Joplin, Missouri, for years has sought to boost Route 66 tourism to its city. Officials there want more visitors to stay in the city for longer periods, thus generating more tax revenue.
However, the Joplin Globe reported a Colorado-based consultant threw cold water on that idea — mainly because the city doesn’t have enough historic attractions on the Mother Road.
The consultant’s study of Joplin won’t be finished until early next year, but it gave a preliminary assessment to the city a few weeks ago. The newspaper reported:
That ribbon of 90-year-old highway that runs from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California, carries 7,000 to 8,000 tourists through Joplin a year, according to the report.
But the consultant does not believe that many of those tourists can be persuaded to spend much in Joplin. The initial report says, “In Joplin, many of the sights originally along Route 66 no longer exist,” taken down during the 1960s and 1970s urban renewal effort.
The study by Becky Zimmerman of Design Workshop notes an exception — Wilder’s Fine Foods, aka Wilder’s Steakhouse, which recently used a Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program grant to preserve its large neon sign. Wilder’s also preserved its 1920s bar and wooden booths.
The consultant also said Route 66 tourists prefer small towns “that, unlike big cities, do not all look alike.” It also stated far fewer U.S. tourists travel Route 66 than foreign visitors, whose numbers are expected to eventually taper off.
The study also stated the aging demographics of Route 66 travelers continues to be a threat to tourism growth.
The study stated that Joplin continues to market itself for bus tours — an industry segment that is forecast to see continued through at least 2021.
A couple of observations:
— The consultant, showing unusual candor, laid out the fact Joplin remains at a competitive disadvantage with Route 66 tourism because of its lack of historic properties.
The city of Edmond, Oklahoma, seeking to market itself to Route 66 travelers some years ago, discovered this shortcoming. It’s hard to keep historic-minded tourists if no historic properties exist. Once a historic property is torn down because of redevelopment, you can’t get it back.
— That said, one can attract Route 66 travelers with a new attraction if it’s distinctive enough.
POPS of Arcadia, Oklahoma, and Gay Parita station west of Halltown, Missouri, are less than 15 years old but draws thousands of tourists each year. POPS does it with its 66-foot-tall lighted soda bottle and hundreds of types of soda. Gay Parita does it with its re-creation of a 1920s gas station and hospitality. Both offer a roadside experience unlike any other.
— The graying of Route 66 travelers indeed is an issue, which is why it’s important the road attains National Historic Trail status. It would solve the ongoing issue with its lack of signs, and the National Park Service status would give it more cachet and consciousness with the public.
(Image of Wilder’s in Joplin, Missouri, in 2009 courtesy of TheLope.com)
I didn’t come to be a fan of Route 66 till later in life. It is possible to get new fans.
I’ve been through Joplin twice and kind of agree, there didn’t seem to be a lot of history there, but perhaps I didn’t know where to look.
I stayed in nearby Carthage for the Boots Court.
I attended the meeting and the lady’s mind was pretty set before the conversation of Route 66 was brought to the table. As are a lot of consultants that have not even experienced the Mother Road. Patrick did let me voice my opinion to her beliefs….Thank you Patrick
I am moved to champion the cause of Joplin, Missouri, a city that that was ravaged by a killer tornado, in the Spring of 2011, that flattened fairly one quarter of the city. (I have pictures.)
With all due respect to Design Workshop of Aspen, CO, I take a certain amount of exception to some of their comments. I think there’s more to see in Joplin than most people know. Unfortunately, I also get the impression, having visited Joplin three times on all of my Route 66 adventures, that most Joplin locals don’t appreciate their history because they don’t even know about it.
I say this as an amateur (though accomplished) railway historian. There’s plenty of railway history (for example) in and around the city, but one must know what to look for, where to look, and also be willing to leave the designated route and drive into some industrially blighted neighborhoods. Some people don’t have the time or patience for that.
My special area of interest raises another issue: different people drive Route 66 with different hopes & expectations; we’re all looking for different things. If the travelers are Mr. & Mrs. Family Tourist who think of Route 66 as a 2448-mile-long theme park with a new thrill every mile; well, I fear that such people are bound to be disappointed.
If you want to experience a part of Route 66 of “Nothing There,” try that stretch between Texola, OK, and Shamrock, TX. But, of course, they’re wrong about that, too. There’s plenty there to see, if one has the eyes to see it.
Thanks for the tip about Wilder’s Restaurant — it’s now on my list.
Very good comments here.
I do wonder why the Route 66 Chamber of Commerce that I founded ten years ago, and is based in my hometown of Joplin, has never been invited to address the City or the Joplin Chamber of Commerce about Route 66 . I was born and raised here, and with two million hits and 100+ pages of information and historical records on our website ( Visit66.com ), I do not understand how a Design Workshop from Aspen can properly inform the City about why Route visitors pass through the City without seeing more than a few businesses displaying the famous shield… this in spite of the City doing an excellent job with signage.
The reason why these travelers on the Mother Road do not stop is simple….we don’t give them a reason too! My family roots go back four generations in Joplin. My aunt Jane, who’s husband Art Christman of the Christman’s Department Store, built a century ago, told me that when the mining boom went bust in the late 20’s and early 30’s, it was U.S. Highway 66 commerce that saved Joplin’s downtown from also going under! The Mother Road carried traffic through Joplin’s downtown for more than half a century, and when the final alternate intersected the downtown business district, the slow demise of Main Street began.
Now that the Route is back, and is once again seeing more Route 66 tourists from around the world, Joplin has yet to roll-out the red carpet. Yes, we have a nice little Park with beautiful mosaic murals, and a City Hall at 6th. and Main in the restored 1910 Newman’s Department Store, where artwork, photographs of Route 66 on display and historical exhibits are worthy of visitors, yet with little to see when coming and going, only a few actually stop.
I grew-up here and cruised 66 when I was in High School. My Dad drove it to the electrical generating plant in Riverton on 66. Not much of any historical points of interests remain, as Joplin modernized after WWll and never looked back, but is still growing. I hope it takes the Mother Road along for the ride.