1926 Route 66

This section of the Mother Road originally looped up to the north and actually went just past the freeway and curved back down and continued south on what is now the north part of Teardrop Road to cross the present four lane and continued south from there into Devil's Elbow. That small section on the north side of I-44 has been removed so it isn't possible to drive it from one end to the other anymore. Most of it can be driven if you start at both ends where they meet the four lane.

The Trophy Lane section was an especially busy section of the old road before the four lane and Hooker Cut was built. Some of the folks living along here set up basket weaving and sales businesses in their front yards. For as little as a dollar, maybe less, you could buy a handmade basket from these local crafters, well "as little as a dollar" might not have such a little amount during the Great Depression years of the 1930s. The Wells family store and gas station, the predecessor to the Hillbilly Store, was located up near the freeway. A few other spots along this section are shown below.

Just after turning onto the old road you come to what is a private home now, but in the 1930s and early 1940s it was a restaurant. There were four small (guest?) sleeping rooms upstairs. In the early 40s those rooms could well have been rented to construction workers, and later soldiers, from the Fort Leonard Wood Army base a few miles down the road.

There were also gas pumps out front and five tourist cabins out back. The cabins and gas pumps are all long gone, but it looks like the cabin foundations are still visible out back. It later became a grocery store.

Farther west you come to the church, which started life as the 1905 one room Hooker school a short distance from this location before being moved to the cemetery. They moved it by rolling it on logs then somehow lifting it up onto the stone foundation.

Hooker Cemetery dates to at least the 1880s and is located just behind the church, the cemetery was here first. It isn't a large cemetery, but no doubt the memories of loved ones it holds loom large for many.

The old road continues past the church and cemetery and around a curve to the point where it was cut off by the freeway. So far I haven't spotted any visible landmarks beyond the church so you may want to turn around and back track to the four lane at this point.

The freeway marks the end of the 1926 alignment of Route 66 here. So while Trophy Lane goes under the it, the road beyond the freeway is not part of old 66, so turn around and back track to the four lane.