It appears Route 66 will be without a lodging and dining option in St. Robert, Missouri, for at least a while.
A fire heavily damaged to the Rodeway Inn motel at 1057 Old Route 66 in St. Robert on Sunday morning.
According to OzarksFirst.com:
When first responders arrived there was moderate smoke coming from the 1st and 2nd floor of the east side of the building.
With the help from Waynesville Rural Fire, Fort Leonard Wood Fire extinguished the fire within an hour.
The restaurant sustained heavy fire and smoke damage along with a portion of the rooms and the second floor.
The report doesn’t mention it, but an internet search of the motel’s address reveals the restaurant there was the well-received Della B’s Soul Food Cafe.
The Red Cross was looking for housing for long-term residents at the motel.
The motel appears to have been built in the 1960s or ’70s. A Google Street View image from April 2018 reveals it was an All-Star Inn, so the Rodeway alteration was fairly recent.
Online reviews show the motel was getting respectable reviews from overnight travelers.
According to Pulaski County property records, Ajka Properties LLP of St. Robert owned the property, with Jagdish Patel as the registered agent.
Rodeway Inn, a chain that dates to 1962, lists more than 600 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
(Image of the Rodeway Inn in St. Robert, Missouri, via Explore Fort Leonard Wood)
What is the significance of “The Red Cross was looking for housing for long-term residents at the motel”? I take it that since this report is written in “American English”, the “first floor” means the floor at ground level, making the building two floors high in total. Was the Della B Soul Food Cafe the only operational part of the building? Or were guests staying in the bedrooms? Or were there other occupants sleeping or living in the motel? Did the fire start in the cafe – or in one of the bedrooms? Another case of no on-site fire protection in a historic property?