The Oklahoma Route 66 Commission announced more than $6.6 million in grants, including improvements to the Blue Whale in Catoosa, a 66-foot dinosaur in Tulsa and multiple neon-sign initiatives.
The grants, initially reported by the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, cover 13 Route 66-related projects in the Sooner State. More about the grants can be found here.
Listed are each project and the amount of the grant:
— $1,843,350 to the City of Catoosa for a new visitor’s center, restrooms, neon signs and improved parking areas at the Blue Whale.
— $225,000 to Route 66 Main Street to build a 66-foot dinosaur roadside attraction in Howard Park and 10 smaller, painted dinosaurs along the 4.5-mile stretch of Route 66 in west Tulsa.
— $854,957 to the City of Vinita to repurpose Oliver Woolman’s historic Phillips 66 gull-wing filling station at 502 S. Wilson St. (aka Route 66) as a visitor center. It will include green space for people and pets, plus neon lighting.
— $395,500 by the Town of Davenport to convert a 1933 Texaco filling station into a welcome center.
— $250,000 to the commission and Oklahoma Department of Transportation to install two, 21-by-8-foot thermoplastic Route 66 shields in each of the 42 communities and eight districts of Oklahoma City and Tulsa along Route 66. It would be a total of 100 shields that would help guide travelers and be theftproof.
— $179,310.44 to the South Western Oklahoma Development Authority’s matching incentive program
to encourage exterior revitalization of facades and signs in existing retail buildings along Route 66 in
Beckham, Custer or Washita counties. The authority lists 13 projects, including Jerry’s Restaurant in Weatherford and Country Dove restaurant in Elk City.
— $123,276.92 to the Oklahoma Route 66 Association for a neon sign grant program for seven communities. Awardees are the Edmond History Museum, Rock Cafe in Stroud, Western Motel and House of Hope in Vinita, a new neon welcome sign in Davenport, Gasoline Alley Classics and Sami’s Southern Kitchen in Sapulpa, Grady’s 66 Pub in Yukon and Decopolis in Tulsa.
— $999,600 by the City of Stroud for a Stroud Historic Route 66 Business Neon Light Project. A total of 49 businesses along 15 blocks of Route 66 want to participate. It aims to use true neon lightning, not LED, and use timers so the neon fires up nightly from dusk to 1 a.m.
— $327,500 by Friends of the Oklahoma History Center to restore 10 original neon signs and two mascots, Kip’s Big Boy and Shotgun Sam, for a Route 66 Neon Sign Park located on Route 66, across from the State Capitol on the grounds of the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City.
— $792,506 to the Town of Wellston for a Route 66 Splash Pad and Majestic Buffalo statue.
— $25,000 to the City of Warr Acres for a custom-painted wind turbine blade with murals dedicated to Route 66 history and its culture.
— $100,000 to the Church of the Living God/Tillman Watson Cemetery Association to improve the Tillman Slave Cemetery along Route 66 in Luther. It is the only slave cemetery in Oklahoma and probably on all of Route 66.
— $496,000 to the Town of Hydro for a photo stop that includes an original Route 66 bridge and roadbed and a large Route 66 shield near the road and Highway 58. Funds also will be used to renovate a nearly century-old Works Progress Administration building in town and install a cow-feeding vending machine just west of Lucille’s.
In two rounds of funding, the Oklahoma Route 66 Commission has awarded about $12 million in total grants.
The New Mexico Route 66 Centennial Commission also is set to give grants this fall, along with other Route 66 organizations.
(Image of the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Oklahoma, by Ayleen Dority via Flickr)