Route 66 turns 100 this year. Several towns and cities along the storied highway’s more than 2,000-mile length from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, are commemorating the centennial with celebrations, parades of classic cars, and other events.
One stop that’s surely worth a road trip for those interested in the history and aesthetic of the highway is the recently opened Route 66 Neon Park in St. Robert, Missouri.
Located along Route 66 itself (just west of the Route 66/Highway Z/Missouri Ave. junction, to be precise), the park is a kind of open-air museum for vintage neon signs that once advertised roadside diners, motels, and other businesses along the route from 1926 to 1985.
“Left to decay in roadside fields, buried under piles of junk in dusty sheds or at risk of being dismantled,” as the tourism office for Missouri’s Pulaski County puts it, these orphaned signs were donated to the city of St. Robert and have now been “meticulously restored” to their “mid-century modern glory.”
Visitors can get up close to the signs via lighted pathways, and storyboards supply the background of each business represented.
The neon park is situated within the larger George M. Reed Roadside Park. It’s open from sunrise to midnight, but you’ll want to be there when the neon is illuminated, starting at sunset.
Admission and parking are both free.
While you’re in the area, you’re perfectly positioned to explore the Missouri Ozarks, a landscape of hills, forests, and rivers with excellent hiking, camping, and canoeing options.
Continue westward on your Route 66 pilgrimage and you’ll have many other chances to spot iconic splashes of neon in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and elsewhere.
If you have time, you could even make a detour to the Neon Museum in Las Vegas, which isn’t on Route 66, but is only about 100 miles north of Kingman, Arizona, which is.
