Spencer Garage

GPS: 37.184490, -93.702810

In 1925 Sidney Casey purchased the little town of Spencer for $400, the original store buildings are gone, but over the next few years Casey built the complex of buildings.

The garage and gas station is the largest building of the complex. Located on the eastern tip of the property. It was built with local sandstone rubble. Notice its rounded parapet and the double garage doors. There are two different color rocks which make up the front facing wall. The 'orange' rocks were put in place in 1927 when the building was being built. Then, in the 1930's, the roof was raised as snow would not melt fast enough off the original roof, as the story goes.

The gas station was originally a Tydol station until about 1938 when it started selling Phillips 66 gasoline. Nowadays it has some nicely restored vintage Phillips 66 and a classic orange Phillips 66 sign.

In this 2023 photo of the stone front of the cafe the windows announced the availability of Cold Drinks, Lunches, Cigarettes, and Cigars. This appears to be the storefront where Sidney and Mary Casey were standing in the photo farther down this page.

A closer look at the new sign over the cafe door.

Like most of these projects, it's obviously been a lot of work but it's coming along nicely. This 2013 photo shows the space occupied by the cafe according to a sign on the window at the time. The cafe and Barber Shop were both built in 1928.

This 2023 photo of the Barber Shop shows the new sign over the door. A 2012 photo of the front of the Barber Shop featured a flat two dimensional barber pole sign and shows the stucco finish on the front.

The 1928 barber shop, as seen in this 2013 photo, occupies the part of the building that is the second from the west. Out front the main entrance door to the barbershop is flanked by two windows and stuccoed walls.

On the west end of the complex is the Spencer Store. It was built in 1926 to replace the original 1910 wooden general store. The new building was built in red bricks, with a rectangular plan and a flat roof. It served as a grocery store ran by S.L Casey. He built it to replace the old original one, which had shut down in the mid 1910s, and then was torn down in the late 1940's.

Behind the store, at the back of the property is the 2-story gable roof farmhouse that was Casey's home from 1926 until the late 1980's.

A "Better Dixie Feeds" sign adorned the west end building when we snapped this photo in 2012.

The concrete roadbed of US 66 which passes through Spencer is one of the few remaining segments of "original highway surface" on Route 66. It was hand paved in 1926. A narrow highway by modern standards, it was the main thoroughfare until it was bypassed by a newer alignment in 1961.

Sidney and Mary Casey (1940s)

Spencer was owned by three generations of the Casey family (father Sidney, son Carl, grandson Kent) from 1925 until 2007 when Francis and MaryLynn Ryan of Salina Kansas bought it from Kent Casey.

The Ryans spent several years replacing the roof in 3 of the 4 buildings as well as the old 1926 farmhouse. They added the canopy back over the general store and the gas pump island as well as add many artifacts and antiques from their personal collection.

In June 2022, Ed Klein owner of Route 66 World heard the 'town' was for sale and purchased it from the Ryans. Klein has been doing preservation work on Route 66 since 2007 and felt it was a perfect candidate to preserve, restore and reopen to locals and travelers worldwide.

Ed Klein has been kind enough to provide much of the information on this page and three of the photos, thanks Ed!

Look for the "Welcome to Spencer Missouri" sign and be sure to make it a stop on your Route 66 Roadtrip!

Photo(s):
Route66Times: 2012, 2013, 2016, 2023
Some photos courtesy of Ed Klein.