Rolla’s Totem Pole

ROLLA’S TOTEM POLE

By JD Mahoney Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

The Mother Road giveth and the

Mother Road taketh away. Motorization of the public since the 1920s created the need for highways which, in turn, brought expansion to the communities through which they passed. Knifing through eight states between Chicago and

Santa Monica, Route 66 provided a steady stream of travelers that sustained businesses along the newly established corridor of commerce. Tourist traps inevitably, alluring and irresistible, sprang up alongside the roadside cafes, gas stations, and motor courts.

As the traffic patterns and the alignments along Route 66 changed though the years to expedite travel through — or around — growing communities, the capricious strand of highway held the power to expand, modify, or abandon the towns that were created to serve it. Small, ruggedly independent enterprises that relied upon the arterial flow of travelers either thrived or died — or were forced to move.

In some instances, the unpredictable main street had simply been re-routed to the rear of an existing row of businesses from the front. Easily remedied by switching signage to face the new alignment, those owners could consider themselves among the fortunate. In a few cases, property owners resorted to the extreme length of jacking up an entire building and rotating it to face the route’s newly designated path.

Floundering businesses often realized that even though the new alignment of the highway was nearby, tapping into the route’s life-giving support demanded relocation. The most unfortunate lot of the entrepreneurs found that the re-routed highway would simply crash through the middle of their enterprises, seizing their property through eminent domain. Forced to relocate twice over the decades, the Totem

Pole Trading Post, a victim of the route’s more devastating evolutionary scenarios, somehow continues to survive.

A Tale of Three Trading Posts

Located in the middle of everywhere — Rolla, Missouri, that is — the Totem Pole Trading Post is said to be the oldest business in continuous operation on the stretch of Route 66 that bisects the Show-Me state. While the Trading Post does not pre-date or coincide with the commissioning of Route 66 in 1926, it has exceeded the decommissioning of America’s Main Street in 1985 by 36 years. Surviving through two relocations blamed squarely on interstate construction, boom-and-bust economic cycles, and the recent pandemic, a single family has held the entity for 64 years of its 88-year existence.

Travelers alert enough to stop by the historic business find themselves greeted with an enthusiastic salutation of “Hi! C’mon in. Welcome to the Totem Pole!” from its loquacious long-time owner. Sporting a silver mustache and goatee, the host is a rather cherubic incarnation of a southern colonel famous for selling buckets of fried chicken. Part historian, part tour guide, and always enthusiastic entertainer, owner Tim Jones is never at a loss for an interesting tale to tell. “I’m a barefooted pilgrim and a holdover from the ‘60s,” Tim modestly describes himself, an admitted relic in today’s digital world.

With 17 full guest books that chronicle the Trading Post’s visitors just over the last nine years, Jones has captivated travelers that venture into his multi-generational, family-owned, and admittedly varied enterprise from as far away as Zimbabwe.

“I love it! I think it’s so cool because it’s just one of those places that’s iconic to Route 66. Especially when it’s one of the longest-running businesses. A lot of Route 66 businesses just aren’t around anymore. It’s just a really cool eclectic place to get your Route 66 souvenirs and collect some old stories along the way,” said Aimee Campbell, Director of Tourism for the Rolla Chamber of Commerce.

Totem Pole # 1 — Baskets and Fireworks

Opened in 1933, a mere seven years after the establishment of the Mother Road, Harry Cochran and his wife Edna opened the Totem Pole near Arlington, just west of Rolla, Missouri, on the narrow band of highway that connected America’s heartland with the West Coast. Perched up above both the doorway and “The Totem Pole” sign, midway along the roof of the small log building, stood the business’s namesake, a colorfully painted, 12-foot-tall hand-carved totem pole. Festooned with racks of pottery and baskets at street level and decorated with colorful strings of banners beckoning to motorists from a distance, the roof held the crowning touch, the rather garish totem pole, topped by a pelican with spread wings.

However, aware that Route 66 was going to be re-routed in the future, in the mid ‘50s, Cochran put the established business up for sale.

“My mom and my dad looked at it several times,” said Tim Jones, Ralph and Catherine Jones’ son. “He’d been looking for anything… everything. He looked at motels all over the state and he stumbled on to the Totem Pole. You know, Route 66 was hotter than a firecracker back then!”

With the Jones couple swapping a property that they owned near St. Louis for partial payment, Cochran extended financing for the balance of the purchase in 1957. Ralph and Catherine bought Cochran’s business, home, and land, then owning six log cabins, a restaurant, the gift shop, Standard Oil gas with the old-style pumps, and the first coin-operated laundromat in Phelps County.

Tim Jones inside the Totem Pole Trading Post.

“My dad was a hard worker; always was! When he bought the Totem Pole, the buildings were in bad, bad repair. My dad came in and went to town,” said Tim.

Never renting out the cabins, after laboriously caulking all of the logs and repairing their leaky roofs, Tim’s father used them instead to store inventory — one cabin full of fireworks, one cabin full of baskets, and so on. Handmade white oak baskets, a strong-selling item, were crafted by a local couple, Clarence and Ruth Wells. Learning from the pair how to select only second growth north-facing white oak trees to hand strip the strands from and then how to weave the baskets, Tim developed a profound respect for the dying art. The Wells couple made 39 different styles of handmade baskets. Tim recalled his dad buying an abundance of baskets, even when he didn’t need more inventory, because he knew that someday, the pair would no longer be making baskets.

The Totem Pole’s proximity to a military basic training base provided an unexpected bonus. Soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood often headed for Rolla just twelve miles away on their weekend pass. There, they discovered that the Totem Pole served bottled beer. In the aisles of the Totem Pole shop and its accompanying motorists’ services, soldiers, travelers, and locals bumped into each other in a diverse mix rivaled only by the disparate array of souvenirs and trinkets arranged on the shop’s eclectic shelves.

On 66, Bigger is Better

Looking to improve and expand his business, Ralph Jones, an experienced horseman, closed the restaurant and opened a saddle shop, basically stocking anything and everything for both the horse and rider. Inventory soon included several dozen saddles, bridles and halters, horseshoes, and horseshoe nails. For the rider, there were western hats and clothing, including Lee Riders jeans.

“They [the Lee company] gave my dad a pair of these giant blue jeans. He made a cowboy [out of wood] that fit inside of them. People used to stop there all day long taking pictures of the cowboy and this large, large pair of blue jeans. It was like the Cadillac Ranch.” Although the colossal plywood cowboy is long gone now, Tim added, “I still have the jeans hangin’ here in the store!” On Route 66, bigger is always better to attract attention.

The saddle shop turned out to be a natural choice for Ralph Jones, drawing upon his experience training mounted troops

in the 124th Calvary during World War II, not to mention his stint as a performing acrobat in a 15-man traveling Wild West show.

Ralph’s colorful past included ten years working for an actor, carnival boxer, and horseman named Victor McLaglen, who traveled all over the United States with a Live Horse Troupe. A favorite among their trick-riding repertoire was the human pyramid on horseback, with three horses abreast at a full gallop around the arena. Three men stood on horseback with two men standing on their shoulders, with Jones standing at the top of the pyramid with his hands on his hips.

Jones, striving to improve the visual appeal of the business, initiated a full remodel of the building, which was completed in 1961. “Robert Ferraro Sr. did the design, and his son, Bob Jr. did the carpentry work. They did a whole renovation and pulled all the buildings together into one big building.” With a high-backed western facade and a porch supported by large cedar posts that ran the full length of the structure, the Trading Post took on a decidedly wild west feel. “Very picturesque, back in the day,” Tim added. “Mom and dad put everything they had in it. [They] worked so hard to put it on top and really made something out of it. They were doing better than Harry [Cochran] did with it. They were a booming business.”

However, perhaps an omen that change would soon bring destruction, the totem pole was removed from the roof to facilitate the remodel. Then, unable to find accommodation inside the remodeled Trading Post with its low interior ceilings, the 12-foot totem pole simply languished in storage until its next move.

Totem Pole # 2 — Just One Out of 20

The late ’60s brought the new and improved four-lane Interstate 44, a modern proxy of old Route 66, rolling through Missouri. Acquired by the state through eminent domain, the land that had been home to the original Totem Pole Trading Post for 34 years was used to construct a service road, forcing out a row of businesses.

“In 1967, the interstate went right through the middle of our buildings. My father had two choices, either go out of business or start all over,” Tim recalled. “There were 19 businesses other than ours that it affected, and my dad was the only one of 20 to start over. Dad bought new property [between Doolittle and Rolla]. He and I built a whole new store from the ground up.”

Re-emerging from storage, the original totem pole was once again on display, exhibited inside the new store for the next ten years. However, finally ready for retirement, Ralph sold the business to two of his sons, Tim and his younger brother Bill. The partnership lasted about two years before Tim and his wife Alice took over the entire operation.

Interstate expansion once again threatened the very existence of the business in 1967. “Out in front of the store was four-lane Route 66 and behind our store was the twolane Route 66. They brought in the bulldozers and dug our driveways up and put us out of business a second time. I didn’t get two quarters to rub together. I got nothin’. Just put out of business,” said Tim. Still standing three miles west of the business’ present location, their old building now fronting two-lane Route 66 serves as an auction house with no direct access to Interstate 44. Unwilling to fight the massive interstate highway system, Tim and Alice elected to buy an existing Shell gas station at the western edge of Rolla that was positioned with easy access to Exit 184, servicing I-44. Repurposing the two telescoping metal sign poles that once supported the station’s brand name, a new beacon was designed to entice interstate travelers away from the constant flow of traffic through Rolla.

“We had a one-ton Chevrolet truck with a stake rack on it. We hauled 26 loads from the Totem Pole number two to where I am [now],” Tim said, recalling the arduous process of packing up a business for the second time and moving to a new location. “This was a Shell service station when we bought it. We bought the land and the building, and we started to work it the day we moved in.”

Closing the station’s service bays, a loft was constructed over them to expand the sales floor. While his wife Alice ran the store, Tim, along with the help of his oldest son, Scott, and carpenter, Clarence Wiese, remodeled the entire station. Adding a gabled, steep-pitched roof to include a second floor over the office, service bays and pump islands more than tripled the square footage of the building. Utilizing the extra space created, Tim and Alice incorporated their shared passion for collecting antiques and relics to create additional store inventory.

Building a thriving antique business, the couple would hook up the trailer, take to the road, and search out unique heirlooms to resell. Situated on the doorstep of the Ozarks, there was an abundant supply of folk art, vintage accessories, and forgotten petroliana in close proximity to Rolla. “We did everything together! We raised our boys right here. We didn’t get a babysitter or anything. We were heavy in the antique business for 35 years. She bought all the glass and all the furniture. I bought all the gas pumps and globes. We loved it. We dearly loved it!”

Displayed among its contemporary gas-pump cousins decorated with modern-day Route 66 globes, a 100-yearold ten-foot-tall Gilbert & Barker model 67 visible gas pump is the photo op that attracts visitors to stop in and explore these days. From hanging Native American tom toms and a feathered headdress to souvenir shot glasses and key chains, every inch of the store is a visual smorgasbord. Proudly displayed above the sales counter is a photographic retrospective from 1933 through 1994 of the past Totem Pole

Inside the trading post is a host of unique treasures.

Trading Post elevations and locations. An engaging host, Tim is quick to inform inquisitive visitors of the history, challenges, and longevity of the business that has adjusted to the evolving Route over the decades.

A combination roadside museum mixed with a cornucopia of Route 66 mementos, plus the staples of a convenience store, today’s trading post on Martin Springs Drive (Route 66) has something for everyone — including “Roamin’ Rich” Dinkela, President of the Missouri Route 66 Association.

“The Trading Post is one thing, the owner is another. Tim’s a great guy! He has always had some unique diverse offerings from the area. He used to sell handmade baskets, fireworks, all sorts of stuff. I was on a Route 66 trip with my wife, I bought a grab bag of stuff, books, t-shirts, trinkets — all sorts of stuff,” said Dinkela. “It’s kind of a hodge-podgery. If I had to make up a word, that’s it. It’s a hodge-podgery of stuff.”

For 44 years, the huge outdoor sign has featured the profile of two bald eagles facing each other with wings drawn to their backs that tout the Totem Pole as Missouri’s “oldest since 1933” Route 66 business. In addition to antiques, fireworks, t-shirts, and the promise of cold beer, moccasins are also prominently advertised. One of the first vendors of the legendary Minnetonka brand, the Totem Pole has carried a full inventory of the Native American footwear for the last 74 years.

The Mystery of the Totem Pole

Symbolizing guardian spirits and representing mythological creatures, the origin of the Trading Post’s hand-carved, finely decorated totem pole still remains somewhat of a puzzle. Appropriately enough, the totem pole’s pelican topper has been interpreted to symbolize the bird’s unique traits of survival and adaptation to any situation. Hoping to uncover the history of the conspicuously displayed vertical icon, Tim has quizzed many of the old-timers in the area, but no one seems to have any information.

Jones posing beside the historic trading post sign.

“Several years back, [an older man with the last name of Ross] came into the store and he told me who he was. I didn’t get to spend but a couple minutes with him and he gave me his email address. He told me that he and his sonin-law carved it.” Although in a hurry to leave for a doctor’s appointment that day, Tim also learned that the man, now residing in Florida, built the cabins and had owned the property behind the original Trading Post location.

Intending to make contact at a later date, the paper containing the email became irretrievably lost in the shuffle of the store’s voluminous paperwork. Acting upon the property ownership lead, Tim went to the courthouse and scoured the huge leather-bound county property ledgers. Identifying the owner of the parcel adjacent to the original location, he hoped to finally make contact with the totem’s creator. After several investigative phone calls to locate him, the man’s widow answered and sadly informed him, “You’re too late. He passed away about two weeks ago.” It was a lost opportunity. “Everything he had, all the knowledge of everything, he took it to the grave with him.”

The Defiance of a Survivor

Persevering through the growth and decline of America’s Main Street, the Totem Pole Trading Post has provided well for the two generations of the Jones family that have presided over the landmark for 64 years. However, Alice, severely injured in an auto accident 11 years ago, is no longer physically able to help with the business. The long 16-hour workdays of the past have been trimmed to a leaner 10 AM – 5 PM shift in order to allow Tim to care for his wife in the evenings.

The paint on the huge trademark sign has begun to fade and peel, but the iconic landmark is still a magical draw to many, both local and from abroad.

“The building is a direct reflection of Tim: a little worn. He’s done his time,” said Dinkela.

With Tim contemplating retirement to devote his full attention to his “bride of 56 years,” the future of the Totem Pole Trading Post is uncertain. Tim’s two sons are involved in successful small business enterprises of their own and have expressed little interest in carrying on the family business.

“The Mule [Trading Post, dating to 1946] has closed for good and, I fear that the same fate awaits the Totem Pole when Tim hangs up his spurs,” said Mark Stauter, President of the Phelps County Historical Society, referencing the 2020 closing of another Route 66 icon local to Rolla.

“[There are] 321 miles to Route 66 across Missouri and I’m the oldest one left,” said Tim with the defiance of a survivor. When the day does come to retire, it will be a bittersweet moment for the 72-year-old man who has invested his days on the Mother Road. “I’ve devoted my life to this place, and it is my life.” After moving the location and starting over twice, the Jones family has certainly endured all of the hard kicks that Route 66 has dealt over the decades.

Meanwhile, as Jones weighs his options, the diverse inventory within quietly awaits the next lucky traveler. Gas pumps and memorabilia stand ready for the next camera whose prescient owner senses that these treasures could be gone in the future. Every day is precious as the evolution of the old highway spins ever onward. It’s the Mother Road.

The GHOST TOWN of ENDEE

New Mexico has more than 600 miles of vintage Route 66 to be driven, thanks to various alignments that have shifted over the years. Along some of those forgotten byways are ghost towns that were once thriving communities, when Mother Road travelers were busy riding the wings of hope and chasing their dreams. The Land of Enchantment is packed with such spots, but Endee, located only five miles west of the Texas state line at Glenrio — perhaps Texas’ most famous ghost town — may be the most memorable. Today it sits empty and forgotten, a relic of a more prosperous time. Now, once again, only the local bird and insect life call it home.

Located along the earliest alignment of 66, Endee is an oft-overlooked destination, if only because it is on a dirt road that can become a quagmire during even light seasonal rains. But that’s not how it always was. By the 1930s, Route 66 through these parts was actually fully paved. It was only after a newer alignment to the north as well as the coming of the interstate, that the pavement was sadly pulled up.

Founded in 1882, with a post office coming four years later, the town was named for the ND Ranch, whose owners were John and George Day, and a Mr. Norris. The letters, which also formed their cattle brand, were simply spelled phonetically. With time, Endee became renowned for its cowboys and gunfights.

“Endee has actually had three different locations in its history,” said Johnnie Meier, New Mexico 66 historian. “It all depended on transportation, where the railroad and highway were located.”

When the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway came to town around 1903, it became imperative to locate near the railroad tracks. The Ozark Trail, which cut its way through the area since about 1913, mirrored the railroad and became Route 66 in 1926. Later, though, when a new alignment was built in 1952, north of town, they pulled up stakes again. That alignment ultimately became the corridor for I-40.

It was from the 1920s thru early-1950s, during the middle location’s era with the railroad, Ozark Trail, and later 66, that Endee prospered most. While the train provided farmers and ranchers with the means of getting crops and livestock to market, the highway brought paying travelers.

Thus arose the need for the three pillars of tourism: gas, food, and lodging. A small motor court and store were built on the north side of 66, where NM 93 does a dogleg. Wellington Johnson owned the local grocery and sold food and auto parts. The new enterprise was strategically located to capture traffic coming and going.

The three-room motor court and a small stone building that housed the water well still stand not far from the foundations of the store. The most iconic, though, is a small structure with two bathrooms. Stenciled across the west wall in large block letters it proclaims, “Modern Rest Rooms.” While it is a popular photo spot, its origins are shrouded in mystery, as no one recalls when those letters were painted.

There are a few other structures on NM 93, along with several long-abandoned vehicles. A cemetery is still accessible about a mile north on 93, via a ranch. A couple of miles west along 66 is the wooden Cypress Bridge, a narrow timber span measuring 302 feet. It is still passable today.

Jack Rittenhouse, in his 1946 travelogue, reported that Endee, at the time, had 110 residents as well as basic retail amenities. Population peaked at about 150 in the early-1950s, but that was when the town moved one last time. It lost a fair number of residents in the process, and the Post Office closed in 1955. The town was on its last leg.

Only the ghosts of Endee haunt the area nowadays; the sounds of the wind rustling through the tall grasses, and the chirp of a million crickets and local birdlife are the life song that fill the air. But the mood in the ghost town is alive and present. Endee is largely shielded from the noise of modernity, providing a brief respite to reflect on those who once called it home, and those who traveled this once-mighty road.

It’s not difficult to imagine what the Day Brothers and Mr. Norris were thinking when they arrived in these parts. Aside from a few crumbling ruins, Endee looks much the same as in 1882. The cowboys and travelers have all gone, but their determined adventurous spirits remain.

A Tale of Two Towers

Missouri is known for its many large and quirky Route 66 treasures, from the sweet and whimsical Red Oak II village to the pun-packed Uranus tourist attraction. From a giant rocking chair in Fanning to a half-scale Stonehenge in Rolla, and from the Frog Rock in Pulaski County to the giant Hillbilly Sign, travelers are lured by these marvels of the Ozark state’s awesome array of Americana.

Although they loom large over the Missouri landscape, the twin water towers of the city of St. Clair don’t quite hold the destination status that some of the other landmarks rightfully claim. But rising out of the lush green forest surrounding St. Clair, they are in full view from I-44. And so, from the interstate or from historic Route 66 winding through the small, sleepy city, they have been the subject of more than one tourist’s camera lens.

You see, in this quiet spot along the Mother Road, visitors discover that its twin water towers boldly feature the words ‘Hot’ and ‘Cold’ in big red and blue lettering, respectively, just like your old-fashioned kitchen sink faucets. Perfectly at home on America’s Main Street, it’s still an unexpected sight as they come into view of the unexpecting traveler. The towers anchor this Mother Road town of 4,700 residents, hinting at other interesting Route 66 sites to check out.

“We still have about 20 buildings in town that are original to 66, [though] they’re repurposed [and] being used for other things. The old bus stop is still in existence, and we have several of the old Route 66 motel buildings,” said Jo Schaper, treasurer of the St. Clair Historical Museum.

“Now, Route 66 is not the main street, and never has been. But I will tell you one thing that actually just came up this spring. A local bank [the Bank of Sullivan], moved a branch into our town, and the building is actually on Route 66. Their lobby is decorated in old 66 postcards that have been blown up, and entirely done in Route 66 memorabilia.” Nevertheless, the City of St. Clair knows what its main attraction is; the city seal features a line drawing of the two towers rising up out of an I-44 highway shield.

Though perhaps slightly understated, the town’s history with the Mother Road actually runs deep. When Route 66 was being constructed in 1926, the highway went through St. Clair. “I have a Missouri state highway map, made in 1926, that shows Route 66 going through town on a gravel road, and it says, ‘to be paved soon,’” said Schaper. “The first way Route 66 went through town is now North Commercial Avenue. It was the major route through town, from 1826 to 1951.” As the town grew, Route 66, or what is now I-44, was moved west.

The ‘Hot’ water tower was built in the 1970s, but it wasn’t enough for the town with a capacity of only 250,000 gallons. In 1983, the second water tank was built. “As the city was growing, I think there was need for extra storage capacity,” said Jason Ivy, the Public Works Director for St. Clair, “for providing drinking water and also fire flow for the city, so the ‘Cold’ tank is a 300,000-gallon tank.”

It would be the mid-1980s, when the water towers were painted with the iconic ‘Hot’ and ‘Cold’. “The mayor at the time just thought that it would be a fun idea, since they were side by side,” said Ivy. “Similar to the faucets in your house, he thought it would be just a fun idea to do since they are visible from Interstate 44.” Clearly, turning your town’s water towers, if you happen to have two of them, into gigantic faux faucets is quite a bit of fun. Although the St. Clair hot-and-cold towers are the only ones on Route 66, apparently this has been a “fun enough” idea that several U.S. towns have their own set of ‘hot and cold’ water towers — Pratt, Kansas (begun in the 1950s by a practical joker who climbed the towers armed with paint and brush); Canton, Kansas; and Granger, Iowa. There used to be a twin set in Eveleth, Minnesota, but the older one was demolished.

Meanwhile, St. Clair still pays homage to Route 66 by keeping the spirit of the Mother Road alive. In 2017, St. Clair was in the path of totality for the solar eclipse, so the event was named “Get Your Eclipse on Route 66.” During which, this sleepy town saw over 20,000 people attend! America’s Main Street is blessed with a plethora of unique and colorful attractions, but only one destination boasts of being the home to two oddly unique towers.

Today, there’s no eclipse guaranteed, but travelers can enjoy the twin water towers from either I-44 or North Commercial Avenue, which carried Route 66. Don’t let the labels fool you, however — St. Clair’s water comes from city wells, and both the tanks contain the exact same water.