MSU donates center city property for Route 66 plaza 

Missouri State University has gifted a 2,630-square-foot property to the city of Springfield for use as a park commemorating a piece of local and national history. 

At a special meeting Dec. 2, Springfield City Council voted unanimously to accept right-of-way from MSU for construction of a Birthplace of Route 66 Plaza in the southwest quadrant of Jefferson Avenue and Park Central East. 

The property is currently a portion of a university parking lot. 

Plans call for a sculpture on the site to commemorate the former Colonial Hotel, a key site in the history of the Mother Road. It was from the Colonial Hotel that two transportation officials, Missouri State Highway Commission Chief Engineer A.H. Piepmeier and Oklahoma Department of Highways Chair Cyrus Avery sent a telegram to Washington, D.C. on April 30, 1926, suggesting the highway be named Route 66, according to the history of Route 66 on the Visit Springfield, Missouri website. 

Internationally acclaimed sculptor Juan Garaizabal of Spain has been commissioned by Sculpture Walk Springfield and the Rotary Clubs of Springfield to create “Ghost of the Colonial Hotel,” an illuminated artwork that will commemorate the hotel that one stood on the site, according to a news release from Sculpture Walk Springfield.  

The Rotary Clubs and the Missouri Route 66 Commission will jointly pay for the entire plaza project, according to Sculpture Walk Springfield Executive Director Bridget Bechtel. She said the cost of the sculpture component with its integrated light and sound system is $125,000. 

In its agreement with the MSU Board of Governors, the city commits to construct a new driveway to provide access to the MSU parking lot and to provide ongoing maintenance, repair and care of the plaza. 

The agreement states that DeWitt & Associates Inc., the contractor hired by the Rotary Clubs, will remove existing infrastructure within the plaza footprint and install hardscape, landscape, lighting and other improvements on the site. The company will also set the framed sculpture depicting the Colonial Hotel facade along with interpretive signage describing the historic event. 

The plaza is scheduled to be dedicated and unveiled on April 30, 2026, the centennial of the historic telegram, the agreement states.