Pacific, Missouri

Another Route 66 Destination

Soon, I will have stories to tell from a short road trip that is happening this spring. I also plan a look back to my 2008 trip to New Orleans, a city still in the shadow of Katrina. But this week, I wanted to insert this recent fun day that we had in early March.

We drove out to check on our RV out in Union, Missouri. We are always looking for a fun stop on the way home to make the trip more enjoyable. This time, we made a stop at Jensen’s Point Overlook in Pacific. We have had a lot of rain in the area since we returned from our winter Texas/New Orleans/Memphis trip. Actually, even before that, driving through SE Missouri on the way home, we saw standing water on either side of I-55. The overlook gives you a good view of the Meramec River. Pacific is just barely outside of St. Louis County (actually part of it is in the county).

While we were there, I realized the old Red Cedar Inn is now a Route 66 Museum. And it is right next to Jensen Point. I had noticed the building when we took the train to KC which goes right along the Meramec. I remembered eating at the Red Cedar Inn during the 1990s and thought it was closed so it was good to realize that I was correct, it is closed but the memory lives on. They were known for their amazing fried chicken as well as an extensive cocktail menu.

This is the 100th anniversary of Route 66 and I have covered it several times in earlier posts if you want to take a peek into the archives. The highway, 2400 miles long, from Chicago to Santa Monica linked so many rural towns together and the interstate that came later, left some rural towns isolated and kept others on the main route.

Route 66 history would not exist without Avery Cyrus and John T. Woodruff. Cyrus, a former Missourian, was the Oklahoma Highway Commission chair in those days. Woodruff was a Springfield, Missouri businessman. Together, they led a movement to create Route 66. They also played a role in the naming of the highway. Originally, it was going to be Highway 60, but the governor of Kentucky demanded that name for a highway in his state, so they decided on the catchy name of 66.

In 1932, Route 66 reached Pacific, and the town got an economic boost. The Red Cedar Inn was opened as a full-service restaurant, and it was able to serve cocktails since Prohibition had been repealed just before its opening. The inn became popular with travelers on Route 66 and was visited by baseball players, Bob Klinger, Dizzy Dean, and Ted Williams.

The brothers, James and Bill Smith, constructed the inn with rustic materials, such as log and knotty pine interior walls and lines of white chinking on the outside. The logs used to build the restaurant came from the brothers’ family farm. They wanted the inn to reflect Missouri pioneer days and attract tourists. The brothers had made their living bootlegging liquor from their family farm at Villa Ridge. It was originally called the Red Cedar Tavern but changed its name in the early 40s.

It was such a nice day that after the museum, we decided to go to lunch in Pacific at the Pacific Brew Haus. Right next door, we spied this historic building. Even the restaurant building was built in 1910. This one looks even older. The Pacific Railroad had put the town of Pacific on the map back in the 1850s so it is full of history.