The City of Clinton, Oklahoma, is applying for a state Route 66 centennial grant that could be used to convert its historic former fire station into a visitors center.
The Clinton Daily News (subscription required) reported Thursday that the grant is due to be submitted on Sept. 30. Awards from the centennial grant program will be announced in early 2026.
The newspaper posted on Facebook an artist’s rendering of what a revamped firehouse might look like:
Andrew Stone of the West OK Co-op appeared before the city council to discuss options for the grant, which also includes McLain Rogers Park and the Southwest Playhouse.
Stone hopes to transform the firehouse into a sort of visitor center to orient tourists toward the downtown areas, though he has been encouraged by officials to keep options open-ended.
“One thing that’s come up, even before the centennial and through the years, is that Clinton has not been a well-directed city,” said Mayor David Berrong. “We do not have a lot of signage; people don’t know where to go. This seems to be a central part, the firehouse.”
One major aspect of proposed improvements would be to add signage to the firehouse, with an LED marquee. […[
Part of the discussion to be had will be whether to focus the grant application on the firehouse as a central hub, or to distribute the grant more evenly across all three locations, with consideration to what other grants could be available and applicable to each.
Cost estimates to renovate the fire station range between $650,000 and $700,000.
The city council will hold a special meeting on Sept. 25 to discuss more details about the grant application.
According to the Route 66 Times, the fire station at 523 W. Gary Blvd., aka Route 66, was built in 1939 as a Works Progress Administration project. The city built a new fire station in 2014.
McLain Rogers Park, also along an alignment of Route 66, was built about the same time, as was the Southwest Playhouse.
(Excerpt from Google Street View of the old fire station in Clinton, Oklahoma)