The condemned Midtown Travel Inn in Clinton, Oklahoma, may be spared the wrecking ball after a local art community presented possible plans for the Route 66 motel in front of the city council.
Clinton-based West OK Co-op officers Jason Smith and Andrew Stone asked the council to pause plans for demolition of the motel for 30 days to flesh out plans for the property, including the purchase from its current owner, reported the Clinton Daily News (subscription required).
The council agreed to halt the demolition process to allow the cooperative to solidify its plan.
More from the newspaper;
Inspired by the Walala Pump and Go, a 1950s car station that was transformed into a public art installation in Fort Smith, Ark., organizers say their plans for the location include a community art exhibit created in time for the Route 66 Centennial in 2026 along with future plans for an AirBnB-style hotel.
“This project is compelling to us because it is an incremental plan with a low impact that will add value to
the last motor hotel in Clinton,” said Stone. “This would be a community, Route 66 and tourist-centered project that we think is attainable for the 2026 centennial.“Route 66 is prominent throughout town, and it elevates Clinton on a national stage. This project would not only add an asset to Clinton but also the regional community as well. Route 66 is unique and important to Clinton, and it is something the community can rally around.”
The West Ok Co-Op says it believes the project would give a new life to the property while also
increasing safety at the motel’s location at the center of town.
The city condemned the Midtown Travel Inn in May for numerous code violations.
According to Route 66 Times, the 29-room Midtown at 1015 W. Gary Blvd. (aka Route 66) formerly was a Travelodge that dates to at least the late 1950s. A vintage photo of the motel may be seen here.
The city probably wants desperately to preserve one of its Route 66 motels.
The Trade Winds Inn, which once had Elvis Presley as a regular during his road trips from Memphis, is slated to be demolished.
And all but the sign for the Glancy Motel was razed a few weeks ago, despite criticism from Route 66 fans and locals.
With the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in town, it would be a bad look if all the vintage Route 66 motels were gone.
(Excerpt from Google Street View of the Midtown Travel Inn in Clinton, Oklahoma)
Hello,
I’ve been visiting your site for several years. It is very well done and allows us to keep up to date with the Route.
We are doing Route 66 in September-October 2022.
We have a question: when you write that a motel has been convicted of numerous code violations, what does that mean?
Bravo again and thank you for all the information.
Céline and José
France
Code violations can mean bad plumbing, bad sewer system, bad roof, bad flooring, bad door locks … any number of things that would make a room unsafe for human habitation.
All this attention to Rt. 66 hotels and motels inspires in me thoughts about adapting a well-known song into “Welcome to the Hotel Oklahoma!” I wonder if it could be put to good use somehow.