Rod Harsh of Route66TVOnline.com has acquired a vintage Sinclair service station on Route 66 in Carterville, Mo., and is converting it into a Route 66 Visitors Welcome Center and an office for his video production and Visit66.com Web site businesses.
A current-day photo of the gas station is above. A photo of the station and its owner from 1937 is seen below. It’s at 401 W. Main St. (map is here).
According to Harsh’s news release:
The property includes an adjacent grassy lot which has several trees which will become a picnic area for visitor use (the Route 66 Diner is next door, and will prepare box lunches). Convenient access to the building and parking lot is suitable for larger traveling groups, and RV overnight parking will be offered along with free Wi-Fi high-speed wireless internet access. A computer will also be available for visitors who may wish to check their e-mails. The VISIT 66 Welcome Center and Gift Shop will be open seven days a week, beginning later this month. The Gift Shop will offer a full array of Route 66 gifts, books, videos, postcards, caps, wearing apparel, maps, Route 66 sodas, guide books and exhibits. A tour guide brochure of southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas Route 66 businesses and attractions will also be handed-out to visitors who are traveling in either direction.
Harsh also said he would travel the route several times to film documentaries about the Mother Road that will be offered on DVD.
One of their first productions will focus on the National Route 66 Festival, which is scheduled for late June in Clinton, Oklahoma. Using video footage from this event, several 15- and 30-second promotional spots will be produced for distribution to national broadcast, satellite and cable television networks, and will also be placed on numerous Web sites for access worldwide.
Although it won’t be fully open for a few weeks, the Route 66 Visitors Welcome Center will be open during Carterville’s 125th anniversary celebration on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
I’m glad to see this happen. Carterville is a town between Joplin and Carthage that has tried its darnedest over the past few years to play up its Route 66 connection, and it can use all the tourist money it can get.
Also, Route 66 tourism efforts in that part of southwest Missouri have been relatively meager. Harsh’s efforts should help rectify that situation.
