Boots Motel begins removal of gabled roof

Workers on Tuesday began removing a gabled roof from the Boots Motel in Carthage, Mo., so its owners could return the Route 66 landmark to its original flat roof, reported the Carthage Press.

Co-owners Deb Harvey and her sister, Priscilla Bledsaw, and manager Deborah “Debbie Dee” Real were all smiles Tuesday morning when Brothers Construction rolled in to start removing the gabled roof in order to re-install the flat roof. Harvey estimated the “Raze the Roof” project would take about three weeks until it was finished. […]

“Bye bye roof,” Harvey said, watching from the ground with a camera in hand. “Nobody’s going to miss you.” […]

In celebration of the completed roof and as a Boots Court Motel sign re-lighting party, an event will be held in late April or early May. By then, the motel will be able to enjoy its first full tourism season.

Returning the motel to its flat roof would make it eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, and thus make it eligible for more historic grants.

Last year, the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program awarded the motel a matching grant of $12,000 to help remove the gabled roof — built in the late 1970s — and restore the flat roof. The motel faced a deadline of late April to remove the roof, or it would have to forfeit the money.

A Raze the Roof volunteer project was schedule for the weekend of March 23-24, but the owners canceled the event because of bad weather.

UPDATE 3/28/2013: Ron Hart at the Route 66 Chamber of Commerce sent these photos from the first day of the roof removal:

UPDATE 3/30/2013: KOAM-TV posted this story about the work being done:

KOAM TV 7 Joplin and Pittsburg

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