The Boots Court motel in Carthage, Missouri, has reopened five of 13 rooms, and more likely will open by the city’s Maple Leaf Festival in mid-October.
A recent report in the Joplin Globe provided the latest update by the Carthage-based Boots Court Foundation to restore the Route 66 landmark to its old glory:
Kim Bausinger, manager of the Boots Court, said the five rooms in the back building of the motel are renovated and open for renting. Work is progressing on the main building, which holds eight rooms, including the room where legendary movie actor Clark Gable once stayed while traveling Route 66.
“We’ll have the Clark Gable room back,” Bausinger said. “It’ll have some Hollywood glam in it. Where the rooms in the back are the double rooms, and they’re a little bit bigger and have softer colors;. The rooms in the front will have a little bit brighter color scheme.” […]
Two old homes have been torn down, a brushy area has been cleared, and work is beginning on a former Sinclair gas station on the corner of Garrison and Olive streets to convert that into the offices for the motel and a Carthage Visitors Center. […]
… The front office area will be converted to provide amenities like coffee and ice for guests, and the offices for checking into the motel will move to the visitors center.
The foundation is motivated to get everything done well before Route 66’s centennial in 2026, when a huge surge of interest and tourists is expected.
The Boots Court, once known as the Boots Motel before reverting to its original name, changed owners last fall. Two couples from the Carthage area bought the property.
The motel came close to being demolished in the early 2000s when its owner, citing poor health, sold it to a local developer. Speculation ran rampant the motel would be razed for a Walgreens.
(Postcard image of the Boots Court motel in Carthage, Missouri, courtesy of 66Postcards.com)
An outcry from the Route 66 Association of Missouri, Friends of the Mother Road and other preservationists apparently scared off the developers.
The previous co-owners bought the run-down property in 2011 and reopened it to overnight guests after months of renovations to restore it to its 1940s appearance, including “a radio in every room” and no televisions.
The Boots Court was built in 1939 by Arthur Boots. Gable stayed there several times during cross-country trips from his native Ohio; he rested his head in Room No. 6.
(Postcard image of the Boots Court motel in Carthage, Missouri, courtesy of 66Postcards.com)