Latest news with #PreserveRoute66Initiative
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
2 businesses receive money from Route 66 grant program
Locations along Route 66, including two in the Four-State Area, received grants recently designed to help preserve items along 'the Mother Road.' Grizzly Contracting and Supply in Galena, Kansas, and the Frozen Elephant in Miami, Oklahoma, are among the 25 grant recipients from the Route 66 Legacy Business Grant Program, sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Both received $10,000 for restoration projects. The grants, totaling $227,323, are part of the Preserve Route 66 Initiative. In 2018, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Route 66 one of its 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The Legacy Business Grant program began in 2024, and another grant cycle is expected to take place later this year. 'The legacy business grants are for longtime businesses on the Route 66 corridor, or for new businesses in historic buildings,' said Rhys Martin, manager of the Preserve Route 66 program. While many of the projects are for 'brick-and-mortar' restoration, Martin said other funds are for signage as businesses prepare for next year's centennial celebration of Route 66. Front Street Garage Jacob Bridges, owner of Grizzly Contracting and Supply, plans to use the funds for facade restoration of the former Front Street Garage, located across from the Cars on the Route. In October, he began to rent it as a potential warehouse space for his expanding business, but then he began to learn of its history along Route 66. This knowledge and a desire to preserve a bit of Route 66 history led Bridges to purchase the building, enabling him to pursue restoration grants. The building, which has sat empty since at least 2008, began life in 1896 as a lumberyard, supplying lumber to mine workers during Galena's mining boom. After the lumberyard closed, Galena Mayor A.C. Bradshaw purchased the building in the 1930s and opened Front Street Garage until at least 1954. Not much is known about the years leading up to Mike Hughes' purchase of it in the early 1980s. Hughes operated Mike's Satellite Shop until his retirement in 2008. While Bridges' business does work throughout the Four-State Area, he lives in Galena. The building's location on Main Street, near the dump, was what attracted him to it initially. Then Renee Charles, owner of Cars on the Route, gave him a crash course in Route 66 history. Bridges said he plans to use the grant funds to restore the front of the building to look like historic photos of the Front Street Garage. He also plans to put in an office and conference room, making the building the new hub of his business. 'I'm just a hardworking, blue-collar guy. This building screams history. I want to renovate it and keep the mural in good shape. It will be nice to fix it up so it looks like it used to, when Galena was booming,' Bridges said. He hopes this project and others will help towns like Galena as tourists flock to Route 66. 'He's taking a building that was languishing for many years and making a place where people can stop and experience history,' Martin said. Charles said she's excited to see Bridges' plan for the building. She's encouraging him to get it listed on the State Historic Registry, which would then allow him to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. She said those steps will open additional grant funds, making it easier to maintain the building as a historic site and keep history alive. 'It's exciting to see it restored and made useful in another way,' Charles said. 'If there's no buildings, there's no Main Street, and if there's no Main Street, there's no town. It's important to maintain and bring Main Street back to life.' Frozen Elephant Eli Chenowith, owner of The Frozen Elephant, plans to use the funds for additional concrete and facade repair at the historic Marathon filling station, located on South Main next to The Frozen Elephant shaved ice stand. This is the second legacy grant Chenowith has received for this project, which is designed to turn the former gas station into a bed-and-breakfast. 'Small, local businesses are the lifeblood of Route 66,' Martin said. 'It's known as the Main Street of America for a good reason.' Preparing for centennial Martin and others expect business along Route 66 to explode within the next 18 months as tourists come to celebrate the highway's milestone birthday. However, he anticipates the draw for the highway will continue into 2027, 2028 and beyond. 'All along the corridor, people are preparing for (the centennial),' Martin said. Charles said tourism traffic has already increased at Cars on the Route. She credits Pixar's 'Cars' movie franchise for help keeping visitors' eyes on the 13.2 miles of Route 66 in Kansas. 'Anything that we do to bring tourism is economic development for our area,' Charles said. 'This includes Joplin, Carthage, Miami and Afton.' Elsewhere Other locations in Missouri and Oklahoma receiving grants to preserve Route 66: • $3,458 to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard in St. Louis for sign restoration and banner installation. • $10,000 to the Shamrock Court motel in Sullivan for final renovations to reopen to the traveling public. • $10,000 to the Downtown Service Station in Waynesville for lighting replacement. • $5,350 to Spencer Station in Spencer for tuckpointing and structural wall repair. • $10,000 to the Western Motel in Vinita, Oklahoma, for paint and centennial mural installation. • $10,000 to the Blue Dome filling station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for facade restoration. • $10,000 to Zero Tolerance Coffee and Cacao in Oklahoma City for a storytelling project tied to Cherokee heritage and Native veterans. • $10,000 to Hair Expressions Studios in Yukon, Oklahoma, for building restoration.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Summit promotes interstate collaboration for Route 66 Centennial
Apr. 27—Representatives of Route 66-related organizations from all eight states along the route came together in Albuquerque on Friday to foster collaboration in advance of the Route 66 Centennial in 2026. The U.S. Route 66 Centennial Commission hosted its first Mother Road Consortium Summit at the Clyde Hotel in Downtown for a day of panel discussions and networking. Rhys Martin, manager of the Preserve Route 66 Initiative for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as well as the president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, said he was pleasantly surprised to see how aligned the various groups appeared to be in terms of their vision. "You have tourism organizations and historic associations and elected officials in each of the eight states, and we all appear to be swimming in the same direction," he said. "We all want to get to the same place, and that really helps, because otherwise it would be something where people are competing for travel tourism, sales tax, and that sort of thing. But from what we've heard today, everybody is of the same mind, and we're all just looking forward to collaborating as much as possible." New Mexico's Route 66 Centennial Commission Chairman Bill Lee said he's excited about cross-state collaborations. "When we first started talking about this (the Route 66 Centennial), we were like, 'How do we make New Mexico shine? How do we make it the shining example of all the states along the route?' We wanted to win, to be the biggest and brightest star," Lee said. "And while I think that's still an admirable goal, it's nice to look out across the other eight states and realize that together we're stronger, and a rising tide raises all ships." Several presenters acknowledged the current uncertainty in the global economy, but Lee said he was optimistic that international travel will remain robust for Route 66's centennial year. "There has been a lot of talk recently about international travelers canceling trips or not being likely to come due to the political climate, tariffs and all that," Lee said. "But I can tell you, in our community (Gallup), that's not what we're seeing. In fact, our international travel is up. And I'm attributing that to Route 66." Acting Secretary for the New Mexico Tourism Department Lancing Adams said he was heartened by the level of support from politicians across all eight states. "It was really great to have the lieutenant governor of Oklahoma here, along with Mayor Tim Keller and Lt. Gov. Howie Morales this morning, speaking on their support. This was a big deal," Adams said. "No other state has done this, in terms of bringing everybody together." Like many participants, Adams said Friday's summit was an excellent way to connect with potential partners for future interstate projects. "We've worked with Texas on a Texas — New Mexico itinerary, and we're looking to do that with Arizona and our other sister states," he said. Brian Brown traveled from Oklahoma City for the summit. Brown directs the Route 66 Centennial Monument Project, which hopes to place 16-foot-tall steel sculptures, modeled on the old shield-shaped Route 66 highway signs, at various locations across the route. The sculptures were designed by VOX Industries in collaboration with public artist Stan Carroll. The goal of the Monument Project is to create a repeatable wayfinding landmark "that is consistent across the route," Brown said. Madison Garay, Visit Albuquerque Route 66 marketing specialist, said she was "excited about the historic preservation initiatives across all eight states." At the same time, she said she hoped the attention being paid to preserving iconic architecture and signage along Route 66 would not come at the expense of more prosaic but equally important buildings. "Certain community centers and gathering places that have historic significance to all sorts of diverse communities tend to get overlooked if they're not considered artistically dynamic enough," Garay said. "Of course, here, we're really focusing on keeping the heritage corridor preserved — which means mid-century modern architecture, primarily — but there are many more buildings that are maybe not as flamboyant and 'Googie' and fun, which are still just as important to the story of the highway." Route 66 is more than just milkshakes and Cadillacs, Martin said. "Every small town has its own story," he said.
