The Kum & Go convenience-store chain reversed course and said it won’t pave over a small section of Route 66 in Springfield, Missouri.
The Springfield News-Leader reported:
After hearing from fans of the historic road, the company will keep an original section unpaved as it builds a new marketplace store at the intersection of Glenstone Avenue and Kearney Street, spokeswoman Kristie Bell said.
Bell said the company reassessed its plans after meeting with Tommy Pike, president of the Missouri Route 66 Association, and Thomas Peters, dean of library services at Missouri State University.
“We’re pleased to have worked with the Missouri Route 66 Association to preserve what we can of this piece of American history,” Bell said.
Some of the road will still be widened and resurfaced, Bell said, but a section will only be widened — with the original Route 66 staying behind.
The newspaper also reported Kum & Go will incorporate the history of Route 66 with the store, including a Route 66 shield in the ampersand of Kum & Go’s logo, plus commemorative signs.
Peters said making the case for a Route 66 theme in the store’s design and the fact many Route 66 travelers are wealthy “kind of impressed upon them it would be good for business, too.” Pike said he received phone calls all over the world — including Belgium and New Zealand — urging the road be preserved.
News about the Kum & Go project erupted on social media in mid-July, including a few Route 66 fans calling for a boycott of the chain’s stores. The piece of road sits on 2.9 acres on the southeast corner of Glenstone Avenue and Kearney Street that was purchased June 13 from the Missouri Department of Transportation.
In addition to Pike and Peters making compelling cases, I suspect the public-relations nightmare of paving over a rare, original section of Route 66 — especially just weeks from the city’s rapidly growing Birthplace of Route 66 Festival — prompted Kum & Go to look for alternative plans.
(Excerpted image from Google Street View of original Route 66 on the southeast corner of Glenstone Avenue and Kearney Street in Springfield, Missouri)
Thank you, Kum & Go, Mr. Pike, and Mr. Peters! I wish there were some way to express thanks in an email to the company, but I searched their website and found no appropriate email address. But I hope Kum & Go understands the gratitude of 66 fans. WARNING: When talking to the current manager of Springfield’s Steak ‘n’ Shake, I was told that the company that bought S&S has no interest in 66; if the situation were to arise, the company would sell/demolish the building without a thought. THERE ARE NO PLANS TO DO SO (pardon the shouting, but I don’t want to start rumors), but here is another place where 66 advocates need to be alert.
Bob: Your “news” about Steak & Shake, I’m sorry, is not new news. The former corporate owners of S&S have tried to change and/or tear down the S&S at St. Louis and National several times over the last 20 – 30 years, preferring it to be upgraded to the current S&S building designs. Gary Leonard, the current and long-time owner of that S&S franchise in Springfield, has repeatedly refused to allow S&S to do that. And, knowing Gary, as long as he & his family continue to own S&Ss here in Springfield, I suspect that location will continue to operate “as-is” for as long as possible. It is important also to know that the S&S at St. Louis & National is on the National Register of Historic Places. was one of the first S&S franchises issued – and it was issued to Gary’s father, who built that location new. Also, in addition to being a Rt. 66 go-to place – it has become the go-to place for many people both before and after attending the nearby Cardinals games. So I suspect Cardinals fans would be as upset as us roadies if that location was changed.
Gary is a big enough roadie that if he encounters issues trying to keep that location “as-is”, he will quickly call upon the Route 66 community for assistance. Your fear for S&S’s (and there are more on 66 than just the one here in Springfield, Missouri) should be no more founded than those for any place on 66. We ALL need to be vigilant to ALL places on 66, and we need to remember to keep our pleas to people we want to save places on 66 positive. You always get more flies with honey than vinegar – and mouthing negativity on social media as has happened recently about endangered places you know nothing about almost always ensures bad things happen. Your idea about thanking Kum & Go could be food for thought. Wonder what would happen if we roadies took the time to tell the owners of places we love on 66 that we appreciate them keeping that business or stop as-is? You never know the work that may be going on in the background, or who may be spearheading it, and positive words could have major impact.
I fully agree with your comments. And I thank you and the MO association for your vigilance. My first awareness of the corporation which bought S&S some years ago was when the original S&S — the original one in Normal IL — was sold and a new one was built only a few miles north, right off the interstate. It’s now a pizza place which has, thankfully, kept the building pretty much as it was then, even to the plaque on the wall noting its importance. I thought then it was a missed opportunity for the corporation to use the existing building as some sort of museum commemorating the chain and the significance of that particular building. However, this was way before Route 66 was as much in the public eye as it has become more recently.