Three will be inducted next month into Laclede County Route 66 Wall of Fame

Three entities will be inducted into the Laclede County Route 66 Wall of Fame in Lebanon, Missouri, on Jan. 28, including local leaders who lobbied 100 years ago to route the future U.S. 66 through Lebanon.

Other inductees will be a family that ran a gas station along the highway for decades and a couple who operated a tourist home for 40 years.

Gary Sosniecki of the Lebanon-Laclede County Route 66 Society made the announcement last week of the new Wall of Fame members.

The Wall of Fame honors “those who made exceptional contributions to the development or promotion of Route 66 or who operated legendary businesses on Route 66″ in the county.

Wall of Fame plaques are hung in the Route 66 Museum of the Lebanon-Laclede County Library.

The induction ceremony will be during the society’s annual membership meeting at 1 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the Cowan Civic Center in Lebanon.

The first group of the latest inductees are the “Direct Route Delegates” of I.T. Curry, W.M. Hawkins, Bert Henderson, Andrew Rader, Fred D. Harris, Phil M. Donnelly, L.C. Mayfield and the Lebanon School Band, who collectively in 1922 persuaded highway officials to map U.S. 66 through Lebanon.

More details:

Texas County argued for the road to go through Houston, Cabool and Mountain Grove. The State Highway Commission ruled July 12 in favor of the Lebanon route, but protests were heard July 25 in Jefferson City. Lebanon sent 127 road boosters, including the school band, which led a parade from the Madison Hotel to the statehouse. Conway, Phillipsburg and Richland also sent delegations. A strong speech by Lebanon lawyer Phil M. Donnelly, a future governor, won the day for The Direct Route.

The next inductees will be William and Ethel Lenz, who operated the Lenz Tourist Home, later renamed the Lenz Homotel, in Lebanon from 1932 to the early 1970s.

Lenz Homotel in Lebanon, Missouri

More about the home:

The Lenz Tourist Home featured six sleeping rooms upstairs with murals of the Ozarks countryside, custom-designed light fixtures and handcrafted furnishings. One guest described the home as “the essence of hospitality and good taste.” A St. Louis garden club called it “the most beautifully landscaped tourist home on Route 66.” […] Subsequent owners have lovingly preserved William’s floral artistry.

The final inductees will be Tom Bacon, Thornton Speaker, Tommy Speaker, Teddy Speaker, Lena Bell Speaker England and Dale Speaker for running Speaker’s Mobil gas station in Lebanon starting in 1926 and is still standing at 801 E. Millcreek Road.

Sosniecki wrote a story four years ago about Speaker’s Mobil for the society.

(Image of the Lenz Homotel in Lebanon, Missouri, courtesy of 66Postcards.com; excepted image of Speaker’s Mobil in Lebanon from Google Street View)

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