Route 66 State Park

A pretty day and an empty calendar means it's time to explore. We decided to go to the Route 66 State Park which isn't too far from us. Oddly, the exit was 266 (to 66). The visitor's center is in an old inn.

There are two parts to the museum---first, it tells about Times Beach from which the park was created.In the photo above you can see where the visitor's center is and where the community of Times Beach used to be. The bridge connecting the two has been declared unfit for cars or pedestrians, so it's not easy getting from the Visitor's Center to the Park. There is very little in the actual park that is evidence that an entire town used to be there.
This looks like it was once one of the streets. Times Beach had an interesting, but brief history.
It began as a newspaper promotion. For $67 and a 6 month subscription to the St. Louis Times, you could have a place on the Meramec River. It was primarily summer cottages until after World War II when people began living there year round.
In 1982, Times Beach was hit by a double whammy. It's dirt and gravel streets had been sprayed with dioxin, a cancer causing chemical. While the government was trying to decide what to do, the Meramec River flooded. It was decided that residents would need to leave. It became a site where it and other toxic sites in the area became de-toxified with a giant furnace. After it was declared safe, it became the Route 66 State Park.
The museum has some interesting artifacts about the entire Route 66, but my favorites were the exhibits about Missouri Landmarks. I thought this sign below was interesting because I recall seeing my first bumper stickers from these caves:
I thought they were horrible and couldn't believe that people had them on their bumpers, now I understand why they tolerated them. Of course, now, many people actually buy bumper stickers. . .not me!
I was pretty surprised to see photos of automobiles in the caves.
I recall the Coral Court Motel on Watson Rd. Parts of it have been rebuilt at the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. For more about this interesting motel, click here.
Dave and I went over this bridge many, many times since it's near where we lived as kids. It is still used for hiking and biking.
Dave remembers this place in Rolla, but it was student housing when he lived there.
The museum ends in a great Gift shop with all sorts of Route 66 memorabilia and books.


Unfortunately the bridge that links the museum to the park is closed even to pedestrians for some structural problems. It's a bit complicated getting to the park from the visitor's center. You have to go back to the highway (exit 266) go west to exit 264, turn around to go east on I-44 to exit 265. . .