The Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program announced Monday its cost-share grant recipients for 2009. They are:
Colors of the West, 201 W. Route 66, Williams, Ariz. — Constructed in 1912, the Duffy Brothers building in downtown Williams served as a grocery until 1954, when it became the Indian House, a curio selling Indian crafts and tourist goods to travelers on Route 66. Today, it continues the tradition under the name Colors of the West. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, its owners will use the cost-share grant to upgrade the electrical system to code and eliminate unused wiring, circuits and exposed conduit. $6,736.68 grant, $6,736.73 match
Sunset Motel, Villa Ridge, Mo. — Built in 1946, the 12-unit, buff-brick motel in Villa Ridge, Missouri, served Route 66 travelers, and later traffic from the intestate, until the late 1990s. Its stunning porcelain neon sign, showing the sun sinking into the ocean, attracts
photographers but no longer works. With the cost-share grant, the owner will restore the neon sign, reroof the motel and refurbish its cornice and dormers. $30,000 grant, $31,000 match
Beck’s City Service, 1648 Southwest Blvd., Tulsa, Okla. — Situated near the 11th Street Bridge in southwest Tulsa, the old Beck’s City Service station sits shuttered and surrounded by acres of concrete. In the 1960s, the two-bay service station catered to motorists from the neighborhood and those taking Route 66 over the bridge. With the cost-share grant, the owner will perform a total refurbishment—replacing the roof, rebuilding windows and doors, updating outdated water and electric lines, and installing new HVAC equipment, to bring the gas station back to new use. $30,000 grant, $41,967.00 match
The Corridor program usually awards about 10 cost-share grants annually. John Murphey, one of the program’s managers, said that only seven applications were received this year, down considerably. He said there was a perception that the program would end as scheduled in late 2009, thus the decline in interest in acquiring a grant. (Congress renewed the program for another 10 years in March.) Murphey said that funding this year wasn’t an issue.