Carthage, MO

Sunset Cafe & Drive-In Theater 12621 Old 66 Blvd. The Sunset Cafe opened after WWII and by 1949 the Sunset Drive-in movie theater opened behind the cafe ... read more

Formerly Buster Brown Inn 12932 Old 66 Blvd. The former Buster Brown Inn is located across the street from Red Rock Apartments, on the east side of Kellogg ... read more

Whites Court 12911 Old 66 Blvd. The Red Rocks Apartments behind the Best Budget Inn.started out in 1927 as White's Court with a cafe and gas ... read more

Kellogg Lake Park Hwy. 96 at Old 66 Blvd. The park next to the Best Budget Motel is surrounded on three sides by Route 66. A Blue Star Memorial ... read more

Best Budget Inn 13008 Missouri Hwy. 96 The Best Budget Inn is across the street from Kellogg Lake at the intersection of two alignments of Route 66 ... read more

Side Trip: Turn East on 96 to the Red Oak II sign, the turn north on Hwy 130. This takes you to the village of Red Oak II, which we highly recommend!

Red Oak II Sign MO 96 at Cty. Rd 130 Just east of the Best Budget Inn on MO 96 turn north here on Co. 130 to get to the La Grange School and Red Oak ... read more

1876 La Grange School Cty. 130 at (12735) Knoll Rd From 96 take 130 north to Kroll Rd. This is the oldest school building in the district. It was restored between 2013 and ... read more

Red Oak II 12266 Karif Rd. (Between Cty. 120 Red Oak II is a re-creation of an 1800s village, From MO 96 take Cty. 130 north to Kafir Rd. then east about 3/4 mile ... read more

Back on 66: Just backtrack west on Kafir then south on 130 and south

west on 96.

Crapduster Sculpture 13011 Hwy. 96 This 1997 Lowell Davis sculpture is a mixture of an antique manure spreader with biplane wings ... read more

Side Trip: Turn west on Hwy V (between the Crap Duster and the Kel-Lake Motel) to Northwoods St. and curve right on to Northwoods. St. This is an early alternate alignment of Route 66, but it now leads to a dead end at a closed bridge.

Old Gas Station 166 Northwood St. I haven't been able to find any real information about this little cottage style station hiding in the weeds across the ... read more

Kendrick Place 131 Northwoods St. This 1849 house was sold to the Kendricks in 1856 and stayed in their family until the 1980s ... read more

Old Gas Station N. Garrison Ave. at E. Northwoods St. This old stone filling station is on the NE corner of Garrison and Northwoods on the grounds of the Kendrick House... read more

Clover Inn Cafe & Texaco Garrison Ave & Northwood St. Turn SW on Garrison. This is a former truck stop, Texaco service station and Clover Inn Cafe. It's hard to see because of all the ... read more

Cottage Style Building 912 Garrison, Carthage, MO This looks like it started out as a cottage style building that might have been a gas station or cafe ... read more

Back to Hwy 96: Turn around here and backtrack to the Kel-Lake Motel and head southwest on Hwy 96.

Kel-Lake Motel 13071 Hwy. 96 The 1954 Kel-Lake Motel sits where the newer Route 66 (Hwy. 96) meet the older Route 66 ... read more

Jackson Tire 614 E Central Ave At Jackson Tire is an old truck advertising FoxFire Farm which is the home of Lowell Davis and Red Oak II ... read more

Guest House Motel 417 E Central Ave. This motel is located on Route 66 Central Ave. and Lincoln Street. The sign says they have a public laundromat ... read more

Woody's Glass Shop 101 E Central Ave. Now Woody's Glass, this 1920s building started out as a John Deere dealership. In the 1930s it was Chet Campbell's Gulf ... read more

Side Trip: Turn north on Garrison for a couple of blocks.

Dazy Court and Sleeping Rooms 115 Garrison Ave. The former Dazy Court dates back to 1941 and is located 1/2 block north of Central Ave. on Garrison ... read more

Whisler's Hamburgers 300 N Garrison Ave., Carthage, MO Charles Whisler opened this burger stand in 1953. People buy the burgers by the bag full ... read more

Back on 1926 Alignment: Turn around at Whistlers and head south on Garrison.

Boots Court 107 S. Garrison The famous 1939 Boots Court is located at the "Crossroads of America", where Highway 71 intersects with Route 66 ... read more

Old Boots Drive-in and Gift Shop 120 S Garrison Ave. The original Boots Drive-in became home to a credit union. It is across the street from Boots Court ... read more

Pancake Hut 301 S Garrison Ave. Built in 1936 as the Alamo Cafe, this was a Peter Pan Ice Cream store in 1973. and the Pancake Hut since 1979 ... read more

Side Trip: To Downtown, instead of turning west on Oak Street turn east on 4th St. and head downtown. That intersection is a bit different, going west it is Oak, going east it is 4th.

To skip the side trip scroll down to Dunlap Oil Co.

Dance Pavilion Mural 130 W 4th St. This mural was painted by John Biggs in 2006. It shows the old dance pavilion from 1938 that occupied the site ... read more

Jasper County Courthouse 4th St.& Main This 1895 Romanesque Revival building is the second most photographed building In Missouri after the ... read more

Note: Turn north on Grant St and go 2 blocks to the Civil War Museum.

Carthage Civil War Museum 205 Grant St. The Carthage Civil War Museum is housed in what was once City Hall. Built in 1883-84 for city offices, volunteer fire ... read more

1895 U.S. Post Office 200 S. Grant St. C. O. Harrington constructed this modest post office when the U.S. Post Office agreed to stay in this location for at least ... read more

Note: Turn east on 2nd, go 1 block and turn south on Howard.

Drake Hotel 406 Howard St., Carthage, MO The 1922 Drake Hotel is now called Drake Hotel Apartments and is now ... read more

Note: Take Howard south to Chestnut and turn west to Central Park, then north on Garrison.

Carthage's Central Park 714 Garrison, Carthage, MO In the park is a statue honoring Marlin Perkins who was a Carthage-born zoologist and ... read more

Carthage Public Library 612 S. Garrison This Carnegie Library opened in Feb. 1905. Check out the E.L. Dale Memorial Library Gardens ... read more

Carthage Memorial Hall 407 S. Garrison Ave. Built in 1924 as a tribute to WWI soldiers, today it is used for club activities, auctions and concerts ... read more

Back on 66: Turn West on Oak St.

Dunlap Oil Co. Station 431 Oak St, Carthage, MO In 1937 a gas station opened including Dunlap Oil run by Elby D. Dunlap ... read more

Joy's Garage & Filling Station 500 Oak St., Carthage, MO Look for the vintage DeSoto-Plymouth sign on the front of this 1935 garage. In 1937 it was Joy's Garage & Filling ... read more

Whee Bridge Oak St. (Route 66) just west of Orner St. The Whee Bridge crosses the railroad tracks and gets it names from the feeling you have when you drive over it ... read more

Former Murrell Tourist Rooms & Cabins 830 Oak St., Carthage, MO By 1947 M.S Murrell and L.E. Newman had opened the Murrell Tourist Rooms and ... read more

Neatherry's Service Station Building 918 Oak St. This building was built in 1935 and was known as Neatherry's Service Station until 1947. At one time it was the ... read more

Moxley's Grocery & Filling Station 1002 Oak St. In 1947 this was Moxley's Grocery & Filling Station. In 1937 it was George Earle Grocery. In 2016 it was the ... read more

Powers Museum 1617 Oak St., Carthage, MO The local history museum opened in 1988. It is located on Route 66, across from Carthage Municipal Park ... read more

Municipal Park and Golf Course 2000 Oak St. Most of this park was built as a CPA project during the Depression. It includes a roller rink, swimming pool, and ... read more

66 Drive-in 17231 Old 66 Blvd. The 66 Dive-in Theater opened in 1949, closed 1985 and reopened in 1998. It is located west of town on Route 66 ... read more

1922 Bridge Route 66 west of Hwy. 171/Business 49 This little bridge was quite narrow and replaced in 2016 ... read more

Stay tuned, there's more to come!