Reporter David Oliver of KOLR-TV takes a detailed look at the Route 66 Museum and Research Center tucked into Lebanon-Laclede County Library in Lebanon, Missouri.
Curator Mark Spangler said he gets new items for the museum almost daily. He explained what the museum is trying to do:
“We try to represent the large roadside accommodations and services to travel from the beginning when it started in 1926 all the way up to today. There were just certain things you had to have and obviously a gas station or service station was central to it” says Spangler.
“We’re going for a chronological presentation. And in a pure sense Route 66 doesn’t really start until 1926. So we are blessed to have a strong collection that dates from the good roads period from say the turn of the century up through the mid 1920’s” says Spangler. […]
“This is an interesting group of objects that came from examples of roadside businesses. Wrinks Market building is still there but it is now vacant. Andy’s was one of our unique places. It was 2 street cars that were parked end to end and created a dinner out of the street cars. It helped if you had a specialty and Andy’s was fried domestic rabbit” says Spangler.
The re-creation of a tourist court cabin from the 1920s or ’30s is impressive.
Spangler says the museum gets about 1,000 visitors a month. The museum tends to be overlooked amid more popular Route 66 museums in Illinois, Oklahoma and California. But given how much it has improved from its humble beginnings, Route 66 tourists ought to consider putting the Lebanon museum on their to-do list.
(Image of the Lebanon-Laclede County Library in Lebanon, Missouri, by Haydn Blackey via Flickr)
I agree that the museum is too often overlooked. With the renewed interest in 66 developing in Lebanon, perhaps some promotion of the museum will be included. It is a fascinating place, and it’s easy to spend a lot of time there. I miss the little café that the gift shop has replaced, but the gift shop would certainly appeal to newer and international tourists. Lebanon is becoming one of the towns rediscovering 66, with great results for both travelers and local businesses.