Time and traffic have raced by the Rail Haven, one of Springfield’s Route 66 landmarks.
The motel opened in 1938 at the corner of St. Louis Street and Glenstone Avenue. It was a decade after the start of the Mother Road – which was born in Springfield a few blocks away – and out front, split-rail fences helped the destination live up to its name.
“The motel gained its name because of the rail fence around the property, and Rail Haven’s advertising slogan is: ‘Look for the Rail Fence,’” noted a 1961 Sunday News and Leader article.
In the nearly 90 years since its start, the motel has been part of countless Route 66 travelers’ stories, including some famous folks – like Elvis. But its legacy is even more integrated through the lives of those who have made memories there from all over the world, many seeking the same experience on the Mother Road.
“There are so many people coming from all over the world,” says Tracy Agee, the Rail Haven’s manager. “You hear so many stories. I get to travel the world just because they’re here.”
At the Rail Haven’s start
The Rail Haven has been a witness to great changes in cultural history, from parts of the Good Roads Movement – a time when people began wanting to take cars and hit the road – and into the heyday of Route 66, when the famed Ozark Jubilee TV show was being broadcast nationally.
Even though the world looked very different when the Rail Haven began in 1938, the destination was born in a time of change and progress.
“The construction of the Rail Haven Motel evolved in response to the large amount of automobile traffic that traversed Route 66 by the 1930s,” notes the Rail Haven’s application for the National Register of Historic Places. It was added to the prestigious list in 2010. “Between St. Louis and Springfield, Missouri, Route 66 followed the path of the Old Wire Road, a well established early roadbed which had developed originally as the Osage or Kickapoo Trail and later served as a stage line.
“In 1922, the Old Wire Road in Missouri was designated State Highway 14, and four years later it was redesignated as part of U.S. Highway (Route) 66.”
That vantage point led brothers Lawrence and Elwyn Lippman to build the Rail Haven’s first eight stone and concrete cottages. They were printers, but saw potential in land owned by their grandfather.
“The idea for establishing the motor lodge at the southwest corner of St. Louis and Glenstone developed when the operator of a filling station on the corner of the lot told the Lippmans of the main requests from cross-country travelers for information on where they could spend the night,” notes the 1961 article in the Sunday News and Leader.
The era – which grew after World War II – was an important one for car and road travel.
“Tourist courts, which had survived the Depression by adding necessities like bed linens and indoor plumbing, streamlined into motels, with televisions, air conditioning and swimming pools,” notes “Route 66,” a book about the road’s history. “This meant that the hand-built, freestanding cabins that dotted the roadside in Missouri needed to be replaced with something ‘modern’ to match the travelers’ new images of themselves.”
By 1950, the Rail Haven expanded by completing a 16-unit motel building off St. Louis Street west of the stone cottages, a laundry, a new office building, and made updates to the landscaping and playground – the latter being a more common element at motels than is perhaps seen today.
In a 1954 issue of the Ozarks Mountaineer, the Rail Haven was noted to be “the first in the entire region to enter the field of providing fine accommodations, then found only in good hotels.”
A key note about the Rail Haven was its placement – not just on Route 66, but along Glenstone Avenue, which formerly was Highway 65. The motel’s success made it a reference point – “across from the Rail Haven,” for example – in newspaper advertisements for other businesses.
There were other draws besides the motel, too.
The Lippmans sold the motel in 1961 to C. Ward Chrisman, who opened another chapter of the Rail Haven’s history: The Sycamore Inn, a restaurant that drew diners at the front of the property to eat steak, chicken, late-night breakfasts and other favored fare in air-conditioned comfort.
In 1994, it was purchased by hotelier Gordon Elliott, who took on a complete renovation of the landmark. After a portion of the motel’s nearly 100 rooms were remodeled, it was reopened in 1994 – but not as the Rail Haven. It was actually renamed the Sycamore Inn in honor of the restaurant, which was removed during the remodeling process.
“He just had a vision,” says Agee, the motel’s manager, of Elliott’s efforts. “He wanted to restore it, and I think he’s done a really good job.”
It was renamed “The Route 66 Rail Haven Motel” in 1997. Part of the renaming process featured namesake rails being reinstalled.
The motel's namesake rails contribute to its presence, as do "Burma Shave" style signs and vintage-style sign.
The Revitalization of the Rail Haven and Route 66
The Rail Haven’s renewal came at a time when interest in Route 66 was re-emerging, too.
Route 66 was officially decommissioned as a highway in 1985, but five years later, Congress passed the Route 66 Study Act of 1990, which recognized that Route 66 had “become a symbol of the American people's heritage of travel and their legacy of seeking a better life."
The law resulted in the National Park Service conducting the Route 66 Special Resource Study “to evaluate the significance of Route 66 and to identify options for its preservation, interpretation, and use,” notes information from the National Park Service.
About a decade ago, a report suggested that a “conservative” estimated expenditure by all Route 66 travelers in the United States is $38 million annually.
“Places like the Rail Haven Motel along Route 66 are what the ‘Roadies’ are interested in,” says David Eslick, a Route 66 enthusiast and expert who helped found Springfield’s Birthplace of Route 66 Festival. “It is important enough to have been designated a National Historic Landmark. There is a segment of Route 66 travelers that seek out places like this.”
Many of those Route 66 travelers come through Springfield. Some – or simply others seeking an authentically historical experience – stay at the Rail Haven, which was noted as the oldest in the Best Western chain in Route magazine.
“As I have often said, these historic buildings are ‘the fabric’ of your community,” Eslick says. “They take us back to a time when the pace was a lot slower and life was simpler. These historic Route 66 places of interest, with their individual stories, add to the traveler’s experience and memories of their journey.”
“Cross-country road trip, motel #13,” notes one traveler on Tripadvisor. “We liked this motel so much that we stayed a second night. Quaint drive-up motel with a lot of character. Immaculate, comfortable, and quiet, with really friendly staff. We felt very safe — much more so than at a couple of other motels we stayed at. We wish there were more motels like this across the country. We'll definitely return next time we're in the area — this stay was a highlight of our trip.”
And another: “We stayed here when we drove Route 66. Very comfortable. Friendly staff and great self serve breakfast.”
Agee says part of the motel’s current emphasis is to find ways to reach younger travelers.
“You can really win people over by helping them remember the room they liked,” she says. “You can get them to come one time and roll out the red carpet – which we try to do for everybody – like people used to do. And I do think the young people appreciate it because that’s not something you get everywhere anymore.”
What does it mean to her to “roll out the red carpet”?
“Just dealing with everyone as a human being — with individual needs, individual travel needs — and (helping them) feel cared for while they’re here,” she says. “I think that’s a lost art.”
Visiting the Rail Haven
Vintage vibes are found throughout the Rail Haven.
Vintage vehicles, parked out front, add to the ambiance. There’s a pool along Glenstone, and cars park next to their rooms — a perk that’s broadcast in lights on the sign out front. Its lobby and main entrance also carry a vintage theme – complete with old-fashioned phone booths.
There are also a few themed rooms for famed folks like “Wild Bill” Hickok, Marilyn Monroe (which is being transformed into Bonnie and Clyde) and even Elvis, who is said to have stayed at the motel in 1956.
“He was performing at the Shrine but he was staying at a different hotel,” says Agee. “He got into it with his band mates, and his mom was staying here, so he came to stay with his mom.”
But regardless of whether someone is an international star or not, Agee says the motel’s staff strives for the stay to be special.
“They hit all of the motels,” she says of guests who stay at other Route 66 accomodations after starting their trek down the Mother Road. “By the time they get here, they’re disheartened because a lot of them are run down; they’re not in good shape. Then they’re just ‘wowed’ when they get here because the rooms are clean and kept up, and that makes us feel good. We’re doing our job.”
Want to learn more?
To connect with the Rail Haven via its website click here, and here for its Facebook page.
The creation of this story is funded by a partnership between Ozarks Alive and I Love Springfield, MO!, formally known as the Springfield Missouri Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Resources
“Celebration to highlight changes to historic motel,” Springfield News-Leader, June 12, 1997
“Gem of the Ozarks, Hayley Bell, Route magazine
“New Glenstone eating spot expected to open mid-July,” Sunday News and Leader, July 8, 1962
”Rail Haven Motel,” National Register of Historic Places
“Rail Haven Motel sold,” Sunday News and Leader, Aug. 20, 1961
“Route 66,” Susan Croce Kelly and Quinta Scott, 1988
“Route 66-era motel gets facelift,” Springfield News-Leader, Oct. 13, 1994
More Resources
