More details emerge about Decades of Wheels complex in Baxter Springs

The Decades of Wheels complex in downtown Baxter Springs, Kansas, will be “95 percent” finished by its opening weekend Oct. 12-14.

Decades of Wheels will contain a classic-car museum, restaurant, bed-and-breakfast and children’s fun house.

A story in the Joplin Globe about the progress of the $3 million project brought forth previously unreported details about it:

The former Angels on the Route building, located next to the Ritz Theater, will become a dessert restaurant called Rita’s Roost. The structure next door will become an arcade/fun house for children.

In the center, the Decades of Wheels car museum will have 30 new cars on display every month, which will rotate from a stock of more than 300 collectibles. The museum will showcase cars from throughout history, including those from the early 1900s to the present, as well as motorcycles and famous replica cars. […]

The top story of the corner building on West 11th Street will become a bed-and-breakfast with 25 to 30 rooms called the Little Brick Inn. The downstairs portion will keep its former name, Café on the Route, where breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served.

David Hickmott, marketing director for Miami, Oklahoma-based Decades of Wheels, told the newspaper that neon lighting will be placed on the interior and exterior of the buildings along the 1100 block of Military Avenue (aka Route 66).

Work crews also are saving bricks from the downtown area’s dilapidated buildings and reusing them.

One thing that hasn’t been revealed, however, is Decades of Wheels’ female owner, who has chosen to remain anonymous.

The opening weekend Oct. 12-14 includes concerts by Grand Funk Railroad, Granger Smith, Reckless Kelly, Bad of Heathens and John Kay and Steppenwolf, along with a car and motorcycle show. Tickets may be purchased here.

(Image of the Decades of Wheels logo via its website)