Maplewood Big M proposed on Route 66

Big M proposal in Maplewood

The St. Louis suburb of Maplewood, Missouri, wants to use a giant letter M, plus other letters that stood on a theater’s marquee, as a gateway into the city at Manchester Road, also known as an early alignment of Route 66 in the St. Louis area.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

The 90-year-old porcelain enamel blocks with neon letters once graced the marquee at the old Maplewood Theatre. The theater was on Manchester Road when the road was part of the original Route 66, the legendary “Mother Road” of the nation.

Officials Tuesday got their first look at the proposed structure organizers want to erect in the 7100 block of Manchester. What they call “The Big M” could quickly becoming an iconic landmark, its backers say. […]

The firm Ten8 Group designed the “M” as a way to display the neon letters from the longtime movie theater on Manchester. The letters have been stored in the public works garage for years.

The “M” will be so tall vehicles will pass under it, a nod to other quirky roadside attractions along the original Route 66, Heather Testa of Ten8 said. She predicted the structure would become a “photo op” for locals and visitors alike.

According to an artist’s rendering, the Maplewood Big M would be more than 35 feet tall and almost 50 feet wide. The salvaged letters form the Maplewood Theatre would be affixed to one of the M’s legs.

The folks behind the Maplewood Big M concept probably took a page from the striking neon sign for The Grove neighborhood in St. Louis, which went from a moribund district to one of the hottest entertainment districts in the city in less than 10 years.

Rob Birenbaum, who owns more than dozen buildings in Maplewood, and a group of stakeholders presented the plan to the city. He estimated the total cost at $320,000, and he thinks half the cost can be matched by donations.

Bill Berthold of Frontenac Engineering, a Maplewood company that would be in charge of the project, said the other letters from the theater may be used for another entrance to the city.

Berthold also suggested spreading out the project over two years to lessen the fiscal impact on the city.

The Maplewood Theatre was built in 1926 on Manchester Road. It seated more than 1,000 people during its heyday. According to Cinema Treasures:

The Maplewood Theatre was unique in that the lobby of the theatre was located in Maplewood and the auditorium because of the way it was situated was in the City of St. Louis. The entrance and lobby were on Manchester Road facing north but when you got into the theatre is was like a semi circle with the auditorium facing the east.

The theater was closed in 1979 and demolished in 1988. Preservationists saved the “Maplewood” part of the marquee and placed them in storage.

Manchester Road, also known as Highway 100, served as Route 66 in the St. Louis area from 1926 to 1933.

(Excerpt of Ten8 Group’s rendering of the proposed Big M for Maplewood, Missouri)

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