Munger-Moss Motel

Last updated

Munger Moss Motel
US66 Munger-Moss night.jpg
Munger-Moss Motel
General information
Location Lebanon, Missouri
Address1336 East US 66,
East Seminole Avenue
Coordinates 37°41′11″N92°38′24″W / 37.6864°N 92.64°W / 37.6864; -92.64 Coordinates: 37°41′11″N92°38′24″W / 37.6864°N 92.64°W / 37.6864; -92.64
Opening1936 (as restaurant)
1946 (as motel)
Closed1970s (restaurant)
OwnerBob & Ramona Lehman
Other information
Number of rooms14 (in 1946)
44 (in 1971)
Number of restaurants1 (now demolished)
Parkingon-site
Website
mungermoss.com

The Munger Moss Motel is a motel in Lebanon, Missouri. It was built in 1946 as an addition to a roadside restaurant and filling station, both of which are now gone. The site's Munger-Moss Sandwich Shop served travellers on U.S. Route 66 in Missouri, circa 1936. Located on the Big Piney River at Devil's Elbow, Missouri until 1945 (at what is now the Elbow Inn), it relocated to Lebanon, Missouri after World War II when construction of a four-lane bypass of U.S. Route 66 in Missouri to Fort Leonard Wood drew traffic away from the original Munger Moss BBQ site.

Contents

History

The restaurant was named for Nelle Munger, its original owner, and her second husband Emmett Moss. [1] [2] This name was retained after the business was sold to Pete and Jesse Hudson in 1945, [3] relocated to the former Chicken Shanty site in Lebanon in September 1945 and expanded with tourist cabins in 1946. The current owners purchased the motel in June 1971.

Statuary in the motel garden US66 Munger-Moss garden.jpg
Statuary in the motel garden

The lodgings were originally constructed as a 14-room cabin court, an early motel-like accommodation in which each pair of rooms stood as a free-standing building with carports in the middle. Much as cabins and motor courts replaced the campgrounds that had served Depression-era motorists, motels with multiple rooms in one building would replace individual cabins in the 1950s. Space initially allocated to individual carports or open ground between cabins would soon be filled with additional rooms.

While the post-war era brought a huge increase in tourism as auto manufacturers returned to civilian production and wartime rationing of fuel and tires ended, the 1950s would also bring increased competition both from other independents and from chains such as Holiday Inn (founded 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee). The aggressively-expanding motel would add elaborate neon signage to rival the chain motel's Great Sign, in-room televisions, air conditioning and an outdoor swimming pool to remain competitive. [3]

When U.S. Route 66 was upgrade to a four-lane highway in 1957 and ultimately bypassed by the parallel Interstate 44 in Missouri, all small independent motorist-oriented businesses were adversely affected to varying degrees. The Stony Dell Resort in Arlington became a ghost resort in a ghost town while John's Modern Cabins were abandoned and continue to deteriorate as a ghost tourist court. [4] Munger-Moss was more fortunate; its location was one where Interstate 44 closely paralleled US 66 and the closest off-ramp was within a half-mile of the motel. While freeway construction represented disruption, the Munger Moss remained in continuous operation as an independent local motel and added 26 more units in 1961. [5]

It currently has 44 rooms and 16 efficiencies. [6] In 2010, its neon signage was restored using a $10300 National Park Service matching grant as part of larger US route 66 historic corridor preservation efforts. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

Motel Motor hotel in which all rooms face directly onto a car park, or low-cost hotel

A motel or motor lodge is a hotel designed for motorists and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles. Entering dictionaries after World War II, the word motel, coined as a portmanteau contraction of "motor hotel", originates from the Milestone Mo-Tel of San Luis Obispo, California, which was built in 1925. The term referred initially to a type of hotel consisting of a single building of connected rooms whose doors faced a parking lot and in some circumstances, a common area or a series of small cabins with common parking. Motels are often individually owned, though motel chains do exist.

U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways in the U.S. Highway System. US 66 was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). It was recognized in popular culture by both the hit song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and the Route 66 television series, which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964. In John Steinbeck's classic American novel, The Grapes of Wrath (1939), the road "Highway 66" symbolized escape and loss.

Interstate 44 (I-44) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. Although it is nominally an east–west road as it is even-numbered, it follows a more southwest–northeast alignment. Its western terminus is in Wichita Falls, Texas, at a concurrency with U.S. Route 277 (US 277), US 281, and U.S. Route 287 in Texas; its eastern terminus is at I-70 in St. Louis, Missouri. I-44 is one of five Interstates built to bypass U.S. Route 66; this highway covers the section between Oklahoma City and St. Louis. Virtually the entire length of I-44 east of Springfield, Missouri, was once US 66, which was upgraded from two to four lanes from 1949 to 1955. The section of I-44 west of Springfield was built farther south than US 66 in order to connect Missouri's section with the already completed Will Rogers Turnpike, which Oklahoma wished to carry their part of I-44.

Erick, Oklahoma City in Oklahoma, United States

Erick is a city in western Beckham County, Oklahoma, United States. It is 15 miles (24 km) west of Sayre, Oklahoma, the county seat, and 6 miles (9.7 km) east of the Oklahoma Texas border. A post office originally named Dennis, was established to serve this community on November 8, 1900. The community developed along the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad line, built in 1902. On November 16, 1901, the name was changed to honor Beeks Erick, the townsite developer and president of the Choctaw Townsite and Improvement Company, and the town incorporated that year. The population was 1,052 at the 2010 census.

Devils Elbow, Missouri unincorporated community in Missouri

Devils Elbow is an unincorporated community in Pulaski County, Missouri, United States on historic U.S. Highway 66. It is situated on the Big Piney River and is named for a particularly bad place in the river known as a "devil of an elbow". The community is approximately five miles (8 km) east of St. Robert. The floods of May 2017 destroyed much of the historic area, including the post office, but it is in the process of being rebuilt.

U.S. Route 66 in California Highway in California

U.S. Route 66 is a part of a former United States Numbered Highway in the state of California that ran from the west in Santa Monica on the Pacific Ocean through Los Angeles and San Bernardino to Needles at the Arizona state line. It was truncated during the 1964 renumbering and its signage removed in 1974. The highway is now mostly replaced with several streets in Los Angeles, State Route 2 (SR 2), SR 110, SR 66, San Bernardino County Route 66 (CR 66), Interstate 15 (I-15), and I-40.

U.S. Route 66, the historic east–west US highway between Chicago, Illinois and Santa Monica, California, passed through one brief segment in the southeastern corner of Kansas. It entered the state south of Baxter Springs and continued north until it crossed the Brush Creek, from where it turned east and left the state in Galena. After the decertification of the highway in 1985, this road segment was numbered as US-69 (alternate) from Quapaw, Oklahoma north to Riverton, Kansas and as K-66 from Riverton east to Route 66 in Missouri.

U.S. Route 66 is a former east–west United States Numbered Highway, running from Santa Monica, California to Chicago, Illinois. In Missouri, the highway ran from downtown St. Louis at the Mississippi River to the Kansas state line west of Joplin. The highway was originally Route 14 from St. Louis to Joplin and Route 1F from Joplin to Kansas. It underwent two major realignments and several lesser realignments in the cities of St. Louis, Springfield, and Joplin. Current highways covering several miles of the former highway include Route 100, Route 366, Route 266, Route 96, and Route 66. Interstate 44 (I-44) approximates much of US 66 between St. Louis and Springfield.

The historic U.S. Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway after Oklahoma native Will Rogers, ran from west to northeast across the state of Oklahoma, along the path now taken by Interstate 40 (I-40) and State Highway 66 (SH-66). It passed through Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and many smaller communities. West of the Oklahoma City area, it has been largely replaced by I-40; the few independent portions that are still state-maintained are now I-40 Business. However, from Oklahoma City northeast to Kansas, the bypassing I-44 is mostly a toll road, and SH-66 remains as a free alternate.

U.S. Route 66 in New Mexico former section of U.S. Highway in New Mexico, United States

The historic U.S. Route 66 ran east–west across the central part of the state of New Mexico, along the path now taken by Interstate 40 (I-40). However, until 1937, it took a longer route via Los Lunas, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe, now roughly New Mexico State Road 6 (NM 6), I-25, and US 84. Large portions of the old road parallel to I-40 have been designated NM 117, NM 118, NM 122, NM 124, NM 333, three separate loops of I-40 Business, and state-maintained frontage roads.

There have been 22 special routes of U.S. Route 66.

Belvidere Café, Motel, and Gas Station United States historic place

Belvidere Café, Motel and Gas Station is a historic building in Litchfield, Illinois along Route 66. The site also has a residence and two motel units.

Boots Court Motel

The Boots Motel, a historic U.S. Route 66 motor hotel in Carthage, Missouri, opened in 1939 as the Boots Court at 107 S. Garrison Avenue.

Blue Swallow Motel

The Blue Swallow Court in Tucumcari, New Mexico, United States, is a 12-unit L-shaped motel listed on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico as a part of historic U.S. Route 66. Original architectural features included a façade with pink stucco walls decorated with shell designs and a stepped parapet, on-site office and manager's residence and garages located between the sleeping units for travelers to park their motorcars.

Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts

The Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts brand was the first motel chain in the United States, founded by Edgar Lee Torrance in Waco, Texas, in 1929. By 1955, there were more than twenty Alamo Plazas across the southeastern U.S., most controlled by a loosely knit group of a half-dozen investors and operating using common branding or architecture.

Wagon Wheel Motel, Café and Station tourist stop in Cuba, Missouri

The Wagon Wheel Motel, Café and Station in Cuba, Missouri, is a 19-room independently owned historic U.S. Route 66 restored motel which has been serving travelers since 1938. The site opened as a café in 1936; the motel has remained in continuous operation since 1938. The motel rooms were fully restored in 2010, adding modern amenities such as HDTV and wireless Internet.

Coral Court Motel motel on Route 66

The Coral Court Motel was a 1941 U.S. Route 66 motel constructed in Marlborough, Missouri and designated on the National Register of Historic Places in St. Louis County in 1989 as a valuable example of the art deco and streamline moderne architectural styles. It expanded to 77 rooms in the heyday of automobile tourism on US 66, only to decline after the highway was bypassed by Interstate 44 in the 1970s and close its doors forever in 1993. Despite strong local efforts advocating historic preservation, it was demolished in 1995 for a suburban housing development.

John's Modern Cabins are an abandoned ghost tourist court on U.S. Route 66 in Newburg, Missouri. Structurally unsound and at risk of being demolished or simply collapsing for many years, their name is now an unwitting example of irony in the English language.

Provine Service Station United States historic place

The Provine Service Station is a historic filling station on U.S. Route 66 in Oklahoma. Located a half-mile south of Hydro, Oklahoma and operated by Lucille Hamons from 1941 until her death on August 18, 2000, the site was added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

66 Motel (Needles)

66 Motel, an independently owned six-room motel established 1946–47 in Needles, formerly served travellers on U.S. Route 66 in California. Bypassed c. 1970 by Interstate 40, the motel has been used as single room occupancy apartments since the 1990s.

References

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Munger Moss Motel at Wikimedia Commons

The original Devil's Elbow restaurant is now Elbow Inn. Route66 072.jpg
The original Devil's Elbow restaurant is now Elbow Inn.
  1. ↑ Connie Farrow, Associated Press (November 9, 2002). "Highway Landmark: Popularity of US route 66 helps Lebanon motel thrive". The Southeast Missourian. p. 5A.
  2. ↑ Russell A. Olsen (September 24, 2008). The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found. p. 44. ISBN   9780760334928 . Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Quinta Scott (December 1, 2001). Along Route 66. p. 85. ISBN   9780806133836 . Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  4. ↑ William Kaszynski (May 1, 2003). Route 66: Images of America's Main Street. p. 44. ISBN   9780786415533 . Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  5. ↑ Carol M. Highsmith (September 10, 2009). "The Munger Moss Motel neon sign, Route 66, Lebanon, Missouri". Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC.
  6. ↑ Connie Farrow, Associated Press (November 9, 2002). "Highway Landmark: Popularity of US route 66 helps Lebanon motel thrive". The Southeast Missourian. p. 5A.
  7. ↑ "2010 Grant Awards" (PDF). US National Park Service. 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.