Red Oak II, a vivid re-creation of a now-vanished town by folk artist Lowell Davis, recently started offering overnight stays in cabins reclaimed from a former Route 66 motel in Duquesne, Missouri, reported the Joplin Globe in a feature story about Davis and his complex near Carthage, Missouri.
Also, a former mayor who resides at Red Oak II plans to install a small railroad depot at the complex.
And Jim Woestman, the former mayor of Carthage who built a home at what Davis calls “the back” of Red Oak II in which to retire. Davis has a “small project” in progress with Woestman: A train station.
“We have everything else but a train station,” Davis said. “We figured we needed one.”
Woestman also moved in the duplex cabins that once formed the Star Motel and Trailer Court at Newman and Duquesne roads in Duquesne, which he opened to vacationers for the first time earlier this month.
Neither the article nor the Red Oak II website contained more details about the cabins. However, a post July 23 on the Facebook page of Red Fork II said overnight stays were available and to call 417-237-0808 for more information.
We reported in March 2013 about Red Oak II moving the Star Motel cabins, including this photo. The cabins are 1920s-style duplexes that actually were built in the 1970s.
On a side note, the Globe article mentions Red Oak II was inspired by the small town of Red Oak on Route 66 northeast of Carthage. However, I’ve found no records of a town by that name in any reference materials about Route 66.
However, the small settlement of Red Oak may be found on State Highway YY and County Road 2032 in rural La Russell, Missouri. It is essentially a ghost town, but it does have a few remaining houses and a church, which you can see in this Google Street View image:
The old Red Oak sits about 2.8 miles north of Highway 96, which is old Route 66 in that part of Missouri.
(Hat tip: Ron Hart)
Actually, the motel in Duquesne (pronounced ‘Du-cane”) was never on a commissioned route of Route 66. Seventh Street going East from Rangeline Rd. through Duquesne is State 66, and is often called Route 66 by the locals. Going West on 7th. St and Rangeline, State 66 was known as the ‘final’ or last commissioned path of Route 66. The original historic Route of 66 requires a turn off of Rangeline onto Zora which is on the southern border of Webb City. Those wishing to experience a stay in a genuine historic motel should book at the Boots Court in Carthage.