If you’re a longtime traveler on Route 66 who wonders what happened to the old neon sign for the Rio Siesta Motel in Clinton, Oklahoma, we have an answer.
It — along with several dozen other signs and billboards — are safely in a storage warehouse in the Oklahoma City area until the Billboard Museum eventually is built.
Former Oklahoma Route 66 Association president Kathy Anderson now is president of the Billboard Museum Association, which is based in the Route 66 town of Bethany, Oklahoma. Anderson said by email the group hasn’t yet settled on a location for the museum.
“We do know our preference is the greater OKC metro area, preferably on or very very close to 66,” she wrote.
A recent article in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s blog gives some details about what the museum will be like, when built:
The museum plan calls for a building to house the vintage pieces that will give a thorough history of sign-making as well as a driving loop to showcase examples of old advertising. […]
Among the recent pieces that the group has acquired are a sign from the Rio Siesta Motel along Route 66 in Oklahoma; a Ralph’s Drug Store sign from Oklahoma City dating back to 1947; and a Taft stadium sign from Oklahoma City. Located along historic Route 66, the stadium was completed in 1934 as a New Deal-era Works Progress Administration project.
The group also recently acquired a doctor’s buggy dating back to the early 1900s.
A photo from the museum group’s newsletter shows many of the signs in storage, including the Rio Siesta:
Jim Gleason, vice president of the group, told the National Trust he believes many people hold other signs in garages and warehouses who would be happy to donate them to the museum.
Memberships to the museum are here. The museum publishes a newsletter, and has a Facebook page.
(Image of the Rio Siesta Motel sign in 2008 by Kris via Flickr; image from the Billboard Museum warehouse courtesy of Kathy Anderson)