Eureka, Pacific, Villa Ridge, and Bourbon, Missouri

There are two Route 66 “alignments” southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Like the two south of Springfield, Illinois, they are miles apart. The pre-1932 alignment mostly follows MO 100. The 1932-1977 alignment runs about 4-5 miles south of the earlier alignment, near I-44. We didn’t want to drive both, and we chose the southern 1932-1977 alignment because we wanted to see Times Beach, one of the most poignant stops on our Route 66 road trip.

The 1932-1977 Route 66 alignment leaves St. Louis on MO 366 (Chippewa Street). We passed the iconic Ted Drewes Frozen Custard but, unfortunately, early in the morning, well before it opened. Shortly after passing Ted Drewes, Chippewa Street becomes Watson Road. We passed a few old motels and motor courts before Watson Road ended and we had to get on I-44 westbound. We took I-44 for about 12 miles to the exit for the Route 66 State Park Visitors Center near Eureka, Missouri.

Route 66 State Park has two distinct sections separated by the Meramec River. On the eastern side of the river, the visitors center is in the former Bridgehead Inn roadhouse next to a fragment of Route 66 now called North Outer Road. Over the years, the roadhouse was also known as Steiny’s Inn.

Bridgehead Road House, now Route 66 State Park Visitor Center

Next to the Visitor Center are the remains of the 1932 Meramec River Bridge, which once took Route 66 travelers across the river.

Remains of Meramec River Bridge (from OurNextChapter.net)

The bridge decking was removed in 2012 after engineers deemed it unsafe for anyone to cross. Efforts are underway to raise funds to rehabilitate and reconstruct the bridge.

We loved the Visitor Center. It has a small museum, partly about Times Beach on the other side of the river and partly Route 66 artifacts, such as from long-gone motels. My husband loved this motorcycle.

Motorcycle at the Route 66 State Park Visitor Center

The Visitor Center also has a great gift shop full of Route 66 souvenirs—I bought a Route 66 jigsaw puzzle. The visitor center staffer was super-friendly and extremely helpful. We picked up a map of walking trails in the state park.

Then we drove to the western part of Route 66 State Park. Because the Meramec River Bridge is closed, we had to get back on I-44, get off at the next exit a few miles past the park, then double back to the park. (There are several turns; we set our GPS to Route 66 State Park and let it guide us.)

The western part of the park was once Times Beach . In the 1920s, lots here were sold by a newspaper, the St. Louis Star-Times, as a place for summer weekend getaways. By 1930, Times Beach was a true town with businesses as well as homes, and by the 1970s families were living here year round. They couldn’t afford to pave the dirt roads, so they hired someone to spread oil on them to keep the dust down. They didn’t know that the contractor also collected waste from nearby chemical plants and mixed that waste with the oil. The ground was contaminated with dioxin. In the 1980s the entire population was forced to evacuate, and all the town’s structures and soil were incinerated or buried in a huge mound. Altogether it was one of the worst environmental disasters in American history.

There are several trails around the former Times Beach. We took the “W Trail.” The trail description promised that we’d see a capped monitoring well and the mound where the town remains are buried. But we saw neither of these things along the trail. Instead we saw a park filled with so many trees that it was hard to believe that all the land here was incinerated only about 30 years ago.

Route 66 State Park "W Trail"

After our walk, we drove around the outer loop of the park and saw the mound. Then we continued on our Route 66 road trip by getting back on I-44. We took I-44 just a couple of miles to the Allenton/Six Flags exit, turned left (south) on Allenton Road, then right (west) on Business Loop 44. This is the 1932-1977 alignment of Route 66. We took this into the town of Pacific, Missouri, passing the now-closed 1932 Red Cedar Inn along the way.

Red Cedar Inn (from nps.gov)

In Gray Summit, Missouri, Route 66 leaves Business Loop 44 and becomes MO 100.  The older and newer Route 66 alignments meet here. Gray Summit is home of Purina Farms. We were hoping to see one of the dog shows here, but we would have had to wait a couple of hours for the next show, so we kept going on MO 100 for another two miles.

When MO 100 turned right (west) in Villa Ridge, Missouri, we kept going straight onto what Google Maps calls Historic US 66. Here we saw a Route 66 treasure: the 1948 former Tri-County Truck Stop, with lovely streamline moderne curves.

Tri-County Truck Stop in Villa Ridge, Missouri

We continued on Historic US 66, which edges the northwest side of I-44 for about 10 miles, then continues on the southeast side of I-44 to St. Clair, Missouri. In St. Clair, Historic Route 66 crosses back over to the northwest side of I-44. Although Route 66 closely parallels I-44, the roads are very different. Route 66 rises and falls to follow the terrain, which is hilly here as we approached the Ozarks. I-44 cuts through the hills for a level drive. 

In Sullivan, Missouri, we again crossed I-44 at MO 185 to stay on Historic Route 66, now back on the southeast side of I-44. We stayed on Historic Route 66 on the southeast side of I-44 into Bourbon, Missouri.

Bourbon has two cool things to see along Route 66. The first one is the now-closed Circle Inn Malt Shop.

Circle Inn Malt Shop in Bourbon, Missouri

The second cool thing to see in Bourbon is its water towers, labeled (duh) "Bourbon" and therefore the subject of many photos. The newer water tower is along I-44, while the older one is on Route 66 across from Bourbon High School.

Bourbon, Missouri, water tower

About a mile southeast of the Bourbon water tower on Route 66 is a bridge built in 1922. (If you want to find it on Google Maps, it’s just past Injoy Church.) Unfortunately, the bridge—and therefore Route 66—was closed when we visited, so we took I-44 from Bourbon to the Leasburg exit. Then we got back on Route 66 (now MO 508) into Cuba, Missouri—one of our favorite stops along Route 66.