Some Favorite Route 66 Photochrome Postcards

Skillet Cafe
Like many cafés along Route 66, gasoline pumps were also set up in front of the Skillet Café in Rolla, Missouri, for the traveling motorist. Cities Service (now CITGO) was the brand of gasoline sold and the white building with the horizontal green striping was characteristic of that brand. It looks like another gas station was in the distance. What appears as a silver circle with a black line setting on the roof I believe is a large namesake Skillet itself. The big white-on-black block lettered CAFE sign could likely be seen along Route 66 for some distance. The Skillet Café was later associated with the adjacent Wayfarer Inn which I think was actually built later. (Natural Color/Kobert SC5205)

Munger Moss Motel
Emmett Munger and Nelle Moss married and contributed their names to a Sandwich Shop on Route 66 near Devils Elbow. When the highway was re-aligned the couple took their business into Lebanon, Missouri. A motor court with their names was built and it evolved over the years and is still open this day. The signboard in the small view of this postcard (which still exists at the motel today) reminds us of the "Great Sign" of the well-known Holiday Inn motor hotel chain. I really like the arched gateway "ENTRANCE" sign that seems to indicate that overnight guests are entering a special community of travelers when they pass beneath it.

Garbage Can Cafe
The Garbage Can Café and Lowery’s Phillips 66 Service Station were near Niangua, Missouri. Opened in 1952, Letha Lowery ran the café and her husband Kermit Lowery ran the station. The gasoline pumps all have the glass globes on top of them. Each pair of pumps is separated by a motor oil display rack (remember those?). Some details that are probably difficult to see include the big sign on top of the café which is like a garbage can, the Tastemark Ice Cream sign just above the window awnings at the front door, and the black square telephone sign on the distant light pole. The business closed in 1972. (Natural Color/Kobert SC4675)

Rest Haven Motel
I selected this Rest Haven Court in Springfield, Missouri, postcard for two reasons. First, this postcard shows "rocked" buildings. Rock façades were very common among motor courts and other small structures built during the 1940s and 1950s in the state of Missouri, and at least one postcard in this portfolio should show that architectural detail. Second, a big signboard similar to the classic Holiday Inn "Great Sign" is out front. At night these signs shimmered: the lights often chased themselves around the yellow arched arrow of the sign. Notice that this signboard is quite similar to the Munger Moss sign above. (Depew S-32832)