The new owners hope to have the Boots Court motel in Carthage, Missouri, reopened by October after months of renovations on the historic Route 66 property.
KSN-TV had some details about the work being done from Kim Bausinger, the motel’s manager:
While there has been repair work on the property a few times over years, this is the first time for a complete renovation which started in the spring of this year, going all the way down to the stucco.
“It seems like we’ve turned the corner from demo work to putting it all back together now so that’s very encouraging. We’re hoping in the next few weeks the rooms in the back will be open while the rooms in the back are still getting finished,” said Bausinger.
Bausinger will be the manager of the motel and an accompanying visitor’s center yet to be built. […]
“There has been roof work. There’s been a little bit of foundation work. There has been lots of stucco work. Got new ceilings in the carport and new floors in the carports, and just trying to take her back to her original beauty,” said Bausinger.
She said they hope to reopen the Boots Court by the city’s Maple Leaf Festival, which is the third weekend in October. They also want to have it designated to the National Register of Historic Places.
Here’s the video from the station:
All this work is motivated by the approaching centennial of Route 66 in 2026.
The Carthage-based Boots Court Foundation purchased the motel in the fall of 2021, then began renovations in earnest in February.
The motel came close to being demolished in the early 2000s when its owner, citing poor health, sold it to a local developer. Speculation was the motel would be razed for a Walgreens. An outcry from the Route 66 Association of Missouri and other preservationists apparently scared off the developers.
The previous co-owners bought the run-down property in 2011 and reopened it to overnight guests after months of renovations to restore it to its 1940s appearance, including “a radio in every room” and no televisions. They also removed a gabled roof to bring the motel back to its flat-roof appearance.
The Boots Court was built in 1939 by Arthur Boots. Actor Clark Gable stayed there several times during cross-country trips from his native Ohio; he rested his head in Room No. 6.
(Screen-capture image from KSN-TV video of the renovations to the front of the Boots Motel, aka Boots Court)