page_title: Wagon Wheel Motel, Café and Station
section_title: Restoration
hierarchical_section_title: Wagon Wheel Motel, Café and Station / Restoration
caption_attribution_description: English: THIS IS A VIEW OF THE STONE OFFICE, FORMER CAFE WHICH IS NOW A STORE AND SOUVENIR SHOP AND THE NO LONGER OPERATING GAS STATION. THE MOTEL HOWEVER STILL OPERATES ON OLD ROUTE 66 This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 03000183
context_page_description: The Wagon Wheel Motel, Café and Station in Cuba, Missouri, is a 19-room independently owned historic U.S. Route 66 restored motel which has been serving travelers since 1938. The site opened as a café in 1936; the motel has remained in continuous operation since 1938. The motel rooms were fully restored in 2010, adding modern amenities such as HDTV and wireless Internet.
  A filling station which once also occupied the original 1936 property is no longer in active use; the original Wagon Wheel Café restaurant is now a retail store filled with jewelry, purses, décor, Route 66 books, T-shirts and a few original Wagon Wheel antiques. The property has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2003.
context_section_description: While the motel continued operating after the demise of Pauline Armstrong (2003) and her widower Harold (2008), the property slowly began to decline. Connie Echols purchased the site from Harold's son James Armstrong in September 2009, operating the café building as a gift shop while painstakingly restoring each of the individual motel rooms with new plumbing, wiring, bedding and modern amenities in 2009 and 2010. A recent, temporary frame structure which obscured much of the original fuel station building was removed in November 2009 as part of the effort to return the site to its original architectural appearance. A $12733 federal matching grant in 2012 was used to replace the roof on one building.
  In 2010, Henry Cole brought a documentary crew from  London, England, to record "The World's Greatest Motorcycle Rides" for the Travel Channel; the series devoted two episodes to a tour of the various U.S. states along historic Route 66.
  The Wagon Wheel was host for one day of Spyderfest, an annual April gathering for Spyder Ryders which was held in Cuba from 2010 to 2012, and remains one of the main stops for many Route 66 tour groups and car clubs. During Spyderfest, the Wagon Wheel hosted a Spyder Welcome Home Party with food, music, a bonfire and Spyder games.
  The Wagon Wheel Motel, as the oldest continuously operating motel on US 66, celebrated its 75th anniversary on August 20–21, 2011, with a Bonnie and Clyde-themed celebration complete with historic cars and garb of the era. The history of the property would ultimately serve as the topic of a 2011 book, The Wagon Wheel Motel on Route 66.
caption: Former gas station and office
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