habit for man and man’s best friend.
“When we’re driving here, when we start getting close, he notices the place, and perks up and gets all excited,” said Riccolo. “This is Coco’s favorite place.”
It just speaks to the informal, throwback atmosphere of Quinn’s, which today celebrates 70 years as a neighborhood service station on the corner of Main and Chestnut streets. Elmo Quinn has owned the business since 1978, and has worked there since his high school years in the 1950s.
Quinn, incidentally, is the fellow who pumps your gas, washes the windshield, and checks your car’s fluids. He’s 71 years old, and he remains the station’s only full-time worker.
And, according to one Yelp review, Quinn’s still sells ethanol-free gasoline.
Coffee shop opens in old St. Clair bus stop October 15, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Restaurants.add a comment
Maxine Scheske, 77, has opened The Old Bus Stop Coffee Shop along old Route 66 in what was an old bus depot in St. Clair, Mo., according to The Missourian of Washington, Mo.
The coffee shop, which doubles as an art gallery for works by locals, is open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. Scheske said she opened the vacant space because she wanted a place were residents could “just relax and hang out.”
As far as the building, Scheske said it was constructed in 1940 “and has quite a history of various usages.”
She believes the building originally was constructed to house a car dealership and adjoining garage, and it later became the St. Clair bus depot along the old historic Route 66, which now is Commercial Avenue through parts of the city.
The building was purchased and turned into an auto parts store, and it remained that until about 1989. It then became Moe’s Pizza. It later was a Mexican restaurant and other cafes, Scheske said.
The Old Bus Stop Coffee Shop is at 545 N. Commercial Ave. (map here).
Artist takes inspiration from Arizona 66 October 15, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Events, Photographs, Signs.1 comment so far
Angela Carlsen, an artist based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, used a trip on Arizona’s Route 66 to help end her artist’s block.
The result of that journey is her latest art show, “Arizona Neon,” at Argyle Fine Art in Halifax, starting tonight. The exhibit runs through Oct. 30.
According to The Chronicle-Herald of Halifax:
“I love the desert,” says the Halifax photographer, “and the romanticism of the old road trip where you’re eating at family-run diners and staying at family-run motels.” [...]
When she looked at all her Arizona photographs back home what jumped out at her were the large, period, neon signs advertising motels, restaurants and trading posts.
She stayed at some of the roadside hotels, including the Western Hills, with a sign featuring a covered horse-drawn wagon. “Oh my God, well let me tell you. I pulled in at dark, because I’d drive until it got dark, and the lobby probably hasn’t been changed since 1960-something and it was messy and a 15-year-old kid signed me in. It was $35 a night. And it was great.
“Route 66 runs along train tracks. So everywhere I stayed I’d hear the trains at night, so it was such a romantic experience.”
She thinks the signs are “one-of-a-kind pieces of art.” Because there was so much traffic on Route 66 “and there were so many businesses on the old route, they needed to have signs that stood out.”
For the “Arizona Neon” artwork, Carlsen applied digital images to 3-by-3-foot wood panels, making the work look like old-time Polaroid images.
Each image is a blaring, wacky sign on a full-colour background in blue or pink or orange. Beneath the signs are meticulous, faint, pencil drawings of the Grand Canyon, or a teepee in front of a line of rail cars. These images are taken from her scenic Arizona photographs and are not directly connected to the signs.
A sample of Carlsen’s work can be seen here. Images include signs from the Supai Motel and Copper Cart restaurant in Seligman, Pow Wow Trading Post and Butterfield Steakhouse in Holbrook, and the Western Hills Motel in Flagstaff.
Next year, Carlsen wants to buy a camper van and explore New Mexico.
Route 66 makes a financial impact on Illinois towns October 14, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Museums, People, Preservation, Road trips, Towns.1 comment so far
The Chicago Tribune tonight has posted a remarkable article about how Route 66 has financially impacted the towns along it. (The story’s print edition will be on newsstands Saturday.)
The report contains eye-popping data:
While many small towns across the country are struggling to keep their downtowns afloat, Pontiac and a string of other Illinois communities scattered along the famed Route 66 are enjoying newfound popularity as foreign tourists roll in by rental car, motorcycle and bus.
The visitors come from Armenia and Ukraine with cameras around their necks, road maps in hand and money in their pockets. They tell locals they heard about the highway on international travel programs and read about it in guide books. Some catch an all-night flight to Chicago, skipping the downtown attractions to head out on the “Mother Road.” [...]
And the homegrown tourism efforts are getting results. Shops in downtown Pontiac, for example, report an 8 percent increase in business over last year. The number of visitors has grown from 6,900 in 2008 to more than 15,000 so far this year, with representation from 84 countries, according to tourism officials.
The story goes on to describe how towns have renovated historic properties or added new Route 66-related attractions to help draw those tourist dollars. Longtime preservationist John Weiss earns a prominent mention.
And sometimes simple hospitality is worth more than gold:
When a tour group books an overnight stay, Pontiac — population 12,000 — offers a personal greeting from the mayor, a free tour on the “Jolly Trolley” and a complimentary performance of a Route 66 musical by a local acting troupe. Retired foreign language teachers from the high school greet foreign visitors in their native tongues.
The Tribune also created this video to accompany the story.
The year in review from one corner of the road October 14, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Uncategorized.add a comment
Historic Seligman Sundries in Seligman, Ariz., has posted a “2011 in Review” video.
I asked owner Frank Kocevar whether he was doing this early, since 2011 still has about 10 weeks left. But he said their tourism season ends in late October.
“I saw all of the Christmas decorations in the stores. Isn’t it close enough?” he added. He has a point.
The version of Bobby Troup’s “Route 66″ is performed by The Road Crew.