The Celebration was a great hit and many people showed up. The News coverage is from KOAM 7 on the 11th of November 2006.

80th Anniversary

Location: 119 N Main Galena, Kansas 66739Directions.html

Contact:

(620)783-1366

fourwomenontheroute@hotmail

Unfinished tourist center already attracting crowds

By Roger McKinney


GALENA, Kan. — Melba Rigg on Wednesday was talking up Galena and its Route 66 connection to visitors from Palm Springs, Calif. “I’m bound and determined to get Galena back on the map,” Rigg told them. Rigg is one-quarter of 4 Women on the Route, who are refurbishing the former Little’s Service Station at First and Main streets to serve as a stop for Route 66 tourists. They plan a gift shop, Route 66 memorabilia and a snack bar. The other three women are Judy Courtney, Renee Charles and Betty Courtney. On Thursday, C.H. and Donna Harvey and their son, David, from Texas, stopped by in a 1995 Mustang Cobra made to resemble Lightning McQueen, a character in the Disney movie “Cars.” C.H. Harvey pulled the car up beside the truck that inspired the Mater character in the movie. The truck belongs to the four women. “When you put smiles on kids’ faces, that’s what it’s all about,” C.H. Harvey said. Word spread around Galena, and dozens of people gathered with their children and grandchildren to see Lightning McQueen. Lou and Jo Ann Molinar, of Joplin, Mo., were in Galena to talk with Rigg about scheduling an appearance by the truck at their Fourth of July party at their house on Schifferdecker Avenue. Lou Molinar said they decided to hang around and see the car. The crowd at the gas station caught the attention of Harold deBock, 61, director of a market research firm in Holland, who is motorcycling Route 66. He stopped and took a few photos of the scene. “It’s been a dream for a couple of years now,” deBock said of his trip. “This whole Route 66 thing in Europe is pretty big.” The women began working on the station in March, and there is still more to do, said Judy Courtney, who owns the building. “There’s people coming in every day,” she said. She said the women are relying on donations for the project. Charles said the corner once was the location of the Banks Hotel, but she found a Joplin Globe story from 1933 stating that the hotel had to be removed because it obscured visibility for motorists along Route 66. She said she thinks an old photo of the Little’s Service Station on display in the building dates to the late 1930s or early 1940s. “We’re really wanting to get Route 66 through Galena improved,” Charles said. She said the viaduct and some of the culverts have been preserved, but are in disrepair. Rigg said recent visitors have included a group of Norwegian women on motorcycles, a Belgian photographer, and tourists from France and Germany. Rigg said she is considering studying foreign languages to assist international visitors. She said she was surprised one day by an Irish television crew filming a Route 66 documentary. Down the road members of the Baxter Springs Historical Society had a work day Wednesday to refurbish a former Phillips 66 station as a tourist center they hope to open this fall.
 

News Coverage

FILING STATION PROJECT HAS ‘HEART’

By Mary Ann Talbot


   
Galena, KS -- Renee Charles, Judy Courtney, Betty Courtney,and Melba Riggs are determined to get Route 66 on the map in GaKan-O-Tex filing station for a tourist center and more. These “Four Ladies on the Route” view this as nothing short of a calling with a “Heart” (Happy, enthusiastic, artistic, rigorous team) focus in a Route 66 community. If you think of Heart as an essence, as in “Let’s get to the heart of the matter,” these partners took on a new adventure with a filing station. This one-of-a-kind Kan-O-Tex filing station was known as Little’s Gas Station from 1930 to 1943. In the 1950s, it was Hayes Filing Station, and later a welding shop. In the early spring of 2006, a farmers market was held. Certainly, if you take Heart to mean spirit, as in “They put their heart into it,” then you will understand why these stakeholders put their heart on the line to achieve the needed outcomes—all for the good of this special community. Later, Rod Harsh of Carterville told them about an old truck which was moved many years ago because it was “an eye sore.” Tow Tater, an inspiration for the tow truck in the movie “Cars,” was discovered and moved to the original location. Plans are being made to add more cars to the museum and theme park. If you take Heart to mean caring about the project, this describes each one perfectly: “they have such a big heart.” If they are not greeting tourists and showing tourists all of the neat souvenirs, they are cooking delicious hamburgers, fries and funnel cakes. No doubt many will agree Heart means hope, strength, endurance and patience to the women, as in “They have never lost heart,” and as the group celebrate the heartfelt gratitude which has been enriched by a meaningful partnership with Route 66 supporters. Each knows that as a Heart on the route they must never lose sight of their vision and must ensure that the beat goes on for the Mother Road.