The Friends of the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton recently received $71,505 from the Route 66 Revitalization Grant Program to help restore and display the neon sign from the now-defunct Glancy Motel.
The Route 66 motel in Clinton was torn down in 2023, but the sign was saved so it could be displayed in the future outside the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum.
According to KECO radio:
“The Glancy Motor Hotel sign needs significant repairs before it can be permanently installed outside the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton,” said Chantry Banks, director of the Museums and Historic Sites division for the Oklahoma Historical Society. “We hope to have the sign placed at the museum in the spring of 2026, just a few months before the centennial of Route 66 in November.” […]
n a joint effort to save it, the City of Clinton, the Friends of the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum and the Oklahoma Historical Society established a partnership to restore the sign and install it in Clinton with working neon light. The sign has already been removed from the former motel site. The Friends of the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum will pay for the new monument base and commemorative plaque. The grant will cover the restoration and installation of the sign once it is restored. By preserving the neon sign, the only remaining original piece of the Glancy Motor Hotel, the state is preserving a vital landmark that embodies Clinton’s connection to Route 66 history.
The sign’s installation will begin after the Oklahoma Highway Patrol building next to the museum is vacated and torn down.
The Glancy Motel at 217 W. Gary Blvd. (aka Route 66) was condemned by the city in 2019 after numerous code violations. It was built in 1950.
(Image of the Glancy Motel sign in 2012 by Jasperdo via Flickr)
I look forward to seeing the lit sign next summer while on a road trip!