Wilkerson Ford Dealership Building

105 W. Jefferson Ave., Conway, MO
Phone:

East < GO > West

The 1926 Wilkerson Ford Building in Conway Missouri is now the community Senior Center. But it still has its wonderful restored windows with a combination of stained glass and glass block elements. The stained glass parts spell out Ford, Lincoln and Fordson. Fordson was Ford's named for their farm tractors. From Route 66 (Hwy. CC), turn east on Jefferson and go a bit less than 1/4 a mile to Main St.

Ford was still building the Model T in 1926 when the Willkerson's built this cool old building with its wonderful stained glass windows. But the Model T was discontinued just a year orso later, with no immediate replacement model. Dealerships had to wait months for the new Model A cars to start arriving.

The 1926 Ford was quite a bit different than the cars we have today. Unlike this is sedan, the open touring cars and roadsters didn't even offer this much comfort, especially in bad weather. When you look at a car like this remember that the last piece of Route 66 wasn't paved until 1937.

Fortunately the dealership had Lincoln cars to sell. But Lincolns were expensive luxury cars and the Model T was a low priced entry level car. The Ford Motor Company had acquired the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922, only a few years before this building was constructed.

Lincoln was intended to be and still is a prestige luxury automobile. This 1926 version shows it was a lot bigger than the Model T, it was also more powerful .

Fordson farm tractors were an important part of farm life in the 1920s. But in 1928, just two years after the building was new Ford would stop building, and selling, the tractors in the USA for a decade or so. On top of the discontinuance of the Model T and the wait for the Model A that probably wasn't good news for the Wilkersons.

The cornerstone reads "Sept 1926". From here backtrack to 66 and head west to Niangua.

Photo(s): 2016