Route 66 in the News

Red Cedar Inn May Be Reborn as Museum

2008-06-25 21:30:05

PACIFIC, Mo. - Supporters from all over the region, as well as federal representatives, are encouraging Pacific officials to move forward with a proposal to convert the historic Red Cedar Inn into a city museum and visitors center.

Proponents of Mayor Herbert Adams' vision for the well-known Route 66 landmark crowded into the City Council chambers Tuesday, June 17, to ask aldermen to pursue the project.

Aldermen, after discussing the issue in closed session, agreed to start negotiations for purchasing the property. Adams first broached the idea of the city purchasing the Red Cedar last year.

The Red Cedar Inn, 1047 E. Osage St. (Old Highway 66), closed in March 2005 after more than 70 years in business. Brothers James and Bull Smith opened the Red Cedar in 1934, and the business stayed in the Smith family until it closed two years ago.

The Red Cedar Inn was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, recognized for its importance as an historic Route 66 landmark.

The Red Cedar is for sale and Adams said the city's purchase of the property not only would preserve an historic landmark, but would create a new tourist draw, as well as a new home for the Meramec Valley Historical Museum and a city visitors center.

Many local residents and business leaders, as well as Route 66 enthusiasts, agreed.

"This is an opportunity for the city to preserve one of the most historic and recognizable buildings in Pacific," said Don Brandt of New Haven, chief executive officer of Citizen's Bank in Pacific. "People have visited the Red Cedar from all over the world. Developing it as a museum and visitors center would be a great asset to the city."

Resident Nancy Omer remembered as a young child being at the Red Cedar when the news broke that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. She said for many longtime area residents, the Red Cedar is a part of their memories of significant life events or simply of growing up in the Pacific area.

"We've lost some really important historical buildings over the years. We must not lose another," Omer said. "The Red Cedar should be an example of what the city has been and what it should be in the future."

"Pacific and the Red Cedar Inn go together," said state Rep. Mike Frame, R-Eureka. "Many people will come to visit the Red Cedar because of the remembrance of what they did there."

Frame pledged to help city officials find state grants or other funding resources to help restore the Red Cedar.

The city also received what City Administrator Harold Selby called a "surprising" letter from Michael Taylor, Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program manager for the U.S. Department of the Interior. Taylor also offered to help provide information on potential technical and financial assistance available to the city for the restoration project.

The letter was just one of many letters and e-mails Adams said he received in support of the idea of the city buying and restoring the Red Cedar. In addition to letters from area residents, letters of support also came from St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and local radio personality Joe Sonderman of KLOU, whose recent book on Route 66 includes information on the Red Cedar and other Pacific Route 66 landmarks.

"This historic building (Red Cedar) is important not only to Pacific, but the whole region," said Esley Hamilton, a preservation historian for the St. Louis County Historic Building Commission. "This is definitely a building that should be preserved."

One of the biggest enthusiasts for the Red Cedar project was Kip Welborn of St. Louis, a member of the Route 66 Association of Missouri.

"We believe if the city does this, it will not only allow one of the most viable icons on Route 66 to remain, but it will be a wonderful welcome mat for people who travel along Route 66 into Pacific," Welborn said. "Let's preserve the past so future generations will be able to tell their kids about the Red Cedar."

Jim McHugh, whose family owns another historic structure in Pacific, the McHugh-Dailey building, 221 S. First St., said that in purchasing and restoring the Red Cedar, the city also had the opportunity to tie together two Route 66 icons: the Red Cedar and Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit.

McHugh said the ideal plan would include connecting the Red Cedar and the nature reserve through a trail system.

There have been discussions in past years about developing a trail system that would extend from Wildwood to the reserve.

"Red Cedar can't be duplicated or replaced," said Bud Lamar of Catawissa, a Pacific businessman. "We need to preserve it. It's a national treasure."

~Danette Thompson, Tri-County Journal