Joplin: then and now

Patrick McPheron, an artist based in Los Angeles who is a native of Joplin, Missouri, put together this amazing video of century-old images from Joplin that deftly fades the images into current-day images from the same exact vantage point. https://youtu.be/aNLk6f3F7P8 Getting the new images from the same location must have been the most challenging part … Continue reading Joplin: then and now

Joplin installs new wayfarer signs

The City of Joplin, Missouri, on Friday unveiled one of a series of 37 new wayfarer signs to help guide travelers to attractions in the city. The first one is at 423 S. Range Line Road, according to the Joplin Globe. Joplin's stretch of the historic Route 66 highway will be marked by versions of … Continue reading Joplin installs new wayfarer signs

Joplin buys old Route 66 garage

The city of Joplin, Missouri, recently bought a long-abandoned 1920s garage building that it plans to convert into a Route 66 attraction -- most likely a visitors center, reported the Joplin Globe. Patrick Tuttle,  director of the Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the newspaper the city had purchased the garage at 1109 Broadway (also … Continue reading Joplin buys old Route 66 garage

Solutions for Joplin’s troubled golf course

A few days ago, the Joplin Globe published a long article about the financial issue about the city-owned Schifferdecker Golf Course, which is on Route 66 on the west side of Joplin, Missouri. The golf course runs an annual deficit of about $140,000 a year, and it draws about half the users it did a … Continue reading Solutions for Joplin’s troubled golf course

Joplin to install new directional signs

The city of Joplin, Missouri, will install more than 40 new wayfinder signs, including those that identify the original path of Route 66, reported the Joplin Globe. The newspaper said: Patrick Tuttle, director of the Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the council that the 43 new signs, predominantly blue in color, will replace the … Continue reading Joplin to install new directional signs

Joplin motor court will be restored

A historic motel along an alignment of Route 66 in Joplin, Missouri, will be refurbished and reopened as a tourist court again, according to Joplin Globe columnist Wally Kennedy. The Westport Lodge (shown above during the 1950s) at North Main Street and Fountain Road, which was on an alternate Route 66 alignment from 1934 to … Continue reading Joplin motor court will be restored

Old motel cabins in Joplin soon will be removed

Old motel cabins on Route 66 in Joplin, Missouri, soon will be razed or removed, according to a story by a business columnist Wally Kennedy in the Joplin Globe newspaper. The item was tucked into a story about Rob's Audio Solutions, which was forced to move from 2604 N. Range Line Road (aka Route 66) to … Continue reading Old motel cabins in Joplin soon will be removed

The lost photos of Joplin

May 22 marked the third anniversary of the powerful tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, and changed that Route 66 city forever. I recommend you read this story from Al-Jazeera America about the Lost Photos of Joplin project, which collected more than 40,000 photographs scattered by the storm. There are lithographs of ancestors from the 1800s, … Continue reading The lost photos of Joplin

Joplin’s new baseball team is called the Blasters

The name for the new American Association professional baseball team in Joplin, Mo., will be the Blasters, with a logo that includes a reference to Route 66. The club announced the nickname and logo Monday afternoon in Joplin. The logo contains a nod to the region's lead-mining history and the town's old Joplin Miners ballclub, with … Continue reading Joplin’s new baseball team is called the Blasters

Joplin dedicates Route 66 Mural Park

Most of it has been up for months, but Joplin, Mo., dedicated its Route 66 Mural Park on Thursday night with a ribbon-cutting and other downtown events. The park near at Seventh and Main — where two alignments of Route 66 intersect — features one-half of a 1964 Corvette embedded in a wall as a … Continue reading Joplin dedicates Route 66 Mural Park