Under One Roof

By Heide Brandes Opening image by Efren Lopez/Route66Images

In the middle of the night in 1963, a crime was committed in Elk City, Oklahoma. Unknown “rebels” moved a large Victorian mansion from one end of town to the other during the dark hours, despite a ruling from state officials that it couldn’t be done.

The leaders of the Western Oklahoma Historical Society, with the support of Elk City’s Mayor and Council, wanted to move the old house from one location in the community to another with the dream of turning it into a museum, but the state declined approval. Once the private home of the O.H.

Young family before it became a funeral parlor, the two-story structure had been purchased by the city in 1963 with the museum plan in mind. But according to the state inspectors, the prospective museum building was too big to pass under power lines or traverse the narrow streets.

“Technically, the city wasn’t supposed to move that house.

You know how big that thing is! The state said that we couldn’t do that because of stop lights hanging down,” said

Randy Haggard, sculptor and president of the Elk City

Museum board.

But by the next morning, the house suddenly appeared on the corner of 2717 West 3rd Street. Nobody seemed to know how it got there, so there wasn’t much that the state could do about it. Everyone in town was “just as surprised” to see the structure at its new location on the west side of town. But there it was.

Just five years later, in 1968, Elk City opened the Old Town

Museum, in that Victorian-era house, to the public, kicking off the complex which would grow to include four more museums: Farm and Ranch, Blacksmith, Transportation, and, of course, the National Route 66 Museum, the highlight of the complex, which attracts roughly 2,000 visitors a month.

Located on the west side of Elk City on Route 66, a huge

Mother Road shield positioned pleasantly at an angle and a giant kachina doll alert travelers that they’ve arrived at the city’s pride and joy, the Elk City Museum Complex. There, the National Route 66 Museum pays homage to all eight states through which the Mother Road runs with its display of Route 66 memorabilia, antique cars, and rare historical documents. But wait, there’s more to see. Through their series of unique museums and pioneer town, the Museum Complex tells the whole story of Elk City — from cattle drives up through the Route 66 era.

The Queen of the West

Before Elk City’s founding in 1901 as a railroad shipping center, cattle drives thundered through the area from Texas to Kansas, but after regular train service arrived later that year, the prairie town began building in earnest. There is a story that the town’s fledgling post office was named “Busch” in the hopes that Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association co-owner Adolphus Busch might be flattered and put a brewery in the town. “That’s actually a myth with just a little bit of truth,” said Lynn Kennemer, author of Elk City: Rising from the Prairie. “You know how lore is - there is some truth to it and not truth to it.” Regardless, that idea was apparently abandoned, and in 1907, the Busch Post Office was renamed Elk City.

According to an article published in The Oklahoman on June 14, 1939, Elk City was a thriving community in the early 1900s. “Old-timers here get many a hearty laugh now out of reminiscing about those early days. They like to recall, for instance, the Fourth of July street dance in 1901 which lasted from Wednesday until Sunday. Settlers and businessmen for miles around declared an extended holiday. Some even came from Canadian, Texas, which was quite a trip as reckoned by the horse and buggy method of transportation. The Indians rode down from the hills to show their white brothers something really fancy in the way of ceremonial dances,” the article touted.

Fondly nicknamed “the Queen of the West,” Elk City was an agricultural town as well as transportation hub, and the area’s main crops were cotton and broom corn, which was grown more for its fibers than its kernels. Those fibers were used for a variety of products, including brooms. “They call [Elk City] the Broom Corn Capital of the world,” said Haggard. “In our Farm and Ranch Museum, we actually have a broom-making machine.” Elk City lived up to its queenly reputation with four banks, four cotton gins, and a cotton oil mill by 1909.

Soon, natural gas lured even more people to the area. Located smack in the middle of the Anadarko Basin, a major natural gas reserve, Elk City earned another title as “Natural Gas Capital of the World’’ after drilling began with the first well in 1918. In fact, a 180-foot tall, non-operating oil rig remains right in the middle of downtown as a tribute to the gas boom.

The Mother Road, More Traffic

When US Highway 66 was established in 1926, it ran straight through the middle of Elk City. Although the Great Depression and World War II saw a fair number of motorists pass through the town, it would be the postwar years that would really help western Oklahoma grow.

In the ’40s, Route 66 was important for the war effort.

“When the War was over, that was a big deal. Route 66 went right through town, and everybody was starting to get cars, so there was a big increase in traffic,” said Haggard, who was born in Elk City in 1950. “You’d have a real hard time getting down Third Street because of all the highway traffic. I was just a kid. Cotton was king at the time, and on weekends, people came to town to shop or buy their new coveralls or whatever. Everyone came to town and bought groceries and visited their buddies, and the downtown was just jammed.”

US 66 saw millions of Americans travel for leisure, thanks to postwar prosperity and Bobby Troup’s song that encouraged people to get their kicks on Route 66. Small businesses along the highway found new opportunities, including little roadside attractions that touted everything from “live rattlesnakes” to “Native American jewelry.”

“The Queenan family had a really well-known shop off of Route 66. [The Elk City National Route 66 Museum] now has the kachinas that they had in front of their store,” Haggard continued. When Interstate 40 was completed in 1970, Elk City didn’t suffer as much as many towns did. While the new interstate did not run through the city like Route 66, it did include four exits to reach the town, so they were not totally cut off. Still, the number of visitors started to drop.

The Building of a Museum Complex

While the National Route 66 Museum is arguably the big draw of the Elk City Museum complex, the Old Town Museum started it all. “The idea for a museum came from the Western Oklahoma Historical Society, a group of 12 citizens who were doctors and attorneys and residents,” said Cindy Wood, a volunteer with the National Route 66 Museum. “The two people who got them together were Pat and LV Baker, who was a physician. They wanted the museum to show what Elk City was like, and they felt that the history was important to keep.”

To move the 6,000-square-foot former funeral home, the “unknown” persons split the house into two separate pieces

Native Americans have a long history along the highway, too.

and held up the power lines along the road. “It was quite a little undertaking, but they moved it about a mile and a half,” said Wood.

“This was cotton patch farmland right here, and it was outside of town,” added Haggard about the location. “At the time, I don’t think it was even in the city limits, so they annexed it. It took the city about three years to get enough artifacts to make the museum.”

The Old Town Museum still occupies the old Victorian house. There, guests can explore artifacts from early-day pioneer life, enjoy a Native American art gallery, and learn about the early days of Elk City. Upstairs in the museum, the entire second floor pays homage to cowboy and rodeo culture with items donated by the Beutler Brothers Rodeo Stock Producers.

But the city had bigger plans. It envisioned a “mini-city” museum complex. After the Old Town Museum was opened, a vintage railroad caboose was installed next, followed by the one-room country chapel with its original stained-glass windows. Throughout the years, more historic buildings, like the schoolhouse and the livery, were added. In 1994, Pat Baker secured a $380,000 federal grant to develop the Elk City National Route 66 Museum.

“We cannot give enough credit to Mrs. Baker,” said Wood. “The grant was federal, and that’s why it’s called The National Route 66 Museum. My understanding is that every state throughout Route 66 was able to get the grant, and the governors all got together to choose which museum in their state would be a national museum. Ours got chosen.”

The National Route 66 Museum sprang out of the Elk City Transportation Museum. Filled with such treasures as vintage firetrucks and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the Transportation Museum was already touting the history of the Mother Road. When it expanded to the National Route 66 and Transportation Museum, the artifacts, documents, and displays continued to grow. Wanda Queenan, who in 1990 donated the two tall kachinas from the by-thenclosed Queenan’s Trading Post west of town, became the museum’s curator. The fourteen-foot-tall Myrtle the Kachina and her lanky, equally tall friend, were created from oil drums and scrap metal by a Delaware Indian named Johnny Grayfish back in 1962. They served the same purpose at the trading post that they do now at the museum complex — to attract visitors. “Everything in here has either been donated or loaned to us, not just from people from Elk City but from the surrounding areas,” said Wood. “What makes us different from the other national museums is the fact that we have a little town — a replica of the early days — and people like to see that. They enjoy seeing not only Route 66, but other things that were in their own grandmother’s house. Things that bring back memories for them.”

The National Route 66 Museum was completed in 1998.

A Complete Little Town

Along Route 66 in Elk City, visitors can now find an entire block dedicated to the history of the Mother Road and the community itself, and Myrtle, the giant kachina doll, welcomes visitors from her nearly two-story height at the museum entrance. From the 1953 Lincoln Continental, a collection of “Burma Shave” signs, and vintage Route 66era toys, to Americana hotel signs and examples of Native American woven rugs, there is a plethora of history to experience.

Inside the Route 66 Museum, visitors can walk through numerous vignettes designed as if the visitors are “driving” the old Mother Road. A roadside tourist attraction touting “Live Rattlesnakes” pays homage to the grassroots tourist traps that sprang up, and neon signs, 1950s vehicles, old motel signs, vintage postcards, music history, vintage Texaco gas station signs, and photos from the glory days fill the wonderfully curated museum.

“I don’t think any other Route 66 Museum has what we have,” said Wood. “We’re a complete little town, and I think people like to see the history that is here.”

And although the museum complex got its start with a little rule-breaking, the history and artifacts showcasing Route 66 and Western Oklahoma in these museums more than makes up for its mischievous beginnings. The Elk City Museum Complex shines brightly in the light of day, its community proud to show off its history from another era. There’s no crime in that.

J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum h

It would’ve been difficult for his parents to imagine how J.M. Davis contracting a life-threatening disease as a seven-year-old would prove a blessing in disguise. When Davis fell ill during the 1890s, he flatly refused to take potentially life-saving medicine, prompting his deeply concerned father, in desperation, to bribe him with a muzzle loading shotgun. These were different times. Not only did this gift possibly save the child’s life, but it triggered a lifelong devotion that would spur the largest privately held firearms collection in the world.

Decades later, Davis and his wife, Addie, traveled to Oklahoma from Arkansas in 1916, attracted by the Tulsa oil boom. They were on the hunt for opportunity. While in Claremore, the couple providentially stayed at the Mason Hotel, yet another chance experience that would hugely impact Davis. He would eventually buy the hotel from Dr. John Rucker in 1919 by offering Arkansas Timber, his company, as a down payment. Under Davis’ stewardship, the hotel grew to become one of the town’s most eminent institutions, and contained a popular ballroom, Claremore’s first bank, and a coffee shop frequented by later-in-life icon Will Rogers.

It was here that Davis first began to put his gun collection on display, as he adorned the hotel walls with his already extensive and diverse collection in the late 1920s. By 1932, the collection had swelled to about 2,500 pieces. In the following decades, veterans, gunsmiths, machinists, and various other enthusiasts would give him their guns simply for the bragging rights of having donated to the now-famous collection.

When the country descended into the Great Depression and people living in Davis’ rental houses couldn’t muster the money to pay rent, he never evicted a single one, but would allow them to trade items, like guns, for their rent instead. Meanwhile, the collection continued to grow prolifically.

Massive expansion came in 1948 with the purchase of Merle Gill’s collection of guns and other paraphernalia associated with the infamous outlaws and lawmen of the Wild West. To this day, the contents of that purchase form the bulk of the J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum’s Outlaw and Lawman section, a collection that celebrates the infamous personalities that continue to capture the country’s collective imagination and define our image of that era.

Over the years that followed, Davis received several offers to purchase the collection, including from buyers as distinguished as the Smithsonian Institution. However, he refused them all, as he was determined to keep his collection in his beloved Claremore permanently. He secured its future there in 1965 when the State of Oklahoma signed a 99-year lease on the collection, with an option to renew, for a grand total of $1.

A crucial part of the agreement was the understanding that the state would never charge the public admission to see the collection. In 1968, they began construction on a new 40,000-square-foot museum building, which was completed and opened the following year. This would become the J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum. Davis went on to serve on the City Council for eight years and was mayor for a combined 12 years, making him the longest-serving mayor in the town’s history. In 1972, he was honored for his contributions to the culture and history of Claremore when the town renamed a major street J.M. Davis Boulevard. He passed away in February 1973 at the age of 85. He had lived a good life. Though focused on firearms, the museum proudly displays over 50,000 items. Many of the objects are things that Mrs. Davis collected over the years, such as items from the kitchen, Native American artifacts, especially from the Cherokee Nation, saddles, spurs, political buttons back from the 1880s, walking sticks and canes, and so much more.

Today, the museum emphasizes its role as part of the vibrant fabric of culture that surrounds the Mother Road and takes pride in showcasing this side of Americana to visitors from all over the globe. Davis was proud of his town and of the role of the state of Oklahoma, and its contributions to the country. He would like that his humble collection is still drawing visitors from around the world. But truly, who could have known that a potentially lethal illness in childhood would so greatly impact the lives of so many.

Giant Cross of Groom

Agleaming 190-foot-tall cross stands sentinel over the tiny town of Groom, Texas. Constructed in 1995 by a man objecting to the adult-business billboards spread along the east-west stretch of I-40 through the western plains’ Golden Spread, it was intended to make a statement. Now, whether viewed as a Christian symbol or as another “giant” roadside attraction, like the Britten leaning water tower just three miles down the road, the Giant Cross has grown into a ten-acre religious campus.

Along America’s highways, everything large and unique turns into a tourist attraction — a place to photograph and post on social media before being relegated to the back burner of one’s mind after the return to everyday life. But some travelers, possessed of a historical obsession or mindful of their Christian values, take a more conscientious approach to some roadside stops. The Giant Cross is often one of these, a place to be respectful of the inspired project created by Steve Thomas and his wife Bobby. “Some people just don’t want to leave, because it’s so peaceful here,” said Bobby. “But we get a great variety. There’s really no typical visitor.”

Structural engineer Steve Thomas had known since he was a child what his career would be. “I was playing with my Tonka trucks in a dirt lot. We [kids] were making roads with our hands, and all of a sudden four or five guys looked over and asked why I’d dug a hole for a post. ‘That’s a signpost,’ I said. They asked, ‘What’s the sign say?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know.’ I never did know, but God had a plan for me back then.”

In 1995, Steve decided that it was time to create a spiritual billboard as a counteraction against those adult billboards. But then he realized, “in a V-8 moment,” that it was within his capabilities to build a giant cross instead, after his wife Bobby’s discovery of a 100-foot-tall sheet-metal cross 300 miles south.

“It was in our local newspaper, but the cross was in Ballinger, Texas. Since Steve is a civil engineer, I was like, oh my gosh, we should check that out,” Bobby said. “I showed him the story and we just kind of realized that was the Lord’s plan for him. Since he was a civil engineer, he had designed one of the world’s largest drilling rigs. It was perfect practice.”

Engineer Steve oversaw eight months of construction in two separate shops in Pampa, Texas, keeping over 100 welders busy on the project. The search for a place to erect the cross had not been so easy. After crossing Pampa and Amarillo off their list of possible locations, a chance drive past Groom one day called the couple’s attention to some property there.

“I’d been trying to build it in various cities and my wife, Bobby, said, ‘Why don’t we just build it right along the interstate?’ and I had another V-8 moment. I mean, why not?” explained Steve. “I didn’t know anyone in the locale, but I located the owner, Chris Britten (leaning tower), on a Saturday afternoon. I told him what I wanted to do, and he said, ‘I’ll just give you ten acres.’ I said, ‘You’re going to just give me ten acres on interstate 40?’ So that’s how we ended up in Groom, Texas.” Steve and Bobby Thomas watched as the two-anda-half millionpound cross was finally erected in July 1995, just off Exit 112 in Groom. But they weren’t done. Standing alone, the cross is the centerpiece of the Cross Ministries complex, but it now includes the Stations of the Cross, a replica of the Shroud of Turin, the Empty Tomb, statuary, a state-of-the-art 225-seat theater, gift shop, and a counseling center. Illuminated at night in the dark Texas sky as a sort of modern-day Star of the East, the cross is seen each year by an estimated ten million people, who, as the Thomases’ Cross Ministries like to say, “makes people think about Jesus Christ, if only for a minute.”

Hailed at its construction as the tallest cross in the U.S., it was bypassed a few years later when the City of Effingham, Illinois, assisted by Steve, built a cross just eight feet taller. (The Effingham cross was in turn dwarfed by the cross at Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine, Florida).

But for travelers across the Texas Panhandle, the Groom cross is plenty tall enough to satisfy their needs, whether they’re on a spiritual pilgrimage or a hunt for the “giant” constructions of the American road.

WYOMING FRONTIER PRISON k

Wyoming has always been a frontier state. With fewer than 600,000 residents, it is the leastpopulated state in the nation, and, because it is the 10th-largest by land mass, it also has the lowest population density. If ever there were a place for an anything-goes mindset to develop, this would be it. And it was.

Lawlessness was the word of the day in the late-19th Century, and it was in this scenario that the Wyoming Frontier Prison was built in Rawlins. Opened in 1901, it had neither electricity nor water, and boasted only a feeble heating system. Yet, even in its humble form, it took 13 years to complete, using locally quarried sandstone. Today, the prison is no longer operational, but is now a museum chronicling the state’s penal system. Tourists can now take a three-hour tour to view the grounds, cafeteria, cell blocks, and various other more serious punishment areas, but in the past, it was certainly not a place folks wanted to visit.

The prison closed in 1981, and then sat empty until 1987, when a low-budget movie was filmed there and left behind significant damage. “The State of Wyoming asked around if anyone would be interested in preserving the site,” said Tina Hill, Historic Site Director at the Prison. A year later, a collaborative effort between the City and Carbon County assumed ownership and opened it as the museum.

Rawlins, centered along the 375-mile-wide breadth of the rectangularly-shaped state, was a logical location to build a prison to house those wreaking havoc on Wyoming’s towns and open range. It was a town built along the Union Pacific railroad tracks. Later, the Lincoln Highway, and I-80 bisected it.

At the time, all that lawlessness turned out to be bad PR in the land of train robbers and desperadoes. The proposed prison was a proactive effort to help the territory gain traction in its quest for statehood in 1890, but wound up suffering from funding problems and Wyoming’s signature bad winters. But what really sets this prison apart from others is that the wild, wild west existed both outside and inside of its four walls.

“We are the number one attraction in Rawlins. We bring in 14,500 visitors a year,” Hill continued. That’s more than the 13,500 who were incarcerated there in what has become the stuff of legend and lore for its brutal conditions. These stories have now become part and parcel of tours open to the public, and docents are happily willing to tell them. The Old Pen, as it is known, is haunted by its own history.”

The tour allows guests an unpleasant glimpse of what the prisoners experienced. The Death House held death row prisoners awaiting their trip to the gallows. Nine inmates were put to death in this manner, until 1936 when a gas chamber was chosen as the preferred means of execution. Guests are then ushered over to that chamber and allowed to sit on the steel seat upon which five executed prisoners actually took their final breath. All told, only 14 prisoners actually met their Maker as punishment for their crimes. But that doesn’t mean that life was easy for the rest. There was a dungeon for solitary confinement. Prisoners were given a blanket and left to ponder their behavior for six weeks. The worst form of solitary—the Old Hole—was pitch black. That unlucky prisoner was stripped naked and given a bucket. It was enough to drive many insane. And then there was the “punishment pole,” to which prisoners were handcuffed and whipped with rubber hoses and other objects to induce pain. The museum is a fascinating, albeit morose, reminder of a piece of American history of which few are aware. “Most of our visitors have not spent time inside a state penitentiary. They are fascinated to see that kind of life,” said Hill. “And when they are done learning, they can walk away.”

Today, the freeway shuttles travelers past town, and the Lincoln Highway—US 30 in these parts—is a city street, like many others across the country, with only a fraction of the traffic volume that it once had. Classic motels and neon signs are scattered throughout town, vestiges of an earlier time contrasted with modernity, yet here too is a destination that few other towns can claim. Rawlins is home to one of the wildest prisons ever built.

And visitors leave town having learned how a prison helped tame the wild, wild west.

Rebecca RUPARD

While the most recognized city in Missouri may be St. Louis, down south, amongst rolling hills and Dogwood trees, lies a town whose story is worth knowing. Even its name is emotive: Lebanon. As a staple along the Mother Road, Lebanon holds its classic past close through revitalizing iconic stops like the Munger Moss Motel and Wrink’s Market, and erecting new ones that celebrate the town’s history, like the respected Route 66 Museum and Research Center. At the lead of it all is the town’s tourism director, bringing people to the small, cherished town. In this issue, meet Rebecca Rupard.

What is the most memorable place you’ve visited? My family’s cemetery. What did you want to be when you grew up? An attorney. Most famous or noteworthy person you have ever met? Johnny Morris. What characteristic do you respect the most in others? Generosity. Dislike in others? Laziness. What characteristic do you dislike in yourself? I overthink WAY too much. Who would you want to play you in a film based on your life? Jennifer Garner. Talent that you WISH you had? A professional singing voice. Best piece of advice you’ve ever received? People are assets or liabilities, know the difference. Best part about getting older? Understanding that people are what’s important in life, not things. What would the title of your memoir be? RR: Lessons in Taking the High Road. First music concert ever attended? Willie Nelson at the MO State Fair. What is your greatest extravagance? Purses. What is the weirdest roadside attraction you’ve ever seen? Paul Bunyan & Babe, the Blue Ox in Bemidji, Minnesota. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? More control over my facial expressions. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Switching career paths 18 years ago and never looking back. Most memorable gift you were ever given? A caricature picture of me and my 2 former Labradors. Most memorable hotel/ motel that you have stayed at? Inn at Price Tower in Bartlesville, OK. Why so? Designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, this hotel had a great, clean feel. What breaks your heart? Animals and children being harmed. What is the last TV show you binge watched? Nashville. What is still on your bucket list? A trip to Greece and/ or Italy. What do you wish you knew

more about? The stock market & investments. Coolest town in Missouri NOT on Route 66? Pleasant Hill — my hometown! What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives? Sing karaoke. What fad or trend do you hope comes back? Silver jewelry. Strangest experience while on a road trip? Being in an RV that got hit by lightning. What movie title best describes your life? It’s My Turn. Lake or ocean person? Ocean. Last book you’ve read? Drive: 9 Lessons to Win in Business and in Life. What does a perfect day look like to you? Coffee, lunch with friends, and dinner out before heading to a concert or live music venue. What is your favorite place on Route 66? Cowan Civic Center in Lebanon, MO (It’s where my office is located!). What is the most unexpected surprise about Missouri? The variety of cultures throughout the State. What makes Lebanon a special place? Hands down, the people. What would your spirit animal be? A Labrador Retriever. Which historical figure — alive or dead — would you most like to meet? Princess Diana. If you won the lottery, what is the first item you would buy? A vacation home in a warm climate. What meal can you not live without? Tacos. Tacos. Tacos. Bizarre talent that you have that most people don’t know about? Perfectly folding fitted sheets. What surprises you most about people? Their willingness to share too much information. What makes you laugh? TV or movie bloopers. Who makes you laugh? My mom. What do you think is the most important life lesson for someone to learn? When to be silent. What is one thing you have always wanted to try, but have been too afraid to? Anything involving heights. What do you want to be remembered for? My kindness, loyalty, and sense of humor.