 Clare
B. Richardson1 ,
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| It was late evening and the Garland County
Public Library was closed the recording said. I had to move on into Missouri to
make my way to the Springfield, Illinois Route 66 event but called them on my
cell phone in the morning when they opened and was transferred to Kathy White
at the reference desk. "Do you have a 1953 city directory to see if there was
a Dairy Queen in your town back then?" I asked. She said they did not have a 1953
city directory but wanted to know if a 1955 one would work. I told her "yes."
She did find one Dairy Queen on West Grand Ave. at 708 W. Grand. Then I asked
her to look in the street portion of the city directory for all listings on W.
Grand near that address to see if there was a fire station. She said "yes fire
station No.4 at 710 W. Grand." I knew I had my location because I never mentioned
it but she told me "No. 4" fire station and the addresses were right next door
to each other. From one of the pictures I can see the reverse-image reflection
of an Esso gas station sign (Esso later combined with Humble and Enco to form
Exxon). I asked if there was a gas station near that address and she said yes
"Cue Pullen's Esso at 629 W. Grand." For sure I had my location because the librarian
came back with both "No. 4" and "Esso" without me telling her what I already knew.
I would now begin plans after Springfield to return to Arkansas and find the site. |
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I went on to the Route 66 convention September 26th - 28th and spent some time
retracing and documenting Route 66 through Missouri on my way back. I wrote by
e-mail to Janna Rider at Dairy Queen headquarters that I had found the location
of the mural….Hot Springs, Arkansas and I was going to check it out. I gave her
the address as 708 W. Grand. and she looked it up in her records to find there
was still a Dairy Queen located at that same address today. So I didn't know what
to expect. Originally my thoughts were for sure the older fire station building
would most likely be gone and the Dairy Queen building converted to an insurance
office as I've seen happen in several locations. Now with the fact a Dairy Queen
was still at that address, could the original still be there? |
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I drove down from Branson, Missouri and found scenic Highway 7 to be much like
what Route 66 looked like when it was more in its heyday. I loved seeing all the
little establishments still open or barely closed and not lost in time as many
on Route 66 have now become. (I only recently learned that Highway 7 is one of
the top rated scenic highways in America). I arrived in Hot Springs on a Sunday
afternoon October 5th. The town immediately was familiar to me from my childhood
visit and resembles, in nature, my hometown of Battle Creek, Michigan because
of the health resorts and spas that once flourished there also. My mom even worked
as a waitress at the sanitarium run by W.K Kellogg. I found W. Grand. and turned
right past the Howard Johnson's. My heart raced as I approached the 700 block.
I see Grand joined by Quachita and rounding a sharp bend of heavy traffic. I see
an Exxon Station and realize this must have been the site of the old Esso station
then there it is! The Dairy Queen is gone! Behind the site is a newer one but
then I recognize the fire station. It still stands!!! What a surprise!! Seems
a little strange, as it is not a fire station and is in fact Rainbow Realty. My
senses went into shock as it wasn't the scene I expected. Here was a wide divided
boulevard. What happened to the curved street past the fire station and the Dairy
Queen? I got out of my car after parking it directly over the top of the site
of the original Dairy Queen and tried to get my bearings. Like a jig saw puzzle,
my mind was busy stitching every bit of the past that I had memorized to what
I was now seeing and trying to make sense of it all. I spun around to see St.
John the Baptist Catholic Church towers and all the pictures began to fit in place.
Gone was the Bennett house and the house behind the fire station. But the house
to the left of the fire station and the fire station building itself still stand
as the only survivors of that mural. Then there was the Dairy Queen at the back
of the lot that looked like a hundred others of the newer version I had seen before.
Why couldn't the Dairy Queen in the picture remain? The sight looks so cold now
compared to the heat of the picture that summer day. All those people and now
there was only me! I checked on the widening of the boulevard to find it was actually
like that all the time, even back in the early 1950's when that picture was taken,
but the people in the mural were actually standing on the median. I would have
never guessed that from the original picture. |
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