A volunteer work crew from the Lebanon-Laclede County Route 66 Society helped the owner of the long-closed Underpass Cafe near Phillipsburg, Missouri, clean his property before it undergoes an exterior restoration.
The cafe — named because of a low-clearance Frisco railroad bridge to the east — closed about 50 years ago after a new alignment of Route 66 bypassed it. The cafe also had a four-pump fuel station and a repair garage.
Property owner Gary McMillan now uses the building — a former hog house — as storage at his farm.
The group on Friday mowed the lot, removed vines from the building and washed its sides, plus added a new door.
The society’s blog explained what will happen next at the site:
Next, the Route 66 Society plans to paint the exterior and re-letter the front. With Friday’s cleaning, the faded words BREAKFAST, LUNCH and DINNER are not quite as faded. A sign will be erected telling the story of the café.
The group also has located a prefabricated gas station that is similar to the missing Carter & Lawson station, although whether the station is available and can be moved to Phillipsburg is yet to be determined.
O.E. Carter and Ed Lawson opened the complex’s prefabricated gas station in 1941. The concrete-block restaurant was added in 1950. Only the restaurant building remains.
According to the book “Route 66 in the Missouri Ozarks” by Joe Sonderman, many truckers had to let the air out of their tires to go under the 13-foot-5 railroad bridge or detour around it. Westbound truckers then stopped at the Underpass to reflll their tires.
You can see the cafe building from Google Street View here. It sits on Route W less than a mile east of Pine Street that goes into Phillipsburg city limits.
(Old postcard image of the Underpass Cafe and gas station courtesy of 66postcards.com)
Cool story. Does “pre-fab” mean it was a Valentine building. Sorta looks like one. Coulda been delivered via that railroad track up the road…