Route 66 Park facts for kids

The Route 66 Mural Park opened in 2013 in Joplin, Missouri. It's a special public park that helps people connect with US Route 66. This famous road is also known as the "Mother Road." The park is a great spot for tourists and locals who want to remember the history of U.S. Route 66 in Missouri.

Inside the park, you'll find two big tile murals. These murals were first suggested by Paul Whitehill. They were made by Images In Tile USA and designed by artists Chris Auckerman and Jon White. The park also has a cool red sports car cut in half. Visitors can stand next to it and take fun photos. The park is near the corner of 7th Street and Main. The main mural covers the side of Pearl Brothers, a well-known green hardware store in downtown Joplin. Long ago, US Route 66 used to turn west near this same intersection and head into Kansas.

How the Park Started

In the 1960s and 1970s, many old buildings in downtown Joplin were torn down to make way for new ones. This was part of a plan to update the city. In 1970, city planners created a small green space called "Mall Park." It was placed between some big buildings on 7th Street. This park helped people walk from a large parking lot to the downtown shops. It made it easier to reach the stores without driving everywhere.

Over time, the park's brick paths started to wear out. It needed some new life to become a busy public space again.

The Idea for the Murals

Paul Whitehill had the idea to create a Route 66 mural for Joplin. He shared his idea with Chris Auckerman and Jon White, who work at Images in Tile USA. After a lot of thinking and planning, their idea became a beautiful piece of art. Local groups and businesses helped pay for the project. They also helped design the lower mural. This mural was made for tourists and visitors to take memorable photos. It shows Joplin's important place on Route 66.

Many people from Europe travel along Route 66 every year. Even more come for special festivals. For example, 15,000 visitors from 25 states and 14 countries came to Joplin, Missouri, Springfield, Missouri, and other towns for the Route 66 International Festival. The city hopes to attract more visitors like these. Other places along the route have also added photo spots, just like this mural park.

Route 66's New Popularity

This new interest in Route 66 might have grown after the 2006 animated film Cars came out. This movie helped shine a light on efforts across the country to save and restore local businesses along U.S. Route 66. Many towns were forgotten when new interstate highways were built.

Joplin was big enough to handle the changes from I-44. This new highway pulled businesses away from the city's old center. But Joplin was still affected, much like the smaller towns along Route 66. Big national stores like Walmart and McDonald's made it harder for small, local shops to succeed.

Thanks to renewed interest in the "Mother Road," international news about the 2011 Joplin tornado, and a growing art scene, downtown Joplin became lively again. All the murals in downtown Joplin show this progress.

Park Dedication

After years of planning, the city officially opened the Route 66 Mural Park. This happened during the first "Third Thursday" event of 2013. Once the murals were put on the Pearl Brothers building, they were dedicated at the international Route 66 festival. This was during the seventh season of Joplin's "Third Thursday" art walk. The public park had been neglected for twenty years before this.

The park has a large design of a 45 record cut into the walkway. The center of this design can be changed for different special events. Nearby, there's a concrete map of four states, focusing on Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The entrance to the park is marked by a wall with "Route 66 Joplin, Missouri" carved into it. A series of Route 66 tile murals will eventually stretch all the way from Chicago to Santa Monica. Joplin was proud to receive the very first mural in this series.