Now a nationally known festival celebrating Historic Route 66, Springfield’s Birthplace of Route 66 Festival had a modest beginning in 2010 as a classic car show hosted by the West Central Neighborhood Alliance to fund raise for improvements to the College Avenue portion of Springfield’s stretch of Route 66.
By 2016, the festival had exploded into a two-day celebration with major musical acts, a parade, motorcycle show, vendor village, and several other events in addition to the car show, drawing 38,000 people to downtown Springfield. Mark your calendar for the 2017 festival Aug. 11-12.
“Birthplace of Route 66 Festival event partners KY3, Aaron Sachs & Associates and the Gillioz Theatre have again teamed up with the City of Springfield to host the best festival celebrating Route 66 in the U.S.,” says Cora Scott, director of Public Information and Civic Engagement for the City of Springfield. “We’re very excited about the entertainment we’re bringing in this year. With the variety of activities and events, there really is something for everyone.”
Scott credits a strong group of festival founders, including the West Central Neighborhood Alliance and the Route 66 Association of Missouri for recognizing the potential in creating a festival honoring Springfield’s heritage as the birthplace of the Mother Road. “Their foresight and continued hard work to keep this festival going has been an inspiration,” she said.
The West Central Neighborhood Alliance hosts a parade pre-party at the Birthplace of Route 66 Roadside Park near College Street and Fort Avenue on the Friday of the festival. Join them for pizza and drinks starting at 5 p.m. on Aug. 11 and watch more than 400 classic cars line up along College Street before the parade kicks off at 6:30 p.m.
The founders of the festival include the West Central Neighborhood Alliance, Tommy and Glenda Pike and David Eslick. They hope to pass on the tradition of preserving the history of the Mother Road on to younger generations.
Together, the Pikes are a walking, talking encyclopedia of Mother Road lore and history.
In 1989, while antiquing in Halltown, the Pikes came across a sign-up sheet to form a Missouri Route 66 association. They signed up and went to the Route 66 Association of Missouri’s first meeting at STOS Truck Stop in Mount Vernon.
The pair have been active members of the association ever since. Tommy is the association’s current president.
“We love the slower pace of the Mother Road, its icons – both new and old – and the friends we’ve made along the way,” Glenda said.
Tommy has held positions on several Route 66 committees in connection with the National Park Service.
The Pikes and their daughter Tonya, who grew up with a love for Route 66 and is the current secretary of the Route 66 Association of Missouri, spend a lot of time trying to convince cities and towns along the route to invest in their pieces of Route 66. “It’s an economic development tool,” Tommy says. “If communities embrace their Route 66 history, the tourists will come.”
Tonya is an advocate for teaching the importance of preservation to the younger generation.
“Before we know it, it’ll be time for the younger folks to inherit the Mother Road and they will have to become its caretakers,” Glenda said.
Another lifelong Springfieldian, David Eslick is a Route 66 preservationist, photographer and Route 66 T-shirt designer who also serves on the Route 66 Association of Missouri’s board of directors. Eslick presents the festival’s John T. Woodruff Award each year.
The award, named for the Springfield businessman who is considered one of the fathers of Route 66 and was the first president of the U.S. Route 66 Association, recognizes supporters and promoters of Historic Route 66.
Recipients of the Woodruff Award have included author Susan Croce Kelly, the Pikes, Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven owner Gordon Elliott, St. Louis Street Steak ‘n Shake owner Gary Leonard and West Central Neighborhood Alliance’s Shirley Robbins.
Steak ’n Shake, which opened in 1962, was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The restaurant is a frequent stop on trips down Historic Route 66.
“When my dad bought the St. Louis Street Steak ‘n Shake store, I was 14 years old,” Leonard says. “He put an apron on me, and I have been helping Route 66 visitors have a unique experience in an original 1960s café ever since.”
Leonard is an active member of the Springfield business community and enjoys interacting with people from all over the world on their trips down the Mother Road.
Robbins, a former treasurer for the West Central Neighborhood Alliance, has registered more than 1,100 classic cars for the festival’s car show participants since 2014.
“Shirley has done an outstanding job with a task that has grown larger each year,” Eslick said. “The festival would not be as successful as it is today without Shirley’s strong commitment.”
Why is Springfield the Birthplace of Route 66?
Springfield is officially recognized as the birthplace of the Mother Road because it was on April 30, 1926 from the Colonial Hotel where Springfield businessman John T. Woodruff and Missouri and Oklahoma highway officials sent a telegram to the Bureau of Public Roads in Washington, D.C. proposing U.S. 66 as the name for the new Chicago-to-Los-Angeles highway.
Remnants of the Mother Road are still visible in Springfield, including under the Glenstone Avenue viaduct between St. Louis Street and Trafficway.
Route 66 explorers can follow the path of Historic Route 66 through Springfield from East Kearney Street to Glenstone Avenue to St. Louis Street, through Park Central Square to Olive and College streets, then head west along what is now Chestnut Expressway. Popular stops along Route 66 included the Star Terminal Café, Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven and Red’s Giant Hamburg.
Renewing Route 66
The City of Springfield’s Planning & Development and Public Works departments are the driving forces behind the redevelopment of Springfield’s stretch of Route 66.
In 2014, the City created the Birthplace of Route 66 Roadside Park, located in West Central near the intersection of College Street and Fort Avenue, and plans to fill it with more replicas of local Route 66 landmarks and signs, sculptures and a history plaza. The first featured element of the park, a replica of the Red’s Giant Hamburg sign, was dedicated at the park’s grand opening.
Other redevelopment efforts include the Route 66 Streetscape Project, which involves extending the downtown streetscape look from Broadway Avenue west to the Route 66 Roadside Park with new sidewalks, landscaping, street lighting, utility improvements and on-street parking. Improvements also include decorative crosswalks and a pedestrian plaza at the intersection of College Street and Broadway Avenue. The cost for the project is approximately $1,145,608 and it is funded by the 1/4-cent Capital Improvement Sales Tax and federal Transportation Alternatives Program funds.
“I’d like to see Springfield become THE stop along Route 66,” says City Manager Greg Burris. “Our Route 66 history is a source of community pride for us … it’s time to offer Route 66 tourists something more to do when they’re visiting Springfield.”