The Last Stop

THE LAST STOP

By Jessica Allen Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

Driving through the small town of Texola, Oklahoma, is much like stepping back into a longgone period of American history: a time before the ubiquity of cell phones and social media, when life was less complicated in many ways, and face-to-face interactions with neighbors were the norm. Now a silent and almost secluded Oklahoma ghost town, foliage overgrows the shoulder of the Mother Road that was once filled with farmers, making their way west, following the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

A single-cell stone jailhouse, abandoned and dilapidated, sits quietly off to the side of the road. A stone slab, engraved with the names of 1938 high school seniors rests, like a tombstone, in front of the building. As you make your way through the town, which is just a half-mile from the Oklahoma–Texas border, derelict and graffiti-laden structures stand as noiseless echoes of a more prominent past, including the remnants of a 1930 Magnolia Service station, probably the last station that travelers could buy gas from, before crossing into the Lone Star state. Then, you come to one of the few buildings in Texola that shows any signs of life, the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store — the self-proclaimed oldest building on Route 66 still operating as a restaurant.

One half of the building is painted a bright cornflower blue that stands out starkly against the drab backdrop of the faded town. Its facade features an old west mural of a cowboy and his horse in front of a striking mountain range with the words ‘Water Hole #2’. The other half of the building, a newer addition, is a natural tan shade with deep green trim with signs proclaiming, ‘Ice Cold Beer’ and ‘FOOD’. A delicious aroma wafts out to the road, beckoning you to step into the Tumbleweed and experience a home-cooked meal, complete with captivating stories from the owner herself, Masel Zimmerman.

By Any Other Name

Texola is a unique town as it is located on the 100th Meridian Line, the longitudinal line, drawn by American geologist and explorer John Wesley Powell, that identified the border between the eastern United States and the Western plains. This divide cuts straight through six US states, including Texas and Oklahoma where it spurred many surveys being conducted, disputing the boundary line between the two states. Many of the early residents lived in both Oklahoma and Texas without ever moving house, as the state line shifted back and forth. This inherently affected the naming of the town which resulted in three different names, combinations of Texas and Oklahoma: Texoma, and then Texokla, and finally Texola.

The town came into existence with the coming of the Rock Island Railroad when a line was chartered to be built from Texola to Amarillo in 1901. Then came an agricultural boom with mostly wheat and then cotton farming. The town thrived, and as it grew, the expected bank, grocery and mercantile stores, cafes, and cotton gins opened. It even had a school to house the growing population of children, its own local newspaper, a hotel, and several churches. The town experienced another boost with the establishment of Route 66, which ran right through the center of town. New businesses opened and farming families bought their first automobiles.

Texola reached its peak population of 581 people in 1930, which is when a beer parlor, christened Water Hole #2, first opened, serving those traveling along Route 66. But then, commodity prices sadly crashed, incessant drought led to failed crops, and the tiny town found itself in the heart of the Dust Bowl. Many of Texola’s farmers could no longer make payments on their land, so they simply left. These displaced farmers — from across the Great Plains — made their way down Route 66 toward California. Texola was even featured in the 1940 film The Grapes of Wrath.

“The party from The Grapes of Wrath, they came right down this road. You [could] see ‘em comin’ down Texola,” said Masel Zimmerman, artist and current owner of the Tumbleweed Grill. “And the little gas station that was here and all that, you can see it.”

Since then, Texola’s population has continued to dwindle. “When you look at the annual census figures, you can’t believe what happened,” said Dr. T. Lindsay Baker, a history professor and respected author. “The rural population of the Great Plains absolutely evaporated. Had it not been for the highway and the railroad, Texola would have disappeared altogether.”

From the 1940s to the late 1960s, Texola enjoyed a mostly quiet existence. Gas stations, cafes, and lodgings continued to serve motorists making their way through the small town on Highway 66, delaying the town’s eventual demise. But even in such a small town, there were still a couple of noteworthy events throughout the years; most memorable perhaps were the speed traps of the 1930s and ‘40s. “The marshal stopped and gave citations exclusively to non-local drivers,” said Dr. Baker. “The typical speeding fine was $6.50, which, with inflation, comes out to a hefty sum of $127 today. For a

Masel Zimmerman outside of the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store.

number of months, the two of them [the mayor and city marshal] ran a speed trap that became pretty well-known up and down the highway in Texola until February of 1941, when the state attorney general ruled that they violated the 1933 Speed Trap Law.”

In the early 1970s everything changed when Interstate 40 bypassed Texola — as it would all Route 66 towns — and much of the traffic that used to travel along America’s Main Street now moved along I-40 instead. The town’s grappling economy ultimately dried up.

“The population dropped in every census from 1930 to 1990, when at 45 people, it possessed only seven percent of the figure it had sixty years before,” continued Dr. Baker. “For all intents and purposes, the former community became a ghost town filled with mostly empty and unwanted buildings.”

The exact history of Water Hole #2 between its founding in the ‘30s and Zimmerman’s purchase of the building in 2009 is not clearly known or documented. As with several businesses along Route 66, the history of these establishments has been lost, perhaps forever, as people have passed or moved on. What we do know is that Water Hole #2 went through several owners and the building remains one of the oldest on the Mother Road still operating as an eatery. Thankfully, Texola has retained a small group of residents who refuse to let it die.

“I like history, I like to preserve it,” said Zimmerman. But the people of 1930s Texola “didn’t have cameras, they didn’t take a lot of photographs like we do now. They took it for granted.”

Journey to Texola

Masel Zimmerman was born in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1953. As a young girl, she developed a fascination with the idea of moving west. “I loved cowboys and Indians. I watched The Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers and all of that. I wanted to be a cowboy. I would ride a stick all around the yard. Mama

Zimmerman’s beautiful artwork.

or Daddy would holler out, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘I’m going to California! I’m going out west!’”

Zimmerman’s childhood was one filled with imagination and creativity. She was the baby of the family, with her closest sibling being a sister just over 11 years older than her. “I was basically raised by myself as a child, and with older people. So, I always thought different, but I would entertain myself by drawing [at] the kitchen table. In order to entertain us, my mother would sit us [in the] kitchen, at that same little porcelain table that I drew on, and she would light a candle. And then she’d ball up a piece of paper and she would tell each one of us, ‘Draw what you see from the light coming from the candle making the shadow on your paper.’ I just thought that was the coolest thing. That’s what got me into drawing; that gave me a little inspiration [and] creativity.”

At the age of 15, Masel was introduced to a family friend who was recently back from Vietnam. Wounded in the war by a landmine, “Jimmy” Zimmerman had known Masel’s family for some time, and now back Stateside, decided to pay them a visit. He was instantly smitten with young Masel and pursued her until they were married in 1970, just shy of her 17th birthday. The couple made Virginia their home but often traveled to different parts of the country during the winter months. “I grew up in Virginia, and then I got married. I wanted to travel, and we traveled all around,” said Masel. On one of their trips, while visiting their son in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada, Masel liked it so much that they ended up staying and making the city their home.

In January 1998, Masel, who was then a private art teacher, embarked on a sizable art project that would take them all over the United States. By the time the artwork was completed in October of 1999, it was a 16-by -30 foot giant painting of the crucifixion of Jesus, which Masel had created with the goal of being in the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Largest Mobile Canvas Painting. The painting was indeed documented in 2000 but was not published due to concerns that the subject matter might be controversial. And so, with a special trailer that her husband built, they traveled, displaying it across the country. Then, on one cold windy winter day, in February 2007, on their way to Memphis, Tennessee, to show the painting, the couple happened to stop in Texola. “We stopped to see a friend that owned the store up there [and] to fill up with diesel. We filled it up and the thing would not start.” The couple soon found out that one of the fuel pumps on their motorhome had gone out and that it would take about two weeks to get the part.

As they waited for the repairs to be done, Masel and her husband took to exploring the town, taking in the sights and sounds, when they stumbled upon a nondescript, decrepit building. “We came over and looked at this little store. And it was just closed up, a run-down building. People had been shooting at the building, you know, just tearing it up. When I walked in it, of course it was abandoned and dilapidated, but when we walked in there, it just... I don’t know how to explain it, except that I just connected with it somehow. It had such character and it just felt like I belonged there.” The building was the historic Water Hole #2, the future Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store.

By the time that their motorhome was up and running, reports of a bad storm heading right towards Memphis — where the Zimmermans were bound for — started coming through. They had a decision to make. “I hated this place. It was cold, windy, and it was not where I wanted to be,” said Masel. But “Jimmy”, who had already fallen in love with the tiny town and the hunting opportunities it offered, suggested that they wait out the storm in Texola. “Well, he says, ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this, leaving this little place. Let’s stay here until it’s a little bit warmer, because this storm looks pretty bad,’” Masel explained. “Well, I said, ‘Okay.’ ” They remained in town and Masel has never left.

“It all boils down to fate. I think back to things like that and I think, you know, it was just meant for me to be here.” mused Masel.

Although she had unexpectedly made her way to Texola, there was still a long road ahead before she would be able to take ownership of Water Hole #2. Masel was able to contact the woman who owned the building, but she wasn’t interested in selling it, even though it had been shut down for nearly a dozen years.

So, she moved on and began working at a nearby gas station. One day, the daughter of the woman who owned Water Hole #2 came in and asked if she could hang something on the bulletin board. “And so, when she left, I walked around, and I read what it said. She was wanting to sell the building. So, that’s how I got it. We ended up fixing it up, and the rest is history.”

Zimmerman purchased Water Hole #2 in 2009, and for the next three years, she and her husband worked tirelessly to transform it into the homey, welcoming cafe she’d envisioned from the start. “It was a labor of love. I just tell people that I have an arm and a leg in it, because it cost quite a bit of money. We did a lot of work ourselves to cut corners. We used recycled boards from houses… It saved lots of money but [the] time involved, the sweat, the blood, and all that, you know, it was a lot.”

The decision to change the building’s name from Water Hole #2 to the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store was a simple one for her. “I wanted to name it different. I didn’t want to answer the phone ‘Water Hole #2’ because [a watering hole] is actually like a bar-type thing,” whereas Zimmerman envisioned more of a cafe and dining area. But she did decide to keep the name Water Hole #2 on the outside of the building: “I got to thinking, the Water Hole #2, that’s already established on the internet. And if I keep that name, when they type that in, it’ll come up. So, I kept Tumbleweed, Water Hole #2.”

2020 and Beyond

Unfortunately, the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store wasn’t immune to the economic hurdles caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “It shut me down. Normally, there’s hundreds and hundreds of motorcycles coming down here a day, a week. This year, I bet you I could count six motorcycles that have come through. There’s just no traffic. I could go and lay out on the road.”

Still, Zimmerman holds out hope that she’ll be able to reopen the Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store in 2022.

With only 15 people left in Texola by Zimmerman’s count, it’s more important to her than ever to preserve the history of the Mother Road. “The young people need to be aware of the history of Route 66. It was the livelihood, the backbone of America.” And what became of the giant painting that started it all? It sits quietly, tucked away in storage in Texola.

There is something truly special that demands to be preserved in these simple, almost forgotten towns. The people and history behind towns like Texola and little businesses like the Tumbleweed Grill are a unique part of what makes Route 66 and America so special.

The Tumbleweed Experience

The Tumbleweed Grill and Country Store, which officially opened in November of 2012, is truly a one-woman operation. “I do the cooking, the waitressing, the cleaning, the yard work… I’ve made my own T-shirts and pins and my own stickers, and I got into the souvenirtype stuff. I do all my own cooking, baking, homemade soups… I have breakfast all the time. I serve everything from steak to hot dogs. [Even] my ordinary hamburger buns turned into something special.” Zimmerman decorates them with the Route 66 shield. “Everything has just been, like I said, a labor of love and inspiration from people.”

“What makes it worth the visit is Masel Zimmerman,” said Rhys Martin, President of the Route 66 Association of Oklahoma. “She thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to make this someplace special.’ And you feel that — from the plants that she has outside to the little menagerie of animals that tend to gather in their little seating area. And you walk in, and it’s surrounded by art she’s made herself. So, you not only get a meal, but you get a story from her, and you get to feel like you’re part of something special. And you are.”

THE RAILSPLITTER

Central Illinois is known, for good reason, as the Land of Lincoln. And although they coexist from different eras — Lincoln’s life ending in 1865, and Route 66’s not officially beginning until 1926 — the stories of the 16th US President and the Mother Road overlap.

Lincoln, a railroad advocate, witnessed the construction of the Chicago and Alton Railroad in the 1850s. Seventy years later, Illinois began paving its new Route 4 atop the old Pontiac Trail, which carried horse-drawn traffic alongside the railroad line. Of course, that road became US Highway 66 a few years later. All of these led to Springfield, which had become the Illinois capital due to Lincoln’s and other legislators’ efforts.

“Lincoln grew up in Kentucky and Indiana, on small farms. His father was a subsistence farmer,” said Olivia Partlow, director of the Lincoln Heritage Museum in Lincoln. “In 1860, [when he] was running for president, some of his friends from Illinois concocted [his] campaign strategy. They had a bunch of splinters of wood, and they claimed that Abraham Lincoln split this rail in the 1830s. And then they gave away pieces of that rail during the meeting.”

Dubbed “The Railsplitter” candidate by his campaigners, the new nickname appealed to many of his supporters who shared the ideals of self sufficiency and hard work. On November 6, 1860, Lincoln won the election to become the 16th President of the United States.

Just 35 miles north of Springfield along Route 66 stands the only city named for Lincoln during his lifetime. There, one can stand on the spot where Honest Abe himself is said to have christened the town in 1853 with the juice of a watermelon. Of course, this small city is steeped in Lincoln lore and aptly-named institutions; Lincoln College supports the Lincoln Heritage Museum, and the Postville Courthouse, a 1953 reproduction of the courthouse in which Lincoln worked, is located on old Route 66. But just off the Mother Road in Lincoln, is a quirkier, giant attraction that honors Route 66 as well as Lincoln, the Railsplitter Covered Wagon.

“I’d been in the military, and then I was a police officer until 2012. I grew up in Illinois, so I figured I was an Illinois boy and a Railsplitter. And then 9/11 happened, and I needed to do something patriotic. And then I had heart surgery and needed a recovery and rehab project. Everything just came together, and so I built that wagon in November 2001, just after 9/11,” explained retired law enforcement officer David Bentley. Using his time recovering from his surgery, Bentley created and built the wagon out of Illinois oak and steel.

Geoff Ladd was the Executive Director of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County when he got a phone call from Bentley in 2007. “It was on display in his hometown of Divernon [but] he wanted to sell it to a Route 66 community with Lincoln history, and we were fortunate to be the first call on his list,” Ladd explained. “Our tourism bureau had a tight budget, [but] we contacted local philanthropist Larry Van Bibber, who donated $15,000 to purchase the wagon and cover the moving costs. Bentley’s team moved the carriage, the wheels, and the 13-foot-tall fiberglass Abe Lincoln in a caravan of vehicles along I-55 to Lincoln.” The Railsplitter Wagon was given to the Logan County Tourism Bureau and was prominently placed on the front lawn of the Best Western Motel on the 1940-1977 alignment of Route 66. “[The wagon] was built [at the right time] to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Route 66,” said Morgan Gleason, recent Executive Director of the Logan County Tourism Board. “[It] stands 25 feet tall, and it’s 40 feet long.” On it sits the 350-pound Abraham Lincoln statue, complete with signature beard, black suit, and stovepipe hat. He reads a book with the word “Law” on its cover, depicting the young farmhand as he studied to become a lawyer. Severe storms mangled the wagon in 2014 and 2017. “The wheels had moved in the rock. It didn’t completely fall, but it was leaning pretty bad. So, they had to put these metal pieces under the wagon to keep it held upright and the cover had to be re-sewn,” Gleason said.

Repaired, restored, and still occupying its honored spot, the Railsplitter Wagon, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in November 2021, has achieved Guinness Book of World Records status as the world’s largest covered wagon, and has previously been voted the #1 Roadside Attraction in America by Reader’s Digest. Fiberglass Abe still perches on his wagon, ready to roll down the road — that’s Route 66, of course.

Whether remembered as the young railsplitter, the lawyer riding the circuit, or the Great Emancipator, there’s no denying that Abraham Lincoln is well honored in the Prairie State.