The closed Forest Manor Motel in Lebanon, Missouri, just down the road from the Route 66 landmark Munger Moss Motel, was demolished in recent weeks.
The razing of the 80-year-old motel on the city’s east side was reported by the Lebanon-Laclede County Route 66 Society.
The motel originally was built in 1941 as the Green Gables Court. It consisted of cabins with carports that later were enclosed and converted into rooms for the renamed Forest Manor Motel.
Of the four motels that originally were on that short stretch of Lebanon’s Route 66 — the Forest Manor (originally Green Gables), Rock Court, Holiday (originally Travel Town) and the Munger Moss — only the internationally known Munger Moss Motel remains in operation.
Route 66 enthusiast and researcher Nick Gerlich, however, found evidence the motel dated to the 1930s.
Route 66 enthusiast Blue Miller took some shots of the decrepit motel in September, weeks before the wrecking ball arrived.
It had been closed since 2017. A local ministry sought to turn it into a homeless shelter a few months later, but that apparently never happened.
The Forest Manor Motel sat near a cluster of other historic Route 66 properties, including Wrink’s Market, Munger Moss Motel, Starlite Lanes bowling alley, and Taylor’s Dairy Joy restaurant.
(Screen-capture image of the Forest Manor Motel in Lebanon, Missouri, from KSPR-TV video in 2018)