Because “Once Upon a Highway: Route 66 in Oklahoma” (162 pages, New Forums, $36.95) is written and illustrated by an architect, you would expect drawings of intricately designed buildings, such as the Coleman Theatre Beautiful and the First United Methodist Church in Clinton, that latter which was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright.
But what makes John Calvin Womack’s book special is he also shows everyday sights along the Mother Road in the Sooner State — a chat pile, barns, grain elevators, bridges (such as the Rock Creek Bridge near Sapulpa, below), railroad trestles and abandoned houses. It’s obvious he loves all facets of Route 66, not just the neat and pretty stuff.
In the forward, Womack says he became interested in Route 66 in 1971 when he first saw the Round Barn in Arcadia during a drive from Edmond to Chandler. As he studied the Mother Road over the years, he admired it for its “vernacular” architecture — buildings designed by locals with functionality in mind. He also liked the old road’s authenticity — many modern-day designs, he says, seem fake or forced into its settings.
The 150 or so pen-and-ink drawings are finely detailed. You see the Art Deco details of well-preserved structures such as the Will Rogers Hotel in Claremore and the Farmers Market Building in Tulsa. But you also see the weeds growing up around a long-closed service station south of Afton. You see the rotting boards of a now-demolished church in Arcadia.
Although most the drawings were done in past few years, several of the sites are already gone. Among the departed are the Daily Ranch and Buffalo Ranch of Afton, the 66 Motel of Tulsa, the Sanders Camera Shop of Edmond and the Yukon Motel sign (seen above). The loss of the Yukon is particularly galling to Womack. It was one of his favorite signs on Route 66, “but of all the signs I have studied, photographed and sketched, this is the one sign that has been taken down and removed — and was replaced with a bland, generic sign of a national motel chain. It is rumored that the original sign was shipped to somewhere in Virginia.”
Each illustration contains a well-researched, brief history. Unlike other Route 66 books I’ve read, I can’t find any factual errors. The book’s format also includes photographs of other sights along the road and nuggets of Mother Road history.
“Once Upon a Highway: Route 66 in Oklahoma” is a worthy addition to a roadie’s library. As a bonus, it comes with a translucent dust cover that marks it as one of the publisher’s Oklahoma Centennial Collector Series.
