St. Robert begins restoration of Stanley Cour-Tel neon signs

The City of St. Robert, Missouri, recently announced it began the long-awaited restoration of the Stanley Cour-Tel neon signs that once graced a defunct motel along Route 66 in west St. Louis.

The sign restorations are part of the Route 66 Sign Neon Park planned at the historic George M. Reed Roadside Park at 228 Old Route 66, one of only two roadside parks along Route 66 in Missouri. The Pulaski County Route 66 Preservation Group gave the city $12,000 as it took over the project.

Eligible signs for the neon park would be those that were along Route 66 between 1926 and 1985, have been abandoned and do not have a home, and otherwise would not return to the Mother Road without such a park.

The city stated it would take about 90 days to restore the Stanley Cour-Tel signs.

Here are several photos from the city’s Facebook page of workers hauling off the signs from its storage area:

The Stanley Cour-Tel signs once were kept at Henry’s Rabbit Ranch along Route 66 in Staunton, Illinois, after the motel was razed to make way for an expansion of St. Louis-Lambert International Airport. Friends of the Mother Road donated the signs to the Pulaski County group in 2017.

In addition to its Route 66 link, the Stanley Court-Tel also housed Apollo 1 astronauts when they trained for the first manned space mission.

(Image of the Stanley Cour-Tel signs at Henry’s Rabbit Ranch via Ace Jackalope)

7 thoughts on “St. Robert begins restoration of Stanley Cour-Tel neon signs

  1. This is excellent news to hear of the Stanley Cortel signs restoration. Can’t wait to see once done. I guess they were here about 14 years till about 2-3 years ago when down to be warehoused. Happening much sooner than imagined. Kudos to all involved.

  2. Rich! That’s really a great great great effort! Route 66 is this nation’s biggest tourist attraction you are one of the biggest Heroes thank you

  3. In the first artist’s rendering of the proposed park in St Robert (below the story), a sign on the far right looks very much like the John’s Modern Cabins sign, including the arrow. Are there plans to remove that sign from its current location?

  4. Thanks for all you did. So glad this has happened and sorry I just heard about it. Anxious to see how it turned out when I get to Mo this summer.

  5. Would like to add something else to my comment. My parents were Stanley/Olivia Williams-owners of Stanley Cour-Tel. The astronauts that stayed with them were the original 7 of Project Mercury-when they we’re in STL for training.

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