Not long after the awful Joplin tornado, another strong twister struck Oklahoma around the El Reno area. After reading numerous media accounts of the twister, I had assumed that Route 66 landmarks had emerged relatively unscathed.
I was wrong.
During a eastbound trip Sunday on old Route 66, we’d discovered that an old gas station at U.S. 270 and old Route 66 near Calumet had been flattened by the twister.
This is what the station looked like in 2009:
Here’s what it looks like today:
It appeared the old gas station took a direct hit. The station had stood tall for decades despite neglect, but it was no match for the twister, which later was estimated to be an F-5 tornado.
Many trees were stripped of their branches along an approximate one-mile stretch of Route 66, and many utility poles had obviously been replaced.
Another strange sight was found less than a mile east of the ruined station — a massive field of twisted metal from wrecked buildings or equipment. The metal obviously was being piled there to be reused for scrap.
Little seems to be known about the old gas station. Jim Ross in his valuable book “Oklahoma Route 66” mentions it, but not the brand of gasoline it sold. That stretch of the old highway was U.S. 66 from 1926 to 1962. And that northbound section of U.S. 270 was U.S. 66 from 1926 to 1933.
(Photos by Emily Priddy)
We stopped there last year and took some pictures. Sorry to see the litle station go, but if you’re gonna go a tornado is one heck of a sendoff.
Hi – I think that the gas station was attributed as an old Phillips 66 (There is a photo of it in David Wickline’s Images of 66, page 146)
I stopped at that old station every time I rode route 66… I’ll miss it.