Birthplace Plaza dedicated as new landmark on Route 66

A small park and tourist stop, Birthplace Plaza, was dedicated at 4 p.m. yesterday, 100 years to the hour of the foundation of the historic Route 66 highway.

The plaza is on the corner of Park Central East and Jefferson Avenue. It is the site of the Colonial Hotel, which was in operation from 1907 to 1978 and was torn down in 1997 to make way for a parking lot. It was at the hotel that Springfield business leader John T. Woodruff and Tulsa businessperson and U.S. 66 Highway Association founder Cyrus Avery came up with the name of the route and sent a telegram to federal highway officials in Washington, D.C. to declare it.

The dedication ceremony attracted city, state and even a federal official to make remarks.

Lyndall Fraker of Marshfield, part of the 18-member Missouri Route 66 Centennial Commission, opened the ceremony, stating the commission is working statewide along the historic route.

“A key component of this work is the development of an interactive signage and tour stop program that connects communities along the corridor through a unified visitor experience that allows for selfies and sharing,” Fraker said.

He characterized the plaza as a representation of collaborative spirit in Missouri.

“Birthplace Plaza is a bold visual landmark that anchors the space and symbolizes the road’s national significance and Springfield’s place at the beginning of that journey,” he said.

Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag said the famous telegraph may have seemed like a small decision at the time.

“That name became a symbol of freedom, of opportunity and of connection … and it all started right here,” he said.

He added that the road is significant not just to Springfield or to the United States but to the world.

“Every journey begins somewhere,” he said. “Before Route 66 stretched across eight states and carried millions of stories, it began as an idea, and it began right here.”

Visiting officials
Missouri Lt. Gov. David Wasinger and Federal Highway Administrator Sean McMaster also spoke.

Wasinger said visitors will come to the state for the World Cup in Kansas City, the U.S. 250th birthday and the Route 66 centennial.

“Guess where they’re going to be coming to see Missouri? They’re going to be coming to Springfield and coming down Route 66, from St. Louis all the way down to Joplin,” he said, calling the centennial date the kickoff for the greatest tourist season in the state’s history.

The effort will support small businesses along the route, he said.

“This year, we’re going to fill our restaurants, our hotels, our shops, our museums and our downtown streets,” he said. “This is going to be a great tourist season, and it starts here in Springfield. We’re preserving Route 66 because we’re not looking backward; we’re investing forward.”

McMaster said the Mother Road connects history, community and the future of transportation in the nation.

“I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Route 66 is one of the most if not the most famous highway in the world,” he said. “For 100 years, Route 66 has told the story of America.”

He added that the road still powers local economies, from small businesses and tourism to freight and daily commutes.

McMaster said more than 39,000 daily trips are taken along the 2,400-mile corridor that makes up the original Route 66, and more than 40% of Americans plan to visit Route 66 as part of the centennial celebration.

“We are not just preserving Route 66; we are modernizing it,” he said. “This means safer bridges, smarter project delivery and infrastructure that can handle the demands of the next 100 years.”

Contributors
Representing Rotary Clubs of Springfield, which provided investment and coordination in the plaza project, Rusty Worley cited Dake Wells Architecture Inc., general contractor DeWitt & Associates Inc. and engineer Toth and Associates Inc.

Sponsorship was provided by a Rotary District Simplified Grant, a tour stop grant from the Missouri Route 66 Centennial Commission, site donation from Missouri State University, leadership from the city and support of Visit Springfield, Missouri, City Utilities of Springfield and the History Museum on the Square Inc.

Additionally, numerous supporters purchased engraved pavers installed at the site to fund the project.

Sean FitzGibbons, director of the History Museum on the Square, capped off the event by displaying the Route 66 Centennial Time Capsule, to be buried in Jubilee Park across from the plaza, to be reopened at 4 p.m. on April 30, 2126.

Asked for the total investment in the plaza project, city public information officials – busy with a full complement of Route 66 centennial events – said it would be next week before they could tally those numbers.

Art in the plaza
Selfie spots and unique attractions are sought after by many travelers on Route 66, and the Birthplace Plaza’s artworks offer four options.

A mural facilitated by Overlay Inc., “Hitchhikers” by Osiris Rain and Emily Ding, was completed last year and shows a hitchhiker clad in shorts, a denim shirt and Chuck Taylor sneakers, her thumb extended as she waits by a Route 66 road sign. She is waiting for a ride with native Missouri fauna, among them a fawn, a frog, a rabbit, a bobcat and a box turtle, and the travelers are surrounded by native plants.

“The animals can be interpreted as spirits of the road, protectors for the traveling individual on her journey,” the artists’ statement says.

The artists are in Washington, D.C., to receive an award this weekend. Additionally, the mural qualified Springfield for inclusion in the national online Street Art Directory, as announced during the event.

Meg Wagler directs Overlay, the mural-focused nonprofit that puts on the arts festival with the same name, said the work is meant to appeal particularly to younger viewers.

“We talk about what we’re going to do 100 years from now,” she said. “That means that we have to have younger people carry this legacy along the way.”

She added that the art has been well received.

“This resonated really well with the audience it was supposed to resonate with, and the people who don’t quite get it, I think that’s OK. That’s the purpose of variety,” she said.

A 20- by 18-foot steel sculpture, “The Ghost of the Colonial Hotel,” stands aslant at the northeast corner of the plaza, where it evokes the building that once stood on the site, from which the famous telegraph declaring the name of the route was sent.

The description of the work by Sculpture Walk Springfield notes the work is intended to serve as a landmark and also a storytelling device, “bridging history, innovation and public space.”

Artist Juan Garaizabal flew into the event from his studio in Madrid, Spain, and throughout the ceremony could be seen standing on a stone platform to capture the event with his phone.

In an interview, Garaizabal said, “My artwork’s about the energy that an element as important as the Colonial Hotel leaves in a place that remains forever,” he said. “What I try is with a minimum amount of lines to make it appear loyal to what it was, but also leaving a lot to your mind to complete it.”

He called it a sketch in the air that gets illuminated by the sun by day and streetlights by night.

“It makes people interact to complete the picture,” he said.

The most recently completed artwork is “Route 66 Mosaic Map” by artist Christine Schilling, who operates MosaicaRose Studio on Commercial Street.

The 14-foot-wide in-ground mosaic is made of ceramic, porcelain and glass tesserae, according to the project statement, which says the work reimagines Route 66 as a grand thread, stitching America together.

On-site after the dedication, Schilling pointed out some of the inlaid pieces that were fragments of plates and coffee mugs. The colorful inlays highlight aspects of the national map, with elements like a cheese head in Wisconsin and a moose in Maine.

In his remarks, Worley said he had spotted someone lying on the mosaic for a selfie, boasting about being as long as Route 66

Schilling appeared delighted by seeing people interact with the work, created by her and an entire team of artisans. During an interview, she got out her phone to photograph a preschooler in a pink hoodie as she crawled across it.

Rounding out the art is an interpretive 20-foot-tall kiosk designed and built by Pinnacle Sign Group and shaped like a pair of old-style car keys – a square one for the ignition and a round one for the trunk and glove box.

The rear of the sculpture provides interpretive information about Route 66 for travelers

Official poem
David Harrison, poet laureate of the Route 66 Kickoff Celebration and former poet laureate of Missouri, presented a poem he wrote for the Birthplace Plaza dedication, as well as five other poems to be presented at various events.

The poem is presented here in its entirety.

Where a Highway Was Born

A century ago, where we now gather,

men met to name a road,

an “Old Roads for New” kind of road,

cobbled from highways, local roads,

scraps of farm-to-market routes,

roads of gravel, dirt, sand.

It would form our nation’s first

all-paved highway,

zigzagging across America

from Chicago to LA,

connecting eight states,

town to town, city to hamlet.

A destination road,

a what’s-your-rush road

where you could marvel

at new sights, make friends, stay awhile,

sample local dishes, buy souvenirs …

a highway like no other

needed a name to match.

No easy task, the naming business.

Men reasoned, debated.

What was available? Route 60? 62?

Each had support,

but none outspoke Cyrus Avery,

who came from Oklahoma

to the Colonial that day

to join Springfield’s John Woodruff.

“66 is available,” Cyrus said.

“It’s catchier, better on signs,

easier to remember.”

Avery Cyrus won the day.

The highway got its name

and Springfield, Missouri entered history:

The Birthplace of Route 66.

—David L. Harrison