A bunch of local dignitaries showed up in Chandler, Okla., on Saturday for the “Arms Around the Armory” ceremonies, including state politicians, philanthropists and city officials.
But the day’s big stars were an enormous stone building and the most famous highway in the world, Route 66.
The first photo was from the groundbreaking ceremony for the future Route 66 Interpretive Center that will be housed in Chandler’s old National Guard Armory. The Armory will be used for more than a Route 66 attraction; it eventually will be a multipurpose facility for wedding receptions, gatherings and other community uses.
The second photo was from a hastily arranged ribbon-cutting on Route 66 itself, which curves in front of the Armory. It celebrated Oklahoma’s Route 66 recent designation as a state scenic highway. Efforts are under way to designate Route 66 in the Sooner State as a national scenic byway.
I love the Mother Road, but I was taken with the Armory. It was a Works Progress Administration project built in 1936-37 from hand-chiseled stone. The walls are 20 inches thick and can withstand a tornado. The first black man to serve in the Oklahoma National Guard, Burton “Lee Lee” Z. Lewis, was sworn in here. Lewis still lives in Chandler as a preacher.
When the local Guard unit moved into a new facility, the Armory fell into disrepair. The city council even considered tearing it down in the 1990s. But a group, Old Armory Restorers, was formed to preserve the building. The Oklahoma Route 66 Association later assisted with the Restorers’ efforts. It is hoped the Route 66 Intepretive Center will be open within a year after extensive renovations.
Indeed, the Armory needs work. Most of the windows are broken out, the wooden doors are rotting, pigeons fluttered about, and pencil-thin beams of sunlight streamed through holes in the roof. The local Guard brought an electrical generator so the building could have lights and heat during the indoor part of the ceremonies.
Yet little imagination was required to see how glorious the Armory was and still could be. Walking through the stone hallways, one felt secure in the building’s sturdy structure. You could almost feel the ghosts of all the Guardsmen that once clomped through there. One could imagine the music acts that once played on the tastefully designed main stage.
The excitement from the 200 or so people who attended was palpable, because they knew they were participating in the preservation of something historically important and giving it a second lease on life.
Chandler Mayor Carl Reherman, who once was mayor of Edmond, said he had been told by some residents that Chandler needed to quit living in the past. Reherman disagreed. “The past is our future,” he said Saturday. He added that he couldn’t tolerate the thought of losing a building like the Armory and the younger generation later asking, “Why didn’t you do something to keep that?”
Concluding the event was a blessing by a member of the Sac & Fox Indian tribe. After noting that Route 66 once was a stagecoach trail, he said this:
“Our history is important. Our future is our history.”
I interviewed Lee Lee Lewis when I worked in Chandler last year. Heckuva nice guy. He’s mostly retired now, but he still preaches here and there and works part-time as a Wal-Mart greeter. I don’t know who hired him for that job, but it was a brilliant move, because he is very upbeat and funny and concerned about other people — the kind of guy people really enjoy being around.
While I was interviewing him, because he got wound up telling funny stories about weddings he’d officiated, and he ended up cracking himself up every time he’d think of another story. I had a devil of a time getting quotes from him, because he was laughing so hard I could barely understand him, but I didn’t care, because he had *me* in stitches, too.