SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Springfield will soon celebrate its role as the birthplace of historic Route 66, but the historic centerpiece of the Mother Road’s birth has been gone for almost 30 years.
Long before the Colonial Hotel was reduced to dust, broken brick and souvenir fragments, it stood as one of the most ambitious buildings Springfield had ever seen.
The hotel, built and furnished for more than $300,000, opened in 1907 in a blaze of civic pride. It became the site where the number 66 was accepted for the highway that would become Route 66.
Newspapers of the day gushed over electric lights burning from basement to top floor, imported lace, San Domingo mahogany, mirrors, parlors, bridal chambers and a dining room where the first dinner was served in grand style. Springfield residents and out-of-town visitors poured through the building for hours…