This week, a neon sign on Route 66 in Kingman, Arizona, that was taken down during the late 1940s was returned to the Mother Road in the same city where it was erected.
Route 66 author Jim Hinckley explained in an email:
The sign stood on Chadwick Drive. This road carried National Old Trails Highway traffic from 1921 to 1926, and Route 66 traffic until the late 1940s when the new roadway was cut through El Trovatore Hill. The sign was installed in about 1936.
The Mohave Museum of History & Arts donated the sign to the association. Legacy Signs, with funding from the association, completed the restoration. The sign is displayed on the west ends of the Legacy Signs building on the south side of Andy Devine Avenue. This is just to the east of the famous water tanks.
Hinckley said an informative kiosk soon will be installed that will tell of the sign’s history and its original site.
He said next on the list for the Route 66 Association of Kingman‘s neon restoration and placing on Route 66 are a circa 1956 Brandin’ Iron Motel sign and a 1930s Desert Drugs sign. The association also recently acquired an early Conoco sign. Images of the signs are below.
The restorations are part of the activities in which the association has been involved. More from a news release this week:
Recent projects include refurbishment of signage and murals at that Mohave Museum of History & Arts, restoration of symbols and lettering on the historic Masonic Lodge, restoration of a circa 1914 street lamp at the 1903 Elks Lodge, and sponsorship of the promotional video developed by Promote Kingman, “Jim Hinckley’s America: A Trek Along Route 66.”
In partnership with Legacy Signs, signs have been refurbished for, or created and donated to, several nonprofit organizations, and with assistance from Laron Engineering, a sign designed by Scott McCoy that lists the communities noted in the song “(Get your Kicks on_ Route 66,” with mileage, was created and donated to the City of Kingman.
(Images courtesy of Jim Hinckley)