Blue Swallow Motel: Route 66 Classic

“Welcome to 1939,” announced proprietor Nancy Mueller as she swung open the door to Room 6. We really could have been stepping back in time at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, judging by the vintage furniture, a chenille bedspread and a real, working 1939 black rotary dial phone on the desk. A smoke detector and a television were the only visible hints that we were in the 21^st century. This would be our home for the night, the fourth and last of the vintage Route 66 motels we stayed at during our road trip to Phoenix.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in U.S. Long Cuts. We are merging U.S. Long Cuts with Midwest Wanderer, adding a “Beyond the Midwest” menu option.

A Nostalgic Stay at the Route 66 Rail Haven Motel in Springfield, Missouri

Connie Missouri February 18, 2015April 2, 2018Best Western Rail Haven, Rail Haven Motel, Route 66 motels, Springfield Missouri, Springfield Missouri motels, Springfield MO 0 Comment

It was 1938, the heyday of The Mother Road, when brothers Elwyn and Lawrence Lippman built eight sandstone cottages on their grandfather’s apple orchard along Route 66 in Springfield, Missouri, and accented the property with a rail fence. By 1946 the motel had grown to 28 rooms. In the early 1950s it became part of the newly formed Best Western chain of motels. The property went through many upgrades from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, including changing from cottages to a strip motel. However, by the early 1990s, the Rail Haven had started to slip.