Expanded Pulaski County brochure includes obscure Route 66 alignment

The Pulaski County Tourism Bureau in Missouri announced this week it expanded its Route 66 Driving Tour brochure for the first time since 2001, including adding an obscure Route 66 alignment of which few people are aware.

The bureau stated the brochure offers more than 66 points of interest, 10 detour-worthy side trips and seven roadie-inspired tips in Pulaski County.

More from the release:

The brochure takes inspiration from Jack D. Rittenhouse’s 1946 “A Guide Book to Highway 66” and is adapted from “Route 66 in Pulaski County, Missouri (A Local History)” by noted Route 66 historian and author, Terry Primas. The updated version includes 20+ vintage Route 66 postcards, almost triple the prior amount. The images were provided by John F. Bradbury Jr. Collection and noted Route 66 author and aficionado Joe Sonderman. The expansion project was managed by Tourism Bureau content creator Laura Huffman. Huffman is also a local historian and lifelong Route 66 enthusiast. She remarked that the guide was produced “by a Route 66 fan for Route 66 fans. It’s a keepsake.”
For the first time in the 17-year history of the booklet, it now includes detailed directions to Pulaski County’s abandoned “ghost section”, a short two-lane 1930s alignment at the former Morgan Heights community. The brochure also details Waynesville’s significance to Route 66 as the “Birthplace of the Byway.”
The turn-by-turn directions guide visitors, travelers, tourists, and roadies to Route 66 alignments that date to the 1920s, 1930s, & 1940s. Pulaski County’s boundaries include 33 miles of drivable Mother Road.

The news release included a 1924 photo of Morgan Heights from Sonderman’s collection:

A few other Morgan Heights photos may be seen here.

Here is more about getting to the abandoned Morgan Heights alignment, from the brochure:

#DetourWorthy- At the Highway Z and Highway 28 junction turn right to cross over the Interstate 44 overpass and follow Highway 28 north one-half mile. At the wye intersection of Highway 28 and Holly Drive park in front of the mounded piles of dirt. A scramble over these piles will deliver you onto Pulaski County’s “ghost section” of Route 66. This short segment of abandoned two-lane 1930’s Route 66 was cut off during the construction of “new” Route 66 during the 1940’s. Known as MORGAN HEIGHTS the community was served by a tourist hotel, cabins, café, and filling station.

The brochure may be downloaded as a PDF here.

I first heard about the “ghost section” a little more than a year ago when I read Ramona Lehman, co-owner of the historic Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, Missouri, discussing it with a local on Facebook. After checking its veracity with longtime Route 66 researcher Jerry McClanahan (known for his “Route 66: EZ 66 Guide for Travelers” book), I checked it out myself.

The road curves east back toward Interstate 44 and dead-ends a few dozen yards short of the superslab. Here’s my photo last April in the middle of the Morgan Heights alignment:

Here’s a Google Street View satellite image of the alignment. It’s unmarked by Google, but the sweeping curve still is noticeable amid the dense forest.

It goes to show you still can learn something new about the Mother Road, even 90 years after it started.