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Shamrock Court Motel

1240 S Service Rd W., Sullivan, MO
Phone:

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Freeman Dodds had the native Ozark Stone faced 10 unit Shamrock Courts built in the late 1940s. In addition to the guest rooms there was a dining room for guests and a 5 room owner/managers apartment. The guest rooms featured tiled baths and gas heat.

In 1953 Mr. Dodds sold the motel to John J, Weiland for something like $90,000.00. According to a 1964 for-sale ad, by then the motel had added Televisions and air-conditioning to the list of amenities offered. They had also added of 6 "Trailer Patios", for a sort of mobile home park. Like so many bypassed Route 66 towns the nightly tourist business took suffered when I-40 opened in 1969. In the early 1980s eight of the guest room were remodeled into four one bedroom apartments, The Weiland family owned the property until early 2021.

That's when Roamin Rich Dinkela purchased the property, and together with volunteer help from other Route 66 enthusiasts, began to restore it, not a small task. While work continues on the restoration of the building the Neon Sign was restored and relit in early 2022.

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Vintage Advertising Highlights

This pre-1953 postcard reads:

Shamrock Court
(Ozark Stone)
1/4 mile Southwest of City Limits, Sullivan, Mo.
Big, Airy, quiet, homelike cabins, each with modern bath - Hollywood Beds. Dining room service. Points of interest: MERAMEC CAVERNS ... ONONDAGA CAVE ... MERAMEC STATE PARK .. BLUE SPRINGS FISH HATCHERY ... All within a few minutes drive. Mr. & Mrs, F. E. Dodds, owners.
AAA

NOTE: Even though all the guest rooms in the Shamrock are contained in a single building the postcard still refers to them as cabins, which mostly referred to an earlier style of lodging where actual individual cabins housed guests. But there is no phone number listed (was there phone service there at the time?), and no actual address, so contact might have been a bit difficult.

Photo(s): 2016