The National Trust for Historic Preservation included Route 66 motels on its annual list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, which was announced today in Washington, D.C.
America’s priceless heritage is at risk—from the storied waterfronts of Brooklyn to the neon-clad mom-and-pop motels of Route 66—some of America’s most irreplaceable landmarks are threatened. […]
“The sites on this year’s list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places embody the diversity and complexity of America’s story, and the variety of threats that endanger it,” said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “The places on this year’s list span the continent and encompass the breadth of the American experience. Each one is enormously important to our understanding of who we are as a nation and a people.” […]
Historic Route 66 Motels, Ill. To Calif. — Affectionately called “The Mother Road,” Route 66 is known for quirky roadside attractions and unique mom-and-pop motels, constructed between the late 1920 and late 1950s and often clad in neon. In recent years, Route 66 motels in hot real-estate markets have been torn down at record rates, while in cold real-estate markets, motels languish and are being reclaimed by the forces of nature.
So what’s the big deal about the National Trust’s list? Plenty.
According to the group:
Since 1988, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has used its list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places as a powerful alarm to raise awareness of the serious threats facing the nation’s greatest treasures. […] The list, which has identified 189 sites through 2007, has been so successful in galvanizing preservation efforts across the country and rallying resources to save one-of-a-kind landmarks that in just two decades, an astounding 52 percent [my emphasis] of the sites have been saved and rehabilitated. While the fight is not over for many of these historic places, only 6 sites have been lost since the Trust launched the 11 Most program.
In other words, the list improves a historic property’s chance of being saved.
The other endangered sites are:
- Brooklyn’s Industrial Waterfront, New York
- El Camino Real National Historic Trail, New Mexico
- H.H. Richardson House, Brookline, Mass.
- Hialeah Park, Hialeah, Fla.
- Historic places in power line corridors in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware
- Historic structures in Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri
- Minidoka Internment National Monument, Jerome County, Idaho
- Philip Simmons Workshop and Home, Charleston, S.C.
- Pinon Canyon, Colorado
- Stewart’s Point Rancheria , Sonoma County, Calif.
A 30-second spot on the History Channel about the 11 most endangered historic places will begin airing June 21 and continue through mid-July.
Incidentally, several of the photos included with the National Trust’s news release came from Jim Ross, a longtime Route 66 historian and photographer in Oklahoma.
(Photo credits: Boots Motel in Carthage, Mo., by Jim Ross; Triangle Motel in Amarillo, Texas, by Mary Ann Waber; Vernelle’s Motel near Arlington, Mo., by Jim Ross; West Winds Motel in Erick, Okla., by Mary Ann Waber; and El Vado Motel in Albuquerque, N.M., by Jim Ross.)