![]() ![]() Wise & husband Floyd children Jane & Maria- 1960 thru 1983įred Van Pelt- 1957-1960, Original Owner & sign designerįred Van Pelt built a number of Range line Motels in the 50's & 60's including the Riviera and the Rocket.Īn employee for this company & resident to the area Mr. On it was reported that the landmark motel would be demolished in the next few months to be replaced by a Home Depot. In hopes of getting the one shot that many owners in the past of these great thunderbird cars have done before him. ![]() The last car thru takes one last drive out to the old Thunderbird Motel, Joplin Mo. Here is an interesting bit of history, courtesy of Flickr, about the fate of the Thunderbird: ![]() Just look at this sign!! This sold a few years ago in an auction, so now somebody probably has this in their man-cave. Needless to say, the Bob Cummings Motor Hotel was soon a goner. But wait-there’s more! What finally put the kibosh on this swell operation was some legal trouble pertaining to the lease of the motel being broken by its parent company, and its subsequent bankruptcy. Although this probably did help with the brawl situation, things were far from copacetic.Īs if things weren’t bad enough, almost two years later during a powerful windstorm (as Missouri is prone to have) the cars in the parking lot were damaged from flying gravel and the lobby of the motel flooded. It was probably hard to run two cocktail lounges without liquor. Just four months after opening, the owner of the motel had their liquor license suspended. The motel had a good run, but it didn’t last long. The fuzz was busy that evening for sure, and that was just opening night! The motor hotel boasted a 24 hour restaurant, pool, and two cocktail lounges….gee whiz! On opening night, three people were arrested after a poker game gone wrong turned into a brawl, a couple was arrested for “illicit cohabitation,” and another man was arrested for gambling. Since Robert was from Joplin, it seemed a natural choice to put his name on a motel and restaurant here.and the rest.is history. During high school Cummings would give Joplin residents rides in his plane for $5 per person. While attending Joplin High School, Cummings was taught to fly by his godfather, Orville Wright. Didn't see that one coming, did you? Not only was he an actor, but he served an honorable career in the military and was a pilot, and incredibly, the FIRST certified flight instructor in the U.S.! Most interestingly, he was a Joplin native. ![]()
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