Route 66 inspires restoration on historic church sign

South Side Baptist Church sign, Springfield, MO

A broken sign for a Springfield, Missouri, church found new life. That’s thanks to a pastor who is a Route 66 fan.

The South Side Baptist Church sign sits at 465 S. Grant Ave., just a few blocks south of the College Street alignment of Route 66 in Springfield. The church is marking its 75th year.

The church’s sign once was lighted, with the largest of three crosses rotating. A ceremonial relighting of the refurbished South Side Baptist Church sign will occur about 8:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12.

The congregations of the Graceway Baptist and Park Crest Baptist churches sprung from South Side. Membership at South Side has declined over the years. But Graceway pastor Bob Stephenson told the Springfield News-Leader he felt obligated to repair the sign as a gift to the “mother” church. He also wanted to show the neighborhood the church still has some life left in it.

The newspaper reported:

Stephenson came up with the idea and went to Pinnacle Sign with the plan. Pinnacle Sign did the work and even donated some of the labor, said Jessica Love at Pinnacle.

Stephenson combined his interest in historic Route 66 with his love of the “mother church.” He wanted the church’s sign to reflect the glory days of the old “Mother Road.” […]

The sign, which is about 50 years old, had fallen into disrepair. Its metal was rusted, its lights no longer worked and the motor to turn the large cross on top had stopped. Pinnacle Sign repainted the entire structure, replaced the old lighting with LED lighting, installed a new letter track to hold messages, updated the smaller neon crosses to LED illumination and refaced the white acrylic faces and silver trim.

And the large center cross now has new “winky” bulbs around it and new chaser animation so, once again, the cross will turn.

The night of the relighting falls during Birthplace of Route 66 Festival weekend. And, yes, Stephenson acknowledges that is not a coincidence.

(Image of the South Side Baptist Church sign in Springfield, Missouri, before its restoration, via Facebook)

3 thoughts on “Route 66 inspires restoration on historic church sign

  1. Ron, you need to check a map. Route 66 in Springfield in relation to Grant Street never ran down what is Chestnut Expressway. This church sits about 2 blocks south of College Street, which is/was Business 66 through Springfield. The only part of Chestnut that ever was “66” is the section further west where College Street merges into Chestnut Expressway. In present day, Chestnut serves as Business 44. I know the original press release on this has it wrong, but please don’t confuse people.

    1. Thanks. I fixed it. I wasn’t sure what happened, so I retraced my steps and saw the Google Maps page I was using showed Chestnut as Business 44 but not College. And I’m waaaay too used to seeing Business 44 as a Route 66 alignment, which it sometimes is not.

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