From Greyhound Glory to Creative Canvas: Waynesville’s Route 66 Bus Terminal

You Don't Know Waynesville:

The Nearly Forgotten Bus Station on Route 66

By Jax Welborn | JaxOnRoute66.com

On July 11, 1963, a gleaming Greyhound Scenicruiser rolled up to 106 Historic Route 66 in Waynesville, marking the grand opening of the town’s new bus terminal. R.A. “Sully” Sullivan, Springfield’s District Superintendent, directed the inaugural loading as townspeople gathered to admire the modern facility.

Pulaski County Democrat, July 11, 1963, article “Grand Opening of New Greyhound Bus Terminal."

The single-story building represented serious investment in Waynesville’s future. Workers had excavated 9,000 square yards of dirt to create the 4,875-square-foot structure, which housed three businesses under one roof: Traveler’s Restaurant, Phil’s Clothing and Jewelry, and room for another store.

Pulaski County Democrat, July 11, 1963, article “Grand Opening of New Greyhound Bus Terminal."

Inside Traveler’s Restaurant, passengers found a classic 1960s lunch counter—curved with chrome-trimmed stools, a waitress in crisp uniform, and shelves stocked for the road-weary traveler. It was the kind of place where soldiers heading home from Fort Leonard Wood could grab a hot meal and civilians could watch the world pass through on America’s Main Street.

That Scenicruiser parked out front was no ordinary bus. The GMC PD-4501, built exclusively for Greyhound between 1954 and 1956, featured a revolutionary two-level design inspired by railroad dome cars. With panoramic windows, onboard restrooms, and air conditioning, these 40-foot coaches represented the pinnacle of highway travel. Only 1,001 were ever built, making them icons of the open road.

The terminal’s timing was no accident. Fort Leonard Wood, established in December 1940 and located just five miles west, had transformed Waynesville from a quiet Ozarks town into a military crossroads. By 1963, the post was training thousands of soldiers annually—engineers, military police, and by 1964, drill sergeants at the newly established Drill Sergeant School. The Vietnam buildup would push those numbers even higher, with 123,000 soldiers trained in 1967 alone.

Every one of those soldiers had families. Wives traveling to join husbands. Parents visiting sons before deployment. Young men heading home on leave, duffel bags stuffed with memories. The Greyhound terminal served them all, a vital link between Waynesville and the rest of America.

But highways change, and so do towns. When I-44 bypassed Waynesville in the 1970s, Greyhound service eventually ended. The terminal building found new purpose as Bo Peep Ceramics, where generations of locals learned to shape clay and glaze their creations. For decades, the shop kept the building alive and loved.

When Bo Peep closed in 2025, it could have been the end of the story. Instead, new owners Jake and Ursula Lebioda saw what Judge Robert Bell saw back in 1925—potential waiting to be unlocked.

Business Owner/Artist Jessica Harrison's Window Painting 2025 by Pics by Jax

They’ve preserved the bones of the 1963 building: the block exterior, those plate-glass windows, the high ceilings that once echoed with departure announcements. This spring, it reopens as Studio 66 Waynesville, an art studio and gallery featuring, art classes, local artists, painting sessions, and Route 66 exhibits.

The timing feels right. April 2026 is the official Kickoff for the Route 66 centennial, and Waynesville—the Birthplace of the Byway—will be ready. Where Scenicruisers once idled and soldiers once waited, artists will gather and travelers will pause to remember when the Mother Road was young.

The terminal at 106 Historic Route 66 has carried Waynesville through three eras: the glory days of bus travel, the quiet creativity of ceramics, and now a renaissance timed to honor the road that made it all possible.

Some buildings just know how to reinvent themselves.

This is Episode 7 of an ongoing series documenting obscure historical facts about Waynesville, Missouri, in preparation for the Route 66 Centennial in 2026.

Stay tuned for the next episode of "You Don't Know Waynesville," where we'll uncover more surprising facts about this historic Route 66 town.

A special thanks to Terry and Jan Primas for sharing the Newspaper photos with me.

References

                  ∙               PocketSights Waynesville Walking Tour, “Bo Peep Ceramics, 106 Historic Route 66” (grand opening date, original businesses)

                  ∙               Original newspaper clippings, July 1963 (construction details, Scenicruiser, Traveler’s Restaurant interior, R.A. Sullivan)

                  ∙               Pacific Bus Museum and Wikipedia, “GMC PD-4501 Scenicruiser” (bus specifications and production numbers)

                  ∙               U.S. Army official history, Fort Leonard Wood (establishment date, training figures, Drill Sergeant School)

You Don’t Know Waynesville: The Old Stagecoach Stop Was Hours from Demolition—Until Citizens Saved It

December 1982. The wrecking ball was coming for Pulaski County’s oldest publicly accessible building. The City of Waynesville had issued a condemnation notice, declaring the structure at 106 Lynn Street a hazardous building. After nearly twenty years of abandonment and vandalism, the 128-year-old building that had sheltered stagecoach passengers, Civil War soldiers, Route 66 travelers, and World War II recruits was slated for destruction.

But this story doesn’t end with demolition. It ends with a museum celebrating its 30th anniversary, welcoming visitors from all 50 states and more than 50 countries. The Old Stagecoach Stop stands today because ordinary citizens refused to let Waynesville’s history vanish.

Before Route 66: A Building Born of Frontier Commerce

The story begins in 1854, when William Walton McDonald—a Mexican-American War veteran and farrier—purchased Lot 4 of Block 6 in the Original Town of Waynesville. He built a double-pen log structure (two cabins connected by an open breezeway) just east of the courthouse square, perfectly positioned on the St. Louis-Springfield Road.

McDonald’s building served passengers on the Burden and Woodson stage line, which ran three times weekly from St. James to Springfield. In 1856, he became Waynesville’s Postmaster, operating the post office from the same building where weary travelers stopped for rest and meals.

When the Civil War erupted, the St. Louis-Springfield Road became strategically vital for Union forces. In June 1862, the 13th Missouri State Militia under Colonel Albert Sigel commandeered McDonald’s building for use as a post hospital. Local accounts suggest that dozens of soldiers died there during the war years, though specific records remain elusive. The building served Union forces until 1865.

After the war, technological change arrived swiftly. The Pacific Railroad reached Pulaski County in 1869, and stagecoaches vanished. In 1870, Alexander Bryan purchased the property and transformed it dramatically—adding a second story and rear lean-to to convert the modest stagecoach stop into a ten-room hotel. Over the decades, it would be known by various names: Waynesville House, Johnson House, Black Hotel, and Tourist Hotel.

Route 66 Breathes New Life into an Aging Hotel

1926 changed everything. Route 66 was commissioned through Waynesville, and when the road was paved in 1931, traffic surged. The old hotel, which had survived on its status as a county seat waystation, suddenly found new purpose serving Mother Road travelers.

The building sat on the town square, right on the path of America’s Main Street. Tourists heading west to California or east back to Chicago stopped in Waynesville, and some needed a place to stay. The aging structure, by now more than 70 years old, adapted once again to serve a new generation of travelers.

Route 66 kept Waynesville alive through the lean years of the Great Depression. While rural towns across the Ozarks withered, the Mother Road brought commerce, conversation, and cash through the Pulaski County seat.

Fort Leonard Wood and the WWII Boom

1941 brought an even more dramatic transformation. The U.S. Army broke ground on Fort Leonard Wood, and seemingly overnight, thousands of construction workers flooded into the area. The old hotel, which had been struggling to compete with more modern accommodations, suddenly had more customers than it could handle.

World War II soldiers who couldn’t find housing at the fort spilled into Waynesville. The Old Stagecoach Stop building, which had housed Civil War troops eight decades earlier, once again provided shelter for men in uniform. Through WWII, the Korean War, and into the early Vietnam era, the hotel served military personnel.

The building had survived nearly a century by adapting: from stagecoach stop to Civil War hospital, from frontier tavern to Route 66 hotel, from tourist lodging to military housing. But by the 1960s, its luck was running out.

The Slow Death: 1960s-1982

The Vietnam buildup sparked brief business at the “old hotel,” but years of neglect had taken their toll. By the mid-1960s, the building couldn’t compete with modern motels offering air conditioning, private bathrooms, and parking lots. The historic structure closed its doors.

For nearly twenty years, the building sat empty on the town square. Vandals broke windows. Walls deteriorated. The transient military population at Fort Leonard Wood knew nothing of the building’s history, and even many native residents had forgotten its significance.

November 24, 1980: The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places—one of only six sites in Pulaski County to earn this distinction and one of only two with statewide significance. The federal government had recognized what Waynesville was losing.

But recognition didn’t equal salvation. The owner made no substantial improvements. The building continued to deteriorate.

Then came December 1982 and that condemnation notice. Pulaski County’s oldest publicly accessible building—a structure that had witnessed 128 years of American history—was marked for demolition.

The Rescue: June 8, 1983

Six months after the condemnation notice, something remarkable happened.

On June 8, 1983, local citizens formed the Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to one purpose: “to preserve, restore, protect and maintain the historic structure known as the ‘Old Stagecoach Stop’ in order to permit its educational value to be appreciated by future generations.”

The driving force was Gene and Maxine Farnham, who led negotiations to purchase the building and became the catalyst behind the entire rescue effort. Together with James and Connie Martin these two local couples stepped forward to purchase the structure for approximately $40,000—a significant sum in 1983 for a building the city wanted torn down.

The Foundation faced a daunting challenge: How do you raise $40,000 in a small Ozarks town to save a building most people considered an eyesore?

They got creative. Bake sales. Concerts. In 1985, they held their first public auction at the Old Settlers Day Picnic—an event that continues today. They compiled recipes from the Black Hotel era (1894-1915) and sold cookbooks. They sold commemorative bricks, memberships, and advertising in the Old Settlers Gazette, an annual heritage newspaper.

The community responded. Slowly, dollar by dollar, bake sale by bake sale, the debt shrank.

1984: Maxine Farnham received the Waynesville-St. Robert Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year award for her preservation efforts—recognition that the entire community understood what was at stake.

Circa 1986: Just three years after forming, the Foundation paid off the initial $39,000 debt.

Spring 1992: Nine years of community fundraising culminated in the final mortgage payment. The building was saved. Permanently.

The Restoration: Student Archaeologists and Room-by-Room Revival

Saving the building was only the beginning. The Foundation set an ambitious goal: restore one room per year, ready for tours by Old Settlers Days.

But first, they wanted to know what secrets lay beneath the floorboards.

September 1989: The Foundation partnered with the Waynesville R-VI School District’s L.E.A.P. program (Learning Enrichment and Acceleration Program) for an archaeological excavation. Twenty-nine seventh and eighth-grade students, working with the University of Missouri and U.S. Forest Service, began what would become a seven-year dig.

The discoveries were remarkable: broken china and glass, military buttons from the Civil War era, glass syringes from the hospital period, and numerous marbles—later explained when research revealed that former owner J.L. Johnson had been a “marble champion.” KY3 television documented the dig in September 1990, filming student interviews that are now shown to museum visitors. Watch the video here:

https://www.oldstagecoachstop.org/virtmus/arkieroom.html

Meanwhile, restoration proceeded room by room:

- 1994: Dentist Office (1935-1941 period)

- 1995: McDonald Cabin (the original 1854 log cabin)—the museum officially opened

- 1996: Civil War Room & Archaeology Display

- 1997: Stagecoach Stop Tavern

- 1998: 1950s Room & 1915 Kitchen

- 1999: 1946 Kitchen

- 2000: 1941 Sleeping Room

- 2001: Restoration Gallery—ten rooms completed

The Foundation’s work earned national recognition. They won the Midwest Living Magazine Hometown Pride Award for Preservation—the grand prize in the preservation category, selected from 650 entrants across the Midwest.

In fall 2010, the museum hosted the Smithsonian Institution’s “Journey Stories” traveling exhibit as part of the Museum on Main Street program—chosen as one of only six Missouri organizations from 32 applicants.

Today: A Living Museum Powered by Volunteers

Walk into the Old Stagecoach Stop today, and you’ll step back through 170 years of American history. Ten restored rooms, each representing a different era, tell the story of how one building adapted and survived through stagecoach days, the Civil War, Route 66’s heyday, and the Fort Leonard Wood boom.

Guides dressed in period clothing lead tours lasting approximately 1.5 hours. Unlike most museums, the Old Stagecoach Stop encourages hands-on interaction—visitors can touch and handle many original artifacts, from Civil War-era medical instruments to Route 66-era hotel registers.

The museum operates Saturdays only, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, April through October. Admission is free (donations appreciated). The entire operation runs on nine volunteer board members. Annual operating costs are just $7,500—a testament to the dedication of unpaid community members who give their time to preserve Waynesville’s history.

Current volunteers include President Jeanie Porter and longtime educators/researchers Terry and Jan Primas, who authored “Doorways to the Past” and co-authored the definitive “Records from Post Waynesville 1862-1865.”

Since opening in 1995, the museum has welcomed guests from all 50 states and more than 50 countries. Christmas on the Square events have drawn 600-900 visitors in a single evening.

The Building That Wouldn’t Die

The Old Stagecoach Stop has survived because it kept adapting: from frontier tavern to military hospital, from Route 66 hotel to living museum. But its survival in 1983 came down to something simpler and more powerful—citizens who refused to let their history be bulldozed.

Gene and Maxine Farnham with James andConnie Martin along with other founding members didn’t have millions of dollars. They had bake sales and auctions. They didn’t have professional archaeologists. They had seventh-graders with trowels and brushes. They didn’t have paid staff. They had volunteers willing to spend their Saturdays giving tours.

And they saved a building.

That’s the real story of the Old Stagecoach Stop. Not just what happened within its walls over 170 years, but what happened because of those walls—because a community decided that some things are worth saving, even when everyone else says to tear them down.

You can visit the Old Stagecoach Stop at 106 Lynn Street on the east side of the Waynesville town square. For group tours or more information, contact Jeanie Porter (573-336-3561) or Jan Primas (573-528-7150). Learn more at [oldstagecoachstop.org](http://oldstagecoachstop.org).

 Recommended primary source for further research: "Records from Post Waynesville 1862-1865" by John Bradbury and Terry Primas (2016)—the scholarly source cited by Wikipedia that might verify Civil War casualty claims.

-----

This is part of the “You Don’t Know Waynesville” series, exploring obscure facts about Waynesville, Missouri as the town prepares for dual centennial celebrations in 2026: Route 66’s 100th anniversary and America’s 250th anniversary.

References

Primary Sources:

1. Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation. (n.d.). Building History. Retrieved from http://www.oldstagecoachstop.org/building.html

2. Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation. (n.d.). Restoration. Retrieved from https://www.oldstagecoachstop.org/restoration.html

3. Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation. (n.d.). The Stagecoach Business. Retrieved from https://www.oldstagecoachstop.org/WW/stagebusiness.html

4. Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation. (n.d.). William Walton McDonald. Retrieved from http://www.oldstagecoachstop.org/WW/WW1.html

5. Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation. (Fall 2013). Newsletter - 30th Anniversary Edition. Retrieved from https://www.oldstagecoachstop.org/newsletterFALL2013.pdf

Secondary Sources:

6. Old Stagecoach Stop. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved February 2, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Stagecoach_Stop

7. National Register of Historic Places. (1980). Old Stagecoach Stop [NRHP Reference #80002391]. National Park Service.

8. Historic Marker Database. (n.d.). Old Stage Coach Stop Historical Marker. Retrieved from https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=21618

9. Coombs, C. (n.d.). Old Stagecoach Stop in Pulaski County, Missouri. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@cjcwriter04/old-stagecoach-stop-in-pulaski-county-missouri-b8a9090ffe6c

10. Keys to the Past: Old Stagecoach Stop restored treasure. (2023, August 17). Pulaski County Weekly. Retrieved from https://www.pulaskicountyweekly.com/keys-to-the-past-old-stagecoach-stop-restored-treasure/article_1feee9e0-3c37-11ee-80c1-63cc2bff5370.html

11. We the People: The Old Stagecoach Stop in Waynesville. (2025, August 14). KY3. Retrieved from https://www.ky3.com/2025/08/14/we-people-old-stagecoach-stop/

12. Daybreak on the Road: Old Stagecoach Stop in Waynesville, Missouri. (2022, May). OzarksFirst. Retrieved from https://www.ozarksfirst.com/daybreak-on-the-road/daybreak-on-the-road-old-stagecoach-stop-in-waynesville-missouri/

13. Old Stagecoach Stop House Museum. (n.d.). Clio. Retrieved from https://theclio.com/entry/152680

14. Old Stagecoach Stop in Waynesville, Missouri. (n.d.). Route 66 Road Map. Retrieved from https://route66roadmap.com/attractions/old-stagecoach-stop-in-waynesville-missouri/

15. Old Stagecoach Stop Museum. (2026). TripAdvisor. Retrieved from https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g45024-d2441363-Reviews-Old_Stagecoach_Stop_Museum-Waynesville_Pulaski_County_Missouri.html

16. 
    

Recommended for Further Research:

Bradbury, J., & Primas, T. (2016). Records from Post Waynesville 1862-1865. [Scholarly work cited by Wikipedia but not directly accessed for this article]

Note on the "32 deaths" claim: This statistic appears in the OzarksFirst article (source #12) but could not be independently verified in official museum documentation, National Register nomination, or scholarly sources. It is presented in the blog post as "local accounts suggest" to reflect this uncertainty.

Waynesville had an Airport?

You Don't Know Waynesville:

The Forgotten Airport on Route 66

By Jax Welborn | JaxOnRoute66.com

Drive east on Historic Route 66 toward Waynesville's city limits at Highway F, and you'll pass soccer fields, baseball diamonds, and East Elementary School. Nothing about the landscape suggests that this quiet plateau once hosted one of the most ambitious civic projects in Pulaski County history—or that thousands of people once gathered here to witness B-29 Superfortress bombers roar overhead.

Current picture of the previous airport location viewed from Historic 66 & Hwy F

Welcome to the story of the Waynesville Memorial Airport, a Route 66-era aviation dream that soared briefly before vanishing into the Ozark hills.

A Community Takes Flight

On May 27, 1947, Waynesville's citizens went to the polls for a decision that would shape their town's future. By a vote of 285 to 123, they approved $25,000 in bonds toward construction of a municipal airport. The total estimated cost was $69,000—a staggering sum for a town of roughly 1,500 residents—with $10,000 coming from state funds and $35,000 from federal agencies.

This wasn't just any airport project. Waynesville Memorial Airport would become the first facility in Missouri built under the state's new Aviation Section funding program—a pioneering partnership between federal, state, and local governments that would serve as a model for municipal aviation development across the state for decades to come.

The land came through an act of civic generosity. Dru Pippin and Roy Wilson had purchased over 130 acres straddling Route 66 from an investment company at the end of World War II for less than two thousand dollars. They deeded the small portion on the north side to the city at no cost—it would become a city cemetery. The remaining acreage on the south side they sold to the city for five thousand dollars to build the airport.

Who Was Dru Pippin?

Dru L. Pippin (1899-1981) was exactly the kind of civic-minded leader who would champion such a project. Born in Pulaski County to Bland Nixon Pippin, a professor of dentistry at Washington University in St. Louis, Dru grew up largely in St. Louis before returning to Waynesville after contracting Spanish Flu. He attended the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he married Eva Luther.

Back in Pulaski County, Pippin inherited and operated Pippin Place, described in historical accounts as "a rather swank resort, in the old Victorian style" near Bartlett Spring, famous for its cuisine. He ran the resort with his wife until it closed in the late 1960s while simultaneously operating an insurance agency in Waynesville.

But it was his political connections that made things happen. In 1947—the same year as the airport bond vote—Governor Phil Donnelly appointed Pippin to the Missouri Conservation Commission, where he served until 1959 and again from 1961-1964. During World War II, he chaired Pulaski County's War Loan Drive, raising $341,787 to fund a P-51 Mustang named "The Spirit of Pulaski County." His advocacy helped make Fort Leonard Wood a permanent installation.

Today, the Dru Pippin Youth Center at Fort Leonard Wood bears his name. His son Dan captained the 1952 U.S. Olympic Basketball team to a gold medal.

"Flyers From All Over the State"

The two-day dedication ceremony on October 2-3, 1948, was unlike anything Waynesville had ever seen. The Moberly Monitor-Index reported that "flyers from all over the state" descended on the town, with 150 visiting planes crowding the new 2,700-foot runway by noon on Sunday. The small town arranged sleeping accommodations and ground transportation for the visiting aviators, who arrived from as far as Moberly and Macon.

Private aircraft documented at the event included Cessna 170s, Cessna 140s, Cessna 120s, Twin Cessnas, Monocoupes, Taylorcrafts, and Ercoupes. State Air Patrol demonstration planes joined the lineup. But the real crowd-pleasers came courtesy of the military: three B-29 Superfortress bombers—the same type of aircraft that had ended World War II just three years earlier—along with eight low-flying National Guard P-51 Mustangs and a score of Marine Corps planes.

The celebration extended beyond the airfield. Parachute jumping and aerial acrobatics filled the sky. Local and military dignitaries delivered speeches. Down at Roubidoux Creek, a trout fishing derby drew anglers to the famous spring-fed waters that flow through downtown Waynesville—notably, the only trout stream that flows under Route 66.

Cars lined Route 66 running east to the horizon. Thousands attended—a remarkable turnout for a county seat that wouldn't break 2,000 residents until the 1960 census.

The operation and maintenance of the airport were leased to Campbell Flying Service of St. Louis, a typical arrangement for municipal airports of the era.

Turbulence Ahead

The optimism of dedication day wouldn't last. By June 1950, the airport's future was already in doubt. Management changed hands, and business rebounded over the next three years. But activity dwindled again, and the Waynesville Memorial Airport closed before the decade was over.

What went wrong? The historical record is frustratingly silent on specifics. Perhaps the same factors that doomed hundreds of similar post-war municipal airports applied here: the economics of small-town aviation simply didn't pencil out. Fort Leonard Wood's Forney Army Airfield, operating continuously since 1941, likely served most regional aviation needs. The dream of every small town having its own airport—so vivid in the immediate post-war years—proved harder to sustain than anyone imagined.

From Runway to Recess

In 1965, the Federal Aviation Agency released the 160-acre airport tract for development. By August of that year, plans were underway to build an elementary school on 26 acres of the former airfield. A $348,000 bond issue passed in October, and East Elementary School received its first students in 1967.

Today, the school sits at 1501 State Road F, Waynesville—the same plateau where 150 aircraft once lined a 2,700-foot runway, where B-29s thundered overhead, and where thousands gathered to celebrate a small town's big aviation dreams.

The only physical evidence of the airport's existence lies in geographic databases. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names still recognizes "Waynesville Memorial Airfield" as a historical cultural feature at coordinates 37.8264294, -92.1851666. Stamp collectors preserve "First Day Flight" commemorative covers from October 2-3, 1948—philatelic evidence of a celebration that most local histories have forgotten.

The Route 66 Connection

The Waynesville Memorial Airport represents something larger than local history. It embodies the optimism of post-war America along Route 66—a belief that small towns could embrace modernity while preserving their character. The same year Waynesville voted to build an airport, communities up and down the Mother Road were making similar investments in the future.

The dedication photos, courtesy of the Missouri State Archives MoDOT Collection, show cars lining Route 66 as far as the camera can see. The highway and the airfield existed in symbiosis—travelers on the ground watching pilots arrive from the sky, all converging on a small Ozark town with outsized ambitions.

That the airport failed within a decade doesn't diminish the story. If anything, it makes it more human. Not every dream takes flight permanently. But for two days in October 1948, Waynesville reached for the sky—and for a brief, shining moment, touched it.

Do you have memories or photos of the Waynesville Memorial Airport? Family stories about the 1948 dedication? Information about Campbell Flying Service or what happened in those troubled years around 1950?

The Waynesville Action Group is compiling local history decade by decade for the Route 66 Centennial in 2026. Reach out—your story matters.

Tags: Waynesville Missouri, Route 66 History, Pulaski County, Waynesville Memorial Airport, Dru Pippin, Route 66 Centennial 2026, You Don't Know Waynesville, Missouri Aviation History, Fort Leonard Wood, Ozarks History

For more information check out my references below.

REFERENCES: “You Don’t Know Waynesville: The Forgotten Airport on Route 66”

JaxOnRoute66.com Blog Post

PRIMARY SOURCES

NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS:

1. Moberly Monitor-Index

“Fly to Airport” (dedication coverage)

October 4, 1948, Page 5

Moberly, Missouri

Available via: Newspapers.com

URL: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/23347235/

[Reports 150 visiting planes, lists aircraft types, names attendees from

Moberly and Macon, confirms town population of 1,500, identifies airport

as first in Missouri built under Aviation Section funding program]

GEOGRAPHIC/GOVERNMENT DATABASES:

1. U.S. Board on Geographic Names / Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)

Feature Name: Waynesville Memorial Airfield (historical)

Feature ID: 753362

Feature Class: Locale (Cultural)

County: Pulaski, Missouri

Coordinates: Latitude 37.8264294, Longitude -92.1851666

Access via: https://www.usgs.gov/tools/geographic-names-information-system-gnis

Local mirror: https://missouri.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,2,fid,753362

ARCHIVAL PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTIONS:

1. Missouri State Archives, MoDOT Collection

Record Group 107 - State Highway Department Photographs

Primary collection: 1929-1975 (over 25,000 negatives)

Aerial photograph collection: 1955-2004 (over 200,000 photos)

Location: Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri

Contact: 573-751-3280 or archives@sos.mo.gov

URL: https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/photographs/RG107

[Dedication images credited in source PDF]

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES - DRU PIPPIN

1. Old Settlers Gazette, Issue 12 (2009)

“Dru Pippin: A Profile” by William Eckert

Published by: Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation, Waynesville, Missouri

Pages 54-57

Available via: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/24940914/dru-pippin-the-old-stagecoach-stop

Direct PDF: https://www.oldstagecoachstop.org/webgeezer/Gazette12/pages%2054-57%20Dru%20Pippin.pdf

[Primary biographical source: birth/death dates, Pippin Place resort,

Conservation Commission appointments, family details including son Dan’s

Olympic basketball captaincy]

1. OzarksWatch Magazine

“The Conservation Commission” (oral history/memoir)

The Library Center, Springfield-Greene County Library

URL: https://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/ozarkswatch/ow204m.htm

[Describes Pippin as “a man who knew land well,” his resort as “rather

swank…in the old Victorian style,” Commission meetings held at Pippin Place]

1. Dru Pippin Youth Center

Fort Leonard Wood Army MWR

URL: https://leonardwood.armymwr.com/programs/dru-pippin-youth-center

[Confirms facility named in his honor]

1. Missouri Department of Conservation

“The Rivers of Missouri” by Dru Pippin (quoted)

Via: https://www.floatmissouri.com/plan/missouri-rivers/gasconade-river/

[Pippin’s published writing on Ozark rivers]

SECONDARY SOURCES

1. “Route 66 in Pulaski County” (Book)

Pages 146-147: Waynesville chapter on Memorial Airport

[Source PDF provided by researcher - contains dedication narrative,

bond vote details, land transaction information, Campbell Flying Service

reference, closure timeline, East Elementary School conversion]

1. Wikipedia

“Waynesville-St. Robert Regional Airport”

URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waynesville–St._Robert_Regional_Airport

[Confirms Forney Army Airfield (separate facility) operated since WWII]

INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

1. Pulaski County Museum & Historical Society

Location: 301 Historic 66 East (1903 Courthouse), Waynesville, Missouri

Contact: 573-855-3644

Email: pulaskicomo@hotmail.com

URL: http://www.route66courthouse.com/home.html

[Recommended for bond election records, local newspaper clippings,

institutional knowledge about airport-to-school conversion]

1. State Historical Society of Missouri

Photograph Collection (100,000+ items)

Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service Aerial Photographs, 1938-1979

Pulaski County newspapers on microfilm

URL: https://shsmo.org/collections/photographs

[May contain additional aerial photos of airport site]

1. Old Stagecoach Stop Foundation

Website: https://www.oldstagecoachstop.org

All issues of Old Settlers Gazette available online

Dru Pippin oral history audio recordings (1975-1976) available as podcasts

Mailing: P.O. Box 585, Waynesville, MO 65583

NOTES ON UNVERIFIED CLAIMS

The following details from the source PDF could not be independently verified

through online research and should be treated as local historical accounts

pending archival confirmation:

- May 27, 1947 bond vote (285-123) for $25,000

- Total construction cost of $69,000 ($10,000 state / $35,000 federal)

- Dru Pippin and Roy Wilson land purchase (<$2,000) and sale ($5,000)

- Roy Wilson’s identity and role (no biographical information found)

- Campbell Flying Service of St. Louis as initial operator

- June 1950 as start of airport’s troubles

- Specific closure date (before end of 1950s)

- 1965 FAA release of 160-acre tract

- October bond issue for $348,000 for East Elementary School

- 1967 opening of East Elementary School

Compiled for: Jax Welborn

Route 66 Centennial 2026 Project

Date: January 2026

*Dedication images courtesy of Missouri State Archives, MoDOT Collection.