The historic Kingman Cab Co. building that stood on Route 66 in Kingman, Ariz., was razed Tuesday after a car crash heavily damaged the structure, reported the Kingman Daily Miner.
More details:
Police found a stolen car with heavy front-end damage off of Hualapai Mountain Road they believe may be connected to the hit-and-run. The building served as a cab dispatch station during the 1940s and was owned by Arthur F. Black until he sold it to former Mayor Joe Torrez in 1967, according to the Mohave County Museum of History and Arts.
Kingman roadie and author Jim Hinckley of the Route 66 Chronicles sent this photo of what the building looked like, pre-crash:
This is reminiscent of a vehicular accident that essentially destroyed the Carthage Route 66 Antique Mall on Route 66 in Carthage, Mo., a few years ago. The building in Carthage once was a Harel Griffith Pontiac dealership. The crash fatally compromised the building’s structural integrity, and it had to be torn down.
UPDATE 9/25/09: The Daily Miner has more about the crash that ultimately destroyed the building. As I surmised, the impact indeed compromised the integity of the building, and it had to be torn down.
The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
More about its history:
It was first owned by Black-Gray’s father, Arthur F. Black. Black, who was born in Dodge City, Kan., is often referred to as the “Father of U.S. Route 93.”
He also helped in creating Route 66 from Old Trails Highway. The Kingman Cab Co. was the first cab company in Kingman. Black was called a pioneer operator in the passenger bus line business and started a stage line between Kingman and Las Vegas in 1920.[…]
Black sold the company to Florence M. Blum in 1955. She operated the business from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week from a phone line in her home on Lead Street. Her daughter, Elaine Grissom, said she remembers gassing up the cabs from a pump in their backyard. […]
“She was really committed to good service,” Grissom said. “The drivers wore uniforms and the cabs were clean.”
Grissom said that the cabs often delivered groceries and alcohol to homebound residents. Because FCC regulations prohibit the use of the word alcohol over the radio, the dispatchers just called it “the usual,” she said.
Blum operated the company for 14 years before selling the building to former Mayor Joe Torrez in 1967. Local business owner Scott Dunton had been taking care of the building for the last decade. He spent around $4,000 restoring the building, including having a neon clock refurbished and the mural painted on the front, which featured Torrez sitting at a desk.
Dunton said the building had just been repainted about three weeks ago.
Kingman police say they have an individual in mind as a suspect, and are building a case against him.
UPDATE: Eamonn Killeen stayed at the Hotel Brunswick down the street the night it happened. His party thought they heard something in the middle of the night. At first light, this is what they saw of the remains of the building:
It’s now easy to see how the structure was so compromised by the impact.
An absolute pity.
We stayed in Kingman on September 11, just last month, whilst on our ‘Route 66’ experience, travelling from Chicago to California.
It is a shame to see these important relics from a country’s past destroyed ‘for no good purpose’ by someone ‘up to no good’ !!
My buddies and I were staying at the Hotel Brunswick the night of the accident. One buddy was in the back of the hotel, but my room and my other buddies room fronted Route 66, but all I heard was a whirring sound, then a muffled bang about 2:30 am. I thought someone was stealing one of our Harleys and putting it up on a flatbed, so I ran out to the balcony. I didn’t see anyting at first until the cops showed up. Took some sad aftermath photos at first light.