Some Tragic History (Patreon)

February was a long, cold, gray slog spent indoors, so in the brief glimpse of sunshine this past weekend provided, a good friend and I took the opportunity to get out and explore some local history.  Our intent was to simply check out the old Chain of Rocks Bridge, an iconic part of Route 66 constructed in 1929 to traverse the Mississippi between Missouri and Illinois. The bridge is no longer open to motorized traffic, but it makes for a pleasant - if windswept - walk.
(The spooky, fortress-like structures in the river are old water intake towers.)

On the St. Louis side, we found an abandoned road winding up into the bluffs along the river, capped off by a lonely park. Thinking that was the most unusual gem we'd stumble on out there, we started driving away on the Illinois side of the bridge.  That's when we happened to spot a dilapidated old service station and house so beset by brush, they'd have been invisible to us in the spring.  When I traipsed inside the station to take some photos, I had no idea it was a historic crime scene.

Once home, I did some research thinking I might find some charming yesteryear photos of this little Route 66 road stop that time forgot. What I actually found was the story of Martin Drenovac's murder by George York and James Latham, a pair who killed seven people and robbed and assaulted several others in a multi-state crime spree in 1961. According to reports, they pulled up to the station in a vehicle belonging to another victim (Gene Reed) and bludgeoned Mr. Drenovac (the proprietor and attendant) to death in the room containing the garage pit. 

A newspaper clipping about the crime (sourced from this article by route66chick) and the same station (taken by Bill Burmaster) before the Twin Oaks sign was damaged by the wind and removed.

As this dreadfulness was unfolding, some of Martin Drenovac's family was at home just a few hundred yards to the west. 

 We found some old, scattered banking information on the property indicating the last resident here was Anne Madrid - Drenovac's daughter.

What's left of the home is quickly succumbing to the elements. In fact, there's a small neighborhood of motel cabins hidden in the woods behind the home that have largely crumbled away.

As for York and Latham, they were caught, confessed to (or rather, bragged about) their multitude of crimes and spent time in a Kansas penitentiary where they allegedly befriended the two murderers of the Clutter family (of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood notoriety).  Remorseless, they were hanged in 1965.

I'm not sure this is of much interest to anyone here, but I was so simultaneously excited and saddened to find this tattered, tragic bit of Route 66 history - the skeleton of a travelers' den, where a family lived and worked, endured something horrific, and ultimately vanished - I had to share.  Largely, it's the private stories in the remnants of things that compelled me to try to make something like Lackadaisy to begin with.
Anyway, I hope the photos are sort of interesting, at least!

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There are more of my photos of the ruins of Twin Oaks collected in an album here.

For any true crime readers out there, here's more about the 1961 Route 66 murder spree.  The Chain of Rocks Bridge has some other dark histories as well, including the terrible and vexing murder of the Kerry sisters.

Many thanks to Patrick for his patience while I bumbled around in the overgrowth, taking pictures.